Pastors Jim and Marie Watt
(From: MATTHEW #18 - 12:1-21)
C. 12:1-21 OPPOSITION TO JESUS' TYPE OF MINISTRY
1. 12:1-8 THE SABBATH AND PLUCKING GRAIN
a. 12:1 JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES ON THE SABBATH
En eKEIno tokaiRO [2540]e-poREUthe ho IeSOUS tois SABba-sin diA ton spoRImon [4702];
At that :season :Jesus went on the sabbathsthrough the grainfields;
kai de matheTOI auTOU ePEIna-san [383], kai ERxan-to TILlein [5089]STAchu-as [4719]kai esTHIein.
and his :disciples hungered, and began to pluck ears and eat.
b. 12:2 PHARISEES CONDEMN THIS ACTION
hoi de Pha-riSAIoi [5330], iDONtes, EIpan auTO,
But the Pharisees, seeing it, said to him,
I-DOU, hoi ma-theTAI sou poiOUsin ho ouk Exe-stin [1832]poiEIN en sabBAto.
Lo, your :disciples do what it is not lawful to do on a sabbath.
c. 12:3-4 JESUS COUNTERS WITH EXAMPLE OF DAVID
ho de EIpen auTOIS, Ouk aNEgo-te [314]ti ePOIe-sen DauID,
But he said to them, Have you not read what David did,
HOte ePEIna-sen, kai hoi met' auTOU; pos eiSELthen eis ton OIkon tou TheOU,
when he hungered, and theywith him; 4how he entered into the house of :God,
kai tous ARtous [740] tes proTHEse-os [4286]Epha-gon [5315], ho ouk eXON [1832]en auTOphaGEIN,
and they ate the :show-loaves, which itwas not lawful for him to eat,
ouDE tois met' auTOU, ei metois hi-eREUsin [2409]MOnois?
neither for those with him, but for the priests alone?
d. 12:5 ANOTHER EXAMPLE
eouk aNEGno-te en toNOmo, HOti tois SABba-sin
Or have you not read in the law, that on the sabbaths
hoi hi-eREIS en tohi-eRO to SABba-ton be-beLOUsin [953], kai anAItiOI [338]ei-sin?
the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless?
e. 12:6 But I say unto you, thatone greater than the temple is here.
LEgode huMIN, HOti tou hi-eROU [2411]MEI-ZON [3187]es-tin HOde.
f. 12:7 WOEFUL LACK OF PHARISAIC DISCERNMENT
ei de agNOkei-te [1097]TI es-tin, Ele-os [1656]THElo, kai ou thuSIan [2378],
But had you known what is, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,
ouk an ka-te-diKAsa-te [2613] tous a-naiTIous [338].
you would not have condemned the guiltless.
g. 12:8 For the Son of :man is Lord of the sabbath.
KUri-os GAR es-tin tou sabBAtou ho huiOS tou anTHROpou.
2. 12:9-14 THE SABBATH AND HEALING
a. 12:9-10a OPPORTUNITY FOR JESUS ON THE SABBATH
Kai me-taBAS eKEIthen, ELthen eis ten su-na-goGEN auTON:
And he departed from there, andwent into their :synagogue:
kai iDOU, ANthro-pos CHEIra Echon xeRAN [3584].
10A and lo, a man having a hand withered.
b. 12:10b PHARISEES CHALLENGE JESUS
kai e-peROte-san[1905] auTON, LEgon-tes, Ei Exe-sti tois SABba-sin the-raPEUein [2323]?
And they asked him, saying, If it is lawful to heal on thesabbaths?
HIna ka-te-goREso-sin [2723] auTOU.
that they might accuse him.
c. 12:11 JESUS' EFFECTIVE COUNTER-REASONING
ho de EIpen auTOIS, Tis EStai ex huMON ANthro-pos,
And he said to them, what man shall therebe of you,
hos Exei PROba-ton [4263] hen, kai eAN emPEse TOUto tois SABba-sin eis BOthu-non [999],
that shall have one sheep, and if this fall into a pit on the sabbath,
ouCHI kraTEsei [2902] auTO, kai e-geREI [1453]?
will he not lay hold on it, and lift itout?
d. 12:12a How much then is a man of more value than a sheep!
