Year 9, Day 186: Matthew 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In this chapter, Jesus returns to His conflict with the leaders of the day.  There are more examples of contrasting leadership styles.  There is certainly more conflict between Jesus and the leaders.

This conflict, as with most conflict, arises from a difference of opinion or understanding.  Take the first major conflict.  What is work?  What is the Sabbath?  The religious leaders say that work is anything that causes major effort.  Jesus disagrees, arguing that the will of the Lord – demonstrating love and compassion – is not work.  Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath to prove His point.  Naturally, the religious leaders condemn the action because in their mind, Jesus disobeyed the Law.  The miss Jesus’ greater point.  Doing the work of the Lord is not work.  The Sabbath wasn’t created to spare us from work, the Sabbath was created to make sure we always had a day where we could turn to the Lord and make sure the world didn’t consume us.  It is interesting that people consumed by their place in the world should miss that point.

The religious leaders turn to Jesus and then accuse Him of conspiring with Satan.  They argue that He is able to command evil because He is in league with evil.  From a human perspective, it makes sense.  How often do we see people in power and argue that the only reason that they are in power is because they have conspired with evil?  However, Jesus makes a divine point.  If Jesus is in league with evil, then destroying His own will only hurt His house.

To settle the issue, Jesus speaks words that remind me of the prophet Isaiah.  At one point, Isaiah looks to those that accuse him and says, “We’ll only know who is right after the fact.  If Assyria and Babylon don’t take us into captivity, then clearly I wasn’t from God.  But if they do, then the people who speak about peace are leading you astray.”  In that same tone Jesus turns to the people and teaches them to recognize people by their fruit.  If you see someone who engenders trust and who seems to speak wisdom, they likely are worth listening to.  However, if you see someone who causes conflict and engenders a spirit of distrust, they probably are with discounting.  God’s people should be recognizable by the spirit about them.  How are the people to decide between Jesus’ logic and the logic of the world around them?  They are to look at the influence of Jesus and the religious leaders and decide who has the best influence.

Jesus ends the chapter with a bit of a warning.  He speaks about a house cleaned of evil and warns that evil will return.  He’s talking about the Jewish religious leaders.  Prior to Babylon and Assyria, the religious leaders were corrupt.  God cleansed them in captivity.  Yet, several hundred years later after cleansing the house, the leadership has spoiled again.  Evil will continue to come back to roost if we are not active in resisting its return.

<><