Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

Honoring the Sabbath Day: Matthew 12:1-21

Published May 27, 2021 in Audio Journal Entries

Read the Transcript

As we continue moving through Matthew’s gospel, we come to a set of events where Jesus challenges the religious leaders while defending those who followed Him and those who needed healing. In the context of Jesus’ ministry, the religious leaders disagreed with Jesus the most on one, single point: which was the Sabbath. As we will see while reading our passage, the religious leaders’ biggest issue over Jesus and His followers actions related to what they did and did not do on the day of worship.

Let’s read what happened and discover what we can learn about what Jesus believed from this set of events. Our passage is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 12, and we will read it from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 1, Matthew tells us that:

¹At 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. ²When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus, “Look! Your followers are doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath day.”

³Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and the people with him were hungry? ⁴He 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. ⁶I 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.”

⁹Jesus left there and went into their synagogue, ¹⁰where 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?”

¹¹Jesus 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. ¹²Surely a human being is more important than a sheep. So it is lawful to do good things on the Sabbath day.”

¹³Then 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. ¹⁴But the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

Let’s pause reading here to draw our attention onto two big things we can learn from these two events. In the first event, Jesus defends His disciples’ actions by contrasting what they did with even worse actions from the great king David in Israel’s history. And, Jesus contrasts His disciples’ actions against what the priests and religious leaders who serve in the temple did every Sabbath. In both scenarios, what the disciples did is easily excusable because God had excused much more significant things.

In a single phrase, Jesus challenges the legalism of the Pharisees by quoting the Old Testament to them that God is more interested in kindness than in receiving animal sacrifices. In the culture leading up to that time period, a greater and greater focus was being placed on obeying the details of the law that the big themes of the law that focused on being kind and loving towards others were being pushed aside.

Also, it is interesting to note that what the disciples did was step over a self-imposed barrier that the Pharisees had set up to protect the people from coming close to breaking the actual law. What the disciples did is easily understood to not fall under the category of work, but in the legalistic minds of the Pharisees, they had placed the definition of work so low that almost nothing would be allowed. While there were many reasons they chose to do this, the religious leaders lost the love of the law when they focused so heavily on the letter of the law.

It’s interesting that when we move into the second event, it is as though these Pharisees set the trap for Jesus regarding work. When they ask Jesus if it was right to heal on the Sabbath, they viewed Jesus as simply an above-average doctor and healing would be His “job”.

However, Jesus answers their challenge by raising the value of humanity and by telling them that helping a fellow human is just as permissible on the Sabbath as helping one’s own animal. Jesus challenges them on their understanding of the Sabbath by saying, “it is lawful to do good things on the Sabbath day”.

For the religious leaders, the Sabbath was a day of avoiding work and avoiding anything that could even remotely resemble work. The Sabbath had descended into a list of activities to avoid. The Sabbath was not a blessing away from work; it had become a curse and a burden regarding avoiding work or work-like activities.

It is interesting to note that Jesus does not answer any challenge regarding the significance of the Sabbath day. Jesus did not ignore the intent of the Sabbath, or the reason this day of rest and worship was given. Instead, Jesus honored the Sabbath day the way God wanted His people to honor it. Jesus wanted the Sabbath to be filled with worshiping God and helping others. The Sabbath was intended to be a reminder that God supplies our needs while also giving us the rest we need to be more productive during the rest of our week. Jesus did not come to replace the Sabbath; He came to restore it.

However, the Pharisees were stuck in their legalism and hostility towards anyone who challenged their picture of God’s demands for the Sabbath, and this leads them to begin plotting Jesus’ death.

After this event, it is interesting in my mind to read a quotation Matthew includes from the prophet Isaiah. Continuing in verse 15, we learn that:

¹⁵Jesus knew what the Pharisees were doing, so he left that place. Many people followed him, and he healed all who were sick. ¹⁶But Jesus warned the people not to tell who he was. ¹⁷He 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.
¹⁹He will not argue or cry out;
    no one will hear his voice in the streets.
²⁰He will not break a crushed blade of grass
    or put out even a weak flame
until he makes justice win the victory.
²¹In him will the non-Jewish people find hope.”

The very last phrase of Isaiah’s prophecy is amazing in my mind. In Jesus, all the non-Jewish people find hope! This means that Jesus is the Messiah for the world, not just for a certain race or nationality. Jesus came for everyone, and He longs to save anyone and everyone from the curse of sin.