POsooun di-aPHErei [1308]ANthro-pos proBAtou!
e. 12:12b So that it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.
HOste Exe-stin tois SABba-sin kaLOS poiEIN.
f. 12:13a Then says he to the man, Stretch forth your :hand.
TOte LEgei toan-THROpo, Ek-teiNON [1614]sou ten CHEIra.
g. 12:13b And he stretched forth; and it was restored whole, as the other.
kai eXEtei-nen; kai a-pe-ka-teSTAthe[600]hu-giES [5199], hos heALle.
h. 12:14 But the Pharisees went out, andtook counsel against him, how they might destroy him.
e-xelTHONtes de hoi Pha-riSAIoi, sumBOUli-on [4824]Ela-bon kat' auTOU, HOpos auTON a-poLEso-sin.
3. 12:15-21 JESUS' MINISTRY VERSUS THAT OF PHARISEES
a. 12:15-19 ISAIAH FORETELLS MINISTRY OF JESUS
Ho de IeSOUS gnous a-neCHOre-sen [402] eKEIthen:
And :Jesus perceiving itwithdrew from there:
kai a-koLOUthe-san auTO polLOI; kai e-theRApeu-sen [2323] auTOUS PANtas,
and many followed him; and he healed all,
kai e-peTIme-sen [2008] auTOIS HIna me pha-neRON [5318] auTON poiEso-sin:
16 and charged them that they make him not known:
HIna ple-roTHE to 'reTHEN diA E-SAIou tou proPHEtou, LEgon-tes,
17 that itmight be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,
I-DOU, ho PAIS [3816] mou hon heREti-sa [140];
18 Lo, my :servant whom I have chosen;
ho a-ga-peTOS mou eis hon euDOke-sen [2106] he psuCHE mou:
My :beloved towardwhom my :soul is well pleased:
THEso [5087] to PNEU-MA mou ep' auTON,
I will put my :Spirit upon him,
kai KRIsin tois ETHne-sin a-pag-geLEI [518], ouk eRIsei [2051], ouDE krauGAsei [2905];
And he shall declare judgment to the nations, 19He shall not strive, nor cry aloud;
ouDE aKOUsei tis en tais plaTEIais [4113] ten phoNEN [5456] auTOU.
Neither shall any onehear his :voice in the streets.
b. 12:20 THE COMPASSION OF JESUS
KAla-mon [2563] sun-te-trimMEnon [4937] ou ka-teAxei [2608],
A bruised reed shall he not break,
kai LInon [3043] tuPHOme-non [5188] ou SBEsei [4570], HEos an ekBAle eis NIkos [3534] ten KRIsin.
And smoking flax shall he not quench, Till he send forth the judgment unto victory.
c. 12:21 And in his :name shall nations hope.
kai tooNOma-ti auTOU ETHneel-piOUsin [1679] .
NOTE: PIca-yu-nish! - one caught up in trifles! - majoring on minors and minoring on majors! - thisis how I see the Pharisees of Jesus' day! And all too sad, and all too often - religious leaders of some churches today are of this same cali-ber! The serious aspect of such people, is that when they are successfully corrected - they then try to kill their correctors!
Next, when Jesus recognized the serious intentions of His persecutors, He attempted to lessentheir anger, by charging those healed to say nothing about such a blessing. Seldom did those helped heed His charge. This forced Jesus to depart to out of the way places. There the crowds still followed Him anyway, but it did become more difficult for His enemies to follow Him.
Then in this passage, we have the Spirit through Isaiah revealing the type of ministry Messiah Jesus would have at His first coming. I especially like - “A bruised reed shall he not break, And smoking flax shall he not quench.” O the compassion and understanding of human weakness that Jesus showed in His first earthly ministry. It will be a different type of ministry the second time. J.A.W.