Matthew 12 - Rest on the Sabbath

Today's Scripture: Matthew 12 - Per Max Lucado: Jesus overruled the Jewish traditions about the Sabbath to focus on God's purpose in establishing this command.  When God commanded the Israelites not to work on the Sabbath, Jesus knew that the law was given to relieve people; it is not a sin to care for people, or take care of one's own needs, or to help people on the Sabbath.  The purpose of the Sabbath rest is physical and emotional renewal, but also fellowship - a space reserved just for relaxing and hanging out.  However, rest without spiritual rest is incomplete.  We may take vacations but we can't find true renewal without the spiritual renewal as well.  It is copied below from Bible.com.

Application:  How do you keep the Sabbath command?  What makes Sunday a unique day for you?  How can you avoid a "business as usual" day? 

My Thoughts: I'm fortunate that I don't have a job that requires me to work on Sundays. However, as a nurse, I have many friends that are still nursing and MUST work on Sundays.  We don't always attend church...something I'm not proud of but we got out of the routine about 10 years ago when my daughter was fighting cancer and its been very difficult to get back in the habit.  We had a priest friend at the time that said "Priests are only human and make human mistakes, too."  We had a few of those happen during our time of need and so we lost a little faith in the church...not faith in God and the Holy Trinity, but in the church.  Since then, I have become very aware of my own spiritual renewal and almost think I am doing better without a formal church. I find myself to be inquisitive, talkative, and sharing about Jesus in my life more so than when I attended church out of obligation. Not that I wouldn't like to try to go back regularly but I have a different outlook about the church than I did before the cancer.  It is a human institution and only as holy as the members and priests make it.  Likewise, it is still as fallible as members and priests make it.  So MY relationship with God is what has become most important to me and hopefully I am doing right by him.  Keeping my Sabbath a day of rest....I had just told my family a few weeks ago that I was going to work on that more (less work for the coming week - do it Saturday, if I must). This should help the whole family to keep the Sabbath as a day of rest, fellowship, and spiritual renewal. 



Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

1 At that time Jesus was walking through some fields of grain on a Sabbath day. His followers were hungry, so they began to pick the grain and eat it. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus, “Look! Your followers are doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath day.”

3 Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and the people with him were hungry? 4 He went into God’s house, and he and those with him ate the holy bread, which was lawful only for priests to eat. 5And have you not read in the law of Moses that on every Sabbath day the priests in the Temple break this law about the Sabbath day? But the priests are not wrong for doing that. 6 I tell you that there is something here that is greater than the Temple. 7The Scripture says, ‘I want kindness more than I want animal sacrifices.’ You don’t really know what those words mean. If you understood them, you would not judge those who have done nothing wrong.

8“So the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day.”

Jesus Heals a Man’s Hand

9Jesus left there and went into their synagogue, 10 where there was a man with a crippled hand. They were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they asked him, “Is it right to heal on the Sabbath day?”

11 Jesus answered, “If any of you has a sheep, and it falls into a ditch on the Sabbath day, you will help it out of the ditch. 12 Surely a human being is more important than a sheep. So it is lawful to do good things on the Sabbath day.”

13 Then Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, “Hold out your hand.” The man held out his hand, and it became well again, like the other hand. 14 But the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

Jesus Is God’s Chosen Servant

15 Jesus knew what the Pharisees were doing, so he left that place. Many people followed him, and he healed all who were sick. 16 But Jesus warned the people not to tell who he was. 17 He did these things to bring about what Isaiah the prophet had said:

18 “Here is my servant whom I have chosen.

I love him, and I am pleased with him.

I will put my Spirit upon him,

and he will tell of my justice to all people.

19 He will not argue or cry out;

no one will hear his voice in the streets.

20 He will not break a crushed blade of grass

or put out even a weak flame

until he makes justice win the victory.

21 In him will the non-Jewish people find hope.”

Jesus’ Power Is from God

22 Then some people brought to Jesus a man who was blind and could not talk, because he had a demon. Jesus healed the man so that he could talk and see. 23 All the people were amazed and said, “Perhaps this man is the Son of David!”

24 When the Pharisees heard this, they said, “Jesus uses the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons, to force demons out of people.”

25 Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking, so he said to them, “Every kingdom that is divided against itself will be destroyed. And any city or family that is divided against itself will not continue. 26 And if Satan forces out himself, then Satan is divided against himself, and his kingdom will not continue. 27 You say that I use the power of Beelzebul to force out demons. If that is true, then what power do your people use to force out demons? So they will be your judges. 28 But if I use the power of God’s Spirit to force out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

29 “If anyone wants to enter a strong person’s house and steal his things, he must first tie up the strong person. Then he can steal the things from the house.

30 “Whoever is not with me is against me. Whoever does not work with me is working against me. 31 So I tell you, people can be forgiven for every sin and everything they say against God. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, now or in the future.

People Know You by Your Words

33 “If you want good fruit, you must make the tree good. If your tree is not good, it will have bad fruit. A tree is known by the kind of fruit it produces. 34 You snakes! You are evil people, so how can you say anything good? The mouth speaks the things that are in the heart. 35 Good people have good things in their hearts, and so they say good things. But evil people have evil in their hearts, so they say evil things. 36 And I tell you that on the Judgment Day people will be responsible for every careless thing they have said. 37 The words you have said will be used to judge you. Some of your words will prove you right, but some of your words will prove you guilty.”

The People Ask for a Miracle

38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law answered Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want to see you work a miracle as a sign.”

39 Jesus answered, “Evil and sinful people are the ones who want to see a miracle for a sign. But no sign will be given to them, except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 Jonah was in the stomach of the big fish for three days and three nights. In the same way, the Son of Man will be in the grave three days and three nights. 41 On the Judgment Day the people from Nineveh will stand up with you people who live now, and they will show that you are guilty. When Jonah preached to them, they were sorry and changed their lives. And I tell you that someone greater than Jonah is here. 42 On the Judgment Day, the Queen of the South will stand up with you people who live today. She will show that you are guilty, because she came from far away to listen to Solomon’s wise teaching. And I tell you that someone greater than Solomon is here.

People Today Are Full of Evil

43 “When an evil spirit comes out of a person, it travels through dry places, looking for a place to rest, but it doesn’t find it. 44 So the spirit says, ‘I will go back to the house I left.’ When the spirit comes back, it finds the house still empty, swept clean, and made neat. 45 Then the evil spirit goes out and brings seven other spirits even more evil than it is, and they go in and live there. So the person has even more trouble than before. It is the same way with the evil people who live today.”

Jesus’ True Family

46 While Jesus was talking to the people, his mother and brothers stood outside, trying to find a way to talk to him. 47 Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, and they want to talk to you.”

48 He answered, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49 Then he pointed to his followers and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 My true brother and sister and mother are those who do what my Father in heaven wants.”