Jesus’ death on the cross opens the way for you and me to experience forgiveness for our sins and the hope of an eternal life with God. Even in the Old Testament we discover Jesus’ mission was to everyone regardless of race, nationality, or any other dividing line. Jesus came for everyone!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, be sure to intentionally seek God first each and every day of your life and to place your focus on Him. Choose to place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus and live your life as a thank You to Jesus.

Also, be sure to do good on the Sabbath like Jesus showed us. While we might not do miracles or heal people on God’s day of rest and worship, we can be helpful, kind, and loving to others. This is God’s ideal for His special day!

If you have any doubts about what Jesus felt about the Sabbath, take your concerns to God in prayer and Bible study. Pray and study the Bible for yourself to discover the truth about this truth for yourself. Listen to a variety of different opinions on the Sabbath and test these different views with what the Bible teaches. Like many other beliefs, there is a wide range of views on the Sabbath, and we can best learn through listening to many people and filtering everything they say through what the Bible teaches. Don’t hesitate to ask others about the Bible’s teaching on this subject, but be sure to take what they say and filter it through what you see written in the Bible.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Year in Matthew – Episode 21: In two similar events, Jesus is challenged over what are lawful and not lawful activities for the Sabbath day. You may be surprised with what we learn from Jesus’ response.

Join the discussion. Share your thoughts on this passage.

Misunderstanding a Metaphor: Matthew 16:5-12

Published May 26, 2021 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 16:5-12 (NCV)

⁵Jesus’ followers went across the lake, but they had forgotten to bring bread. ⁶Jesus said to them, “Be careful! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”

⁷His followers discussed the meaning of this, saying, “He said this because we forgot to bring bread.”

⁸Knowing what they were talking about, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about not having bread? Your faith is small. ⁹Do you still not understand? Remember the five loaves of bread that fed the five thousand? And remember that you filled many baskets with the leftovers? ¹⁰Or the seven loaves of bread that fed the four thousand and the many baskets you filled then also? ¹¹I was not talking to you about bread. Why don’t you understand that? I am telling you to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” ¹²Then the followers understood that Jesus was not telling them to beware of the yeast used in bread but to beware of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Read Matthew 16:5-12 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

During one of the many times that Jesus and His disciples crossed the lake, the disciples forgot to bring bread with them. While this probably already irritated the disciples enough, since they may have been hungry, an interesting conversation takes place. This conversation highlights one big challenge we all face in human nature.

In my imagination, probably about half way across the lake, the disciples realize they had forgotten bread. At about this very moment, Jesus gets their attention to say, “Be careful! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” (v. 6)

While it is pretty clear to us that Jesus is speaking in a metaphor about something that is below the surface, the disciples didn’t catch this at first. The disciples did grasp that there was something more to Jesus’ words, because they started talking amongst themselves about what this phrase meant. It seems like they concluded by coming to what must have been the plainest, most surface-level, rational answer they could imagine in their moment of hunger: “He said this because we forgot to bring bread.” (v. 7)

The disciples might have also came up with the thought that if they saw a Pharisee or Sadducee merchant (which would be unlikely) selling yeast, or even one of these two groups of people giving yeast away, then they shouldn’t even consider getting any from them.

However, we know from how Matthew frames this event that Jesus is speaking with a simple metaphor: yeast equals something else. The context for the statement and the frame of mind of the listener both matter. Had there been an abundance of bread on this trip, the disciples may have realized that Jesus was speaking about something not directly related to bread.

It is the same for us when we communicate. For us to communicate without the message being lost when it reaches the listener’s ears, we must pay attention to the context. Otherwise, when we are trying to share a metaphor to help people remember a concept, they could be too focused on taking it literally.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.

Communicating While Silent: Luke 1:57-80

Published May 25, 2021 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Luke 1:57-80 (NIrV)

⁵⁷The time came for Elizabeth to have her baby. She gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very kind to her. They shared her joy.

⁵⁹On the eighth day, they came to have the child circumcised. They were going to name him Zechariah, like his father. ⁶⁰But his mother spoke up. “No!” she said. “He must be called John.”

⁶¹They said to her, “No one among your relatives has that name.”

⁶²Then they motioned to his father. They wanted to find out what he would like to name the child. ⁶³He asked for something to write on. Then he wrote, “His name is John.” Everyone was amazed. ⁶⁴Right away Zechariah could speak again. Right away he praised God. ⁶⁵All his neighbors were filled with fear and wonder. Throughout Judea’s hill country, people were talking about all these things. ⁶⁶Everyone who heard this wondered about it. And because the Lord was with John, they asked, “What is this child going to be?”

