The Way - Day 244 (Matthew 12)

Pastor Tom's Journal on Today's Reading:
Matthew 12:1-21
The Pharisees keep popping up in the ministry of Jesus. It always seems to me that they follow Jesus and His disciples so they can catch them doing something that they don't think is right...it's almost like they are religious stalkers! There are two incidents mentioned in this passage that center on the Pharisee's idea of what can and can't be done on the Sabbath. Remember they had added 39 of their own laws to the "keeping the Sabbath day holy" law. These extra laws were not given by God but were created by "religious men" who viewed spirituality as something that you do rather than somebody that you are. In the first so-called violation, the Pharisees accused Jesus' disciples of eating from the grain fields because they were hungry (12:1-8). The Pharisees point out to Jesus that it is not lawful for His disciples to pluck grain on the Sabbath, but Jesus draws their attention to two Old Testament illustrations when men did something contrary to ceremonial law. David and his men were hungry so he entered the temple of God and ate the bread which was only lawful for the priests to eat (1 Samuel 21:4-6). Jesus also said that the priests would be in violation of Pharisaical law because they worked on the Sabbath (12:5). God never intended for His ceremonial laws to be bondage to His people. Jesus leaves this situation and enters the synagogue on the Sabbath where He meets a man with a withered hand (12:9-13). The Pharisees pose a question to Jesus about whether or not it is permissible to heal on the Sabbath (they wanted to accuse Him). He responds by explaining the value of a person and then heals the man's hand (12:12-13). Jesus didn't care about their religious rules, He cared about people! In great disgust, the Pharisees leave and Jesus withdraws in order to avoid more conflict. Crowds of people follow Him from the synagogue because they knew He cared about them. Jesus healed all of the people who needed it (12:15). We should care more about people than adhering to a religious system we've created in our mind. Keep in mind that Jesus never brought the moral law into question, but only things that pertained to the ceremonial law. He does not want us to find our spirituality in the rituals but in carrying out the moral law, which centers on loving God and loving others.
 
Matthew 12:22-50
The Pharisees are on the prowl again and this time they get personal. Up to this point they had primarily gone after Jesus for operating outside they list of rules they had set up, but now they were attacking the very thought of Jesus being God. A demon possessed man is brought to Jesus and He heals him. The Pharisees get wind of what has happened and say among themselves that Jesus casts out demons with the help of Satan (12:22-24). Knowing their thoughts, Jesus informs them that is were of Satan they why would He work against Satan's power by casting out demons (12:25-30). He was basically saying that what they said didn't make sense. Then, Jesus gets to the heart of the matter - the Pharisees didn't want to believe that Jesus was the Son of David (the Messiah). They knew Jesus was the Messiah, but if they believed in Him their entire system would have to change and they didn't want to do this. At the heart of the conflict was that the Pharisees had seen and witnessed Jesus' power, but chose to reject Him (12:31-37). Jesus responds to their unbelief with condemnation on the real problem - their hearts were wicked (12:38-45) and because their hearts were evil, their actions would be also. Jesus wanted people to know that when a person truly follows Him, things change - actions, attitudes, and speech. Those who belong to God are those who have been saved by grace and their life demonstrates the decision to follow Him (12:46-50). How about me? Since I've been saved by grace am I demonstrating a life pleasing to Him?

Dear God, enable me to do good through the power of Your Spirit who lives within me.