Matthew 12:1-21

Matthew 12:1-8 Criticised by Pharisees – Plucking Grain on the Sabbath

(Mk 2:23-28; Lk 6:1-5)

Matthew continued to build up his backdrop of negative responses to the message of Jesus.

1 About that same time, Jesus was walking one Sabbath day

through a grain crop.

His disciples were hungry

and began to pick the ears of grain and eat them.

² The Pharisees noticed it and said to him,

“Your disciples are doing what is not allowable on the Sabbath.”

³ He answered them, “Did you not read what David did

when he and his companions were hungry?

⁴ How they went into the house of God and ate the holy bread,

which was not permissible

either for him or for those with him,

but only for the priests?

⁵ Or have you not read in the law

how the priests in the temple break the law

but are not guilty?

⁶ I tell you, here you have one greater than the temple.

⁷ If you had recognised

what ‘I want mercy rather than sacrifice’ means,

you would not have condemned those who are not guilty.

⁸ Indeed, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

In its original context in Mark’s Gospel, the incident served to emphasise Jesus’ understanding of Sabbath, and to highlight the very different attitudes of some Pharisees.

According to the Book of Exodus [20:8-11], Sabbath celebrated God’s enjoyment of creation completed. According to the Book of Deuteronomy [5:12-15], it served to remind the Israelites of their liberation from slavery in Egypt. In either case, it was meant to be a celebration of the bountiful and liberating heart of God. It was celebrated by resting and by refraining from work. The Pharisees’ approach could easily make it burden and obligation.

To the Jewish mind, along with circumcision and kosher food customs, Sabbath served to establish, at a deeply emotional level, their identity as the chosen People of God. It reflected their sense of the holiness – the separateness – of God. They clung to it fiercely. Even in the Diaspora, in a world where Sabbath meant nothing, they insisted on observing these three customs, with such determination that Roman law eventually granted them exemption to do so.

To tamper with Sabbath was to tamper with God. Acting from their sense of God as holy, Pharisees were concerned to help people to apply the requirement of Sabbath obligation to the ever-changing cultural scene.

As proclaimer and embodiment of the advent of the Kingdom of heaven, and as Lord of the sabbath, Jesus insisted on the pre-eminence of mercy over other considerations. Many Pharisees would have agreed on the pre-eminence of mercy, but they were shocked by his freedom. It was a question of perspective – but was of crucial importance.

Matthew’s point was to remind his own community of the over-riding importance of mercy. This was the second time in his Gospel that Jesus referred to God’s preference as proclaimed by Hosea [6:6]: I desire mercy and not sacrifice [cf 9:13]. The priority of the Lord of the Sabbath was clear.

Matthew 12:9-14 Confronted in Their Synagogue – A Man with a Withered Hand

(Mk 3:1-6; Lk 6:6-11)

9 He moved on from there

and went into their synagogue.

10 There was a man there with a withered hand.

They wanted something to accuse him of,

so they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

Matthew reshaped the story to emphasise the challenge. Those accusing Jesus were Pharisees; and they were in their synagogue.

¹¹ He said to them, “Would there be anyone among you,

who owns one sheep,

who would not, if it fell into a ditch on Sabbath,

take hold of it and pull it out?

¹² How much greater is a human being than a sheep.

So it is quite lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

¹³ Then he told the man, “Straighten out your hand.”

He straightened it out,

and it reverted to being as well as the other.

Jesus, who knows the Father [11:27], insisted once more that his Father was a God of life and of mercy. Other people, including Pharisees, regularly made exceptions to the Sabbath observance according to the requirements of mercy. It was the confidence of Jesus’ stance that confronted them. As the wise and intelligent, they had closed their minds to alternatives. They knew the answers; they could not open to mystery.

¹⁴ The Pharisees left, and planned together how to destroy him.

The opposition gained momentum. Earlier in the story, they had criticised him [9.3]; they had branded him as one in league with the ruler of the demons [9:34]. Their criticism began to take practical shape.

Mercy Interprets the Law and the Prophets

Matthew 12:15-21 God’s Chosen Servant

¹⁵ Jesus, however, was aware of this and left the district.

Still, crowds followed him because he healed them all.

¹⁶ He warned them, however, not to make him known.

A group of Pharisees had planned his death. Aware of the danger, Jesus left the district: he withdrew from their synagogue, to become a source of hope for the Gentiles (at least after his resurrection). Against the dark background of resistance, Matthew continued to highlight his enthusiasm for Jesus, the preacher of life and mercy, and the bringer of healing and wholeness. Yet Jesus instructed the crowds to keep silence, because their present support for him as healer stopped short of real insight into his message and purpose.

Matthew returned explicitly to repeat that Jesus was truly the one who fulfilled what was true and beautiful in Israel:

¹⁷ In this way the prophetic word of Isaiah found literal expression

¹⁸ “This is my son, the one I have chosen;

he is the one I love and who gives joy to my soul.

I shall place my spirit on him,

and he will announce judgment for the nations.

¹⁹ He will neither quarrel nor brawl,

nor will anyone hear his voice in the marketplaces.

²⁰ He will not break a crushed reed,

nor will he extinguish a smouldering wick,

until he brings justice to a victorious outcome.

²¹ The nations will set their hopes on him.”

Matthew explicitly identified Jesus with Isaiah’s “Suffering Servant” [42:1-4]. The prophecy served to illustrate beautifully the invitation Jesus had made not long before: Come to me, all you who are worn out and burdened and I shall refresh you. Take my yoke on you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your spirits. For my yoke is good and my burden is light.” [11:28-30].

It was because of their insistence on this interpretation of Torah, and their readiness to proclaim justice to the Gentiles, that Matthew’s community had been excluded from their local synagogues. They had, indeed, caught the essence of the approach of Jesus.

Next >> Matthew 12:22-37