⁶⁷John’s father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit. He prophesied,

⁶⁸“Give praise to the Lord, the God of Israel!
    He has come to his people and purchased their freedom.
⁶⁹He has acted with great power and has saved us.
    He did it for those who are from the family line of his servant David.
⁷⁰Long ago holy prophets said he would do it.
⁷¹He has saved us from our enemies.
    We are rescued from all who hate us.
⁷²He has been kind to our people of long ago.
    He has remembered his holy covenant.
⁷³    He made a promise to our father Abraham.
⁷⁴He promised to save us from our enemies.
    Then we could serve him without fear.
⁷⁵    He wants us to be holy and godly as long as we live.

⁷⁶“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High God.
    You will go ahead of the Lord to prepare the way for him.
⁷⁷You will tell his people how they can be saved.
    You will tell them that their sins can be forgiven.
⁷⁸All of that will happen because our God is tender and caring.
    His kindness will bring the rising sun to us from heaven.
⁷⁹It will shine on those living in darkness
    and in the shadow of death.
It will guide our feet on the path of peace.”

⁸⁰The child grew up, and his spirit became strong. He lived in the desert until he appeared openly to Israel.

Read Luke 1:57-80 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

In this passage, I am impressed with what is implied from what happened. While Luke begins by drawing our attention onto Zechariah’s doubt and subsequent muteness, in this passage, by the time Elizabeth gives birth, it would seem that Zechariah has a restored faith in God, and a restored obedience to the angel’s instruction.

While he was mute, Zechariah would have written out what He wanted to communicate with his wife and family. This would have included his desire for the child to be named John. Zechariah and Elizabeth probably had this discussion on the child’s name, and they both had agreed what the child’s name would be.

We don’t have any idea if the baby’s name was communicated outside of the couple, but if it had been, in the excitement of the birth, the relatives and neighbors got caught up with a different idea: Name the baby after his father Zechariah.

In many ways this is a compliment to Zechariah. By naming the child after the father, these relatives sent the message that they wanted the child to continue with the father’s legacy, and to become every bit of the man the father had become. Their desire was to compliment Zechariah by suggesting that his son be named after him.

Here’s how Luke describes what happened, “On the eighth day, they came to have the child circumcised. They were going to name him Zechariah, like his father. But his mother spoke up. ‘No!’ she said. ‘He must be called John.’” (v. 59-60)

However, their response was, “No one among your relatives has that name.” (v. 61)

Perhaps because they believed Zechariah’s opinions to be closer to theirs, or maybe because they wanted to draw out what could have been a disagreement between Zechariah and Elizabeth, they motion to Zechariah to come over. They wanted him to break this tie. While the relatives ultimately had no say over what the child’s name would be, they didn’t want it to be a name that wasn’t already in the family. They hoped that Zechariah would side with them, but when given something to write on, he wrote, “His name is John.” (v. 63)

In these four words we uncover Zechariah and Elizabeth’s marriage. While it likely had been strained because of his muteness, Zechariah had moved past his failures of faith and focused his attention on helping with a smooth pregnancy. In these four words, we discover that Zechariah and Elizabeth had communicated, and in spite of Zechariah’s temporary disability, they had kept their marriage strong while things were likely very stressful.

In John’s birth, we see a glimpse into the sort of marriage that Zechariah and Elizabeth had, and a glimpse into the man Zechariah had become. Zechariah focused on communicating during a difficult time and that communication paid off during John’s birth when their relatives had a different name in mind.

Subscribe to this blog and never miss an insight.

Flashback Episode — Seeing the Future: Luke 22:7-13

Published May 24, 2021 in Audio Journal Entries

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iHeartRadio | RSS

Read the Transcript

We started this year at the beginning of the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, and we have now come to the night Jesus is betrayed and arrested. This weekend marked the Jewish Passover, and before His arrest, Jesus wants to eat a special Passover supper with His disciples.

However, where would they eat it? The city of Jerusalem was not only crowded with people coming in for this holy day, but the religious leaders were on the lookout to find Jesus, making it a not very safe place for Him to be.

All these challenges were no match for divine providence. Jesus knew the details of that night better than anyone else involved, and He knows that God had a special spot already preplanned for them to eat together. Let’s read how God solved this problem.

