October 9: Matthew 12:1-21, Mark 3, Luke 6

October 9, Matthew 12:1-21, Mark 3, Luke 6

Matthew, Mark & Luke continued…

Matthew 12:1-12 Now Matthew tells us the story of Jesus and His disciples walking through a grain field on the Sabbath (also in Mark & Luke). As they were walking, the disciples began to pick some of the heads of grain and eat. Again - the Pharisees did not approve. The Pharisees took all of the laws of the Moses and added to them. Jesus reminded them about David in 1 Samuel 21 and how he was in need and hungry and the High Priest helped him out, “So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.” Jesus reminded the Pharisees, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” Jesus corrected them. The Old Testament had very strict rules about the Sabbath, and some of the Jews added to the laws (like I said before). Jesus using this example was also His claim to Deity. Jesus also claimed that something greater than the Temple was there - it was Him!

Then Matthew records the story of Jesus healing a man with a withered hand and how the Pharisees were using it to test Him and also having something to accuse Him of. Yes, he healed the man because it is lawful to do good - even on the Sabbath. They conspired against Jesus to destroy Him for doing good because they couldn't see that He was God. 

Mark 3 starts out with the story that we just read in Matthew about the man with the withered hand. Mark places more emphasis on the fact that Jesus was very angry with the Jews for their hardness of heart and it grieved Jesus. 

Jesus was becoming quite popular and a great crowd followed Him as He went towards the sea. He healed many and kicked out a lot of demons - all of which knew that He was Jesus and He refused to let them speak about Him…

Jesus then ‘calls’ His disciples and they are all listed out here, including Judas Iscariot - we get a glimpse into the end of the life of Jesus as Judas is referred to as the one who betrayed Him. 

Then Jesus went on His way ‘home’ and there Jesus met resistance from His own family - they too thought Jesus was out of His mind. See below for my commentary, but think about this for a moment before moving on - sometimes even those closest to us cannot see or confirm the call of God on our lives…

The scribes (religious leaders who copied the Scriptures down) came down from Jerusalem and accused Jesus of being possessed by a powerful demon, Beelzebul. They were trying to understand how Jesus could tell demons what to do. Jesus defends Himself and explains that demons don't cast out demons and a house divided cannot stand - and He is not divided. Jesus went on to say that all sins will be forgiven except that of blaspheming the Holy Spirit - in short - with the complete disrespect and disregard for Jesus, they are saying that Jesus is possessed by an "unclean spirit" rather than the Holy Spirit and this is unforgivable. 

Next, Jesus’ mother & brothers are waiting for Jesus outside and the crowd told him that they were waiting for Him. He explained/declared that His mother and brothers are those who do the will of God… Family is not just about ‘blood line’ - it is about the blood line of Jesus in us.

Luke 6 Luke also talks about what Matthew & Mark record, Jesus and His disciples picking grain on the Sabbath - see above as the records are similar. Luke also records the story of the man with the withered hand and the calling of the disciples, see above. The one thing to note is that before Jesus called the disciples, he went & prayed to God about it - that is an example for us.

Jesus was ministering to the multitudes and people wanted to even just touch them and they would be healed. People come from all around to hear him.

Then we get the famous beatitudes -an explanation and exhortation for those who have some tough times on earth will be rewarded by God later in Heaven. Jesus also offers them some woes - warnings about living the ‘good’ life now for it won’t be later. What is the point? Live for Christ now regardless of circumstances and trust Him to bless you - but all of this is for Him. 

We are also taught that we are to love our enemies. Sinners love those who love them, big deal. It is a big deal to love those who malign and hate you - that is the real challenge. 

Some highlights from Luke - and all of these are a challenge at one level or another:

• Love your enemies & do good to those who hate you
• Bless those who curse you
• Lend and expect nothing in return
• Be merciful like God is
• Don’t judge people
• Don’t condemn people
• Forgive and you will be forgiven and the opposite is also true
• Give to others
• Then a parable - can a blind man lead a blind man? Nope. Don’t point out the speck in your brothers eye when you have a log in yours - point - don’t point out somebody else’s sin when yours has not been dealt with yet.
• You can see how healthy a tree is by looking at its fruit. Healthy fruit, healthy tree. “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
• Build your home on God and it will stand. Build it on the worlds ideas and it will crumble. 

To sum it all up: 

• If you follow Jesus, do you follow him because you love Him?
• Crazy to think that Jesus’ own family thought He was crazy… Have you ever felt like you were truly following Jesus and your family thought you were out of your mind?
• Before you make any decisions, it should be brought before Jesus in prayer for direction and discernment - not after!