Matthew 12:1-21 - Isaiah's Foretold Messiah Revealed - by Jeff Byerley

Study on Matthew 12:1-21 Isaiah's Foretold Messiah Revealed

Outline of Passage
12:1-8 Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.
12:9-14 Healing on the Sabbath
12:15-21 Behold My Beloved.

Our Reflections
• The "expert" Pharisees failed to recognise Jesus as the long awaited Messiah.
• Jesus showing the ignorance of the Pharisees about the Scriptures.
• Jesus' yoke of discipleship was a light burden compared to the Pharisees' heavy oral laws.
• The Pharisees, experts on keeping the Law, virtually broke all 10 Commandments!

Our Conclusions

1 – 8 Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath
The Pharisees charged Jesus' disciples with breaking the Sabbath law in plucking grainheads to feed their hunger on the Sabbath as they walked though the grain fields. According to the Pharisees' made up oral law, this amounted to working on the Sabbath and a breach of God's Commandment (Ex 20:8-10). Jesus obviously does not agree, as he calls his disciples guiltless of breaching this commandment (v.7). Using scripture, the Pharisees' own supposed strong point, Jesus proves them wrong by four arguments as follows:

1. King David ate showbread and gave it to his followers to eat (1 Sam 21:6). This was normally an unlawful act for someone other than the priest to do, but no-one would question that it was lawful in this case to meet the needs of the king and his followers. So too with Jesus and his followers (v.3-4).

2. For Temple worship purposes the priests are allowed to work on the Sabbath to make the showbread (Lev. 23:4-8), But Jesus is greater (Heb.10:1) than the Temple (v.5-6).

3. They did not understand that God wanted “mercy not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6). The Sabbath was meant to be a day in which rest and mercy from burdens were extended to people. But the Pharisees had placed heavy burdens on people with their many added oral laws as to what one could do or not do on the Sabbath.

4. Finally Jesus declares that he, the Son of Man (Dan.7:13), is also Lord of the Sabbath (v.8), revealing his divine nature and authority to declare his disciples innocent.

9-14 Healing on the Sabbath

The Pharisees were seeking an opportunity to accuse Jesus of a clear breach of their Sabbath oral law and they provoked him whether it was legal to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus responded by countering with the higher law of mercy (Hos. 6:6). He healed the man with the withered hand, showing that it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

15-21 Behold My Beloved.
The Pharisees then even more sought how to kill Jesus but Jesus did not cry out against this injustice, but rather departed from that place. Matthew sees in this a fulfilment of Isaiah 42:1- 4 which he quotes.