Our passage is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 22, and we will be reading from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 7, Luke tells us that:

⁷Then the day of Unleavened Bread came. That was the time the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. ⁸Jesus sent Peter and John on ahead. “Go,” he told them. “Prepare for us to eat the Passover meal.”

⁹“Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.

¹⁰Jesus replied, “When you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house he enters. ¹¹Then say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, “Where is the guest room? Where can I eat the Passover meal with my disciples?” ’ ¹²He will show you a large upstairs room with furniture already in it. Prepare for us to eat there.”

¹³Peter and John left. They found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover meal.

Several things stand out in my mind when I read this passage. Probably first on the list is how Jesus knew exactly how to direct Peter and John to find the place for them to prepare the meal. While the instructions are specific, they aren’t super detailed.

Would there only be one man carrying a water pot when they entered the city?

Were they to enter the city and look for a man with a water pot to acknowledge their presence?

Would it look weird to follow this man to where he was going?

Would the owner of the home know who the disciples meant when they asked the question from the “Teacher”?

Using the very generic term teacher makes me wonder if someone in this home was secretly against Jesus. Perhaps it wasn’t someone from the homeowner’s own family, but someone who happened to be visiting briefly, or someone who was walking by within earshot.

However, all of these questions are not answerable, except to say that however Jesus described the details to the disciples, they understood and found things exactly as He described.

But another detail stands out in my mind, and this detail relates to what we focused on last week. Judas Iscariot was secretly plotting against Jesus and looking for a way to hand Him over to the Jewish leaders. It is amazing in my mind that he would witness this foreknowledge, more than once, and believe that his plotting would remain secret.

Sending the disciples to prepare the Passover meal is not the first time Jesus sent some disciples ahead with specific tasks using foreknowledge. Jesus did something similar when sending the disciples ahead to get a donkey for Him to ride into Jerusalem on. We looked at this event earlier this year. Jesus had also given Peter a set of instructions that required amazing foreknowledge for Peter to pay the temple tax.

Judas Iscariot would have been blind to believe Jesus did not know his plot especially when Jesus could direct the disciples in incredible, extraordinary ways. Why he believed he could plot against Jesus is amazing in itself.

It is possible that Judas believed that Jesus knew the plot, He would let the betrayal happen, and then He would reveal His glory. Judas may have believed that being the betrayer was a good thing if it would ultimately get Jesus to reveal to the world that He was the Messiah.

However, this belief runs counter to what Jesus had been telling the disciples all along. Jesus kept telling them He was to be betrayed, then killed, and then after death, He would be raised back to life. It appears as though none of the disciples really understood or believed Jesus’ words here until after it happened. If Judas had heard and understood Jesus’ message, then the results of His betrayal would not have been a surprise.

Jesus knew what would happen better than the disciples were willing to understand all that Jesus wanted to teach them. Jesus tried to share his foreknowledge with them about that weekend, but all His warnings and predictions fell on deaf ears – which is an odd idea to think about since these disciples had witnessed Jesus healing every sort of ailment, and deafness was probably included at some point.

In our passage, Jesus displays and incredible foreknowledge of what would happen. We could say that Jesus knows the future. If Jesus knew the future when He was walking here on this earth, He knows the future today.

Nothing that is happening in the world today is surprising Him. While the world is a mix of bad and good, none of it is catching Jesus off guard.

When something in the world surprises us, catches us off guard, or challenges us, we know that Jesus knew it would happen, and He has prepared a response for us to walk. While we might not always know why something happened the way it did, we can know and trust that with whatever happens in this life, God is keeping us safe for eternity. God loves you and I and He wants to see us with Him in Heaven!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always seek God first and trust that He knows the future. Trust that He wants You to be in heaven with Him, and trust that when we draw close to Him, He will lead each of us into a saving relationship with Him.

Also, pray and study the Bible for yourself to discover what the Bible really teaches, and learn to trust the Bible over tradition. While tradition can be helpful, over time, it can begin to contradict the Bible. This happened in the Old Testament times with the religious leaders, and there are plenty of cases where it has happened in the New Testament church as well. Only through personally praying and studying the Bible can you discover what the Bible teaches for yourself.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or fall away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Flashback Episode: Year of the Cross – Episode 21: Leading up to the last supper with the disciples, Jesus sends two of them ahead with some strange instructions about where to find the place to prepare the meal. Discover what we can learn about Jesus and about God in this event leading into the Last Supper.