Matthew  12          Saturday,  Jan 24


1-2  the law said that you could not work on the Sabbath.  The Pharisee's defined that by describing what was "work".  If you walked more than "x" number of steps, or picked up anything that weighed more than "x"...etc.  you were guilty.    Apparently, the process of rubbing raw grain together in your hands and eating the kernels after you blew away the chaff was considered "grinding grain" and that was work....and work was forbidden on the Sabbath.   That seems a little picky to me...
Don't you just love people who seem to make it their life mission to find any little fault they can in what you do?    I wonder why they do that?   Is it to show off what they know, or is it to make you look less competent?   Are they jealous or conceited?   Maybe they're just lonely, and looking for attention.   Whatever the reason, it really makes them more of a challenge to love.
Jesus tries to reason with them, pointing out that they have lost focus on the "main thing".  Jesus is God, He is here with them, and of course can do anything He wants.   How is feeding people who are hungry a sin?   they are missing the point...probably because they simply don't like Him and want to turn the people against Him.

vs 20.   Reeds were used as wicks, they drew oil up from the lamp to the flame.  If the reed is bent or crushed, it doesn't work correctly.  And if it doesn't work correctly, it produces smoke.
Smoke is the last thing you want from your lamp.  It stinks, it burns the eyes, it makes people want to run the opposite direction.     I know, because I have been a "smoldering wick" before.   Thankfully, Jesus loves smoldering wicks and bent reeds.  He doesn't give up on us just because we aren't producing the way that we were intended to.   He never says "you're a lost cause" or "you are too off-putting for me to deal with".   I may have those thoughts and feelings, but Jesus never does.   He always loves and always cares.

Vs 31.  Blaspheming the Holy Spirit as the unforgivable sin is a popular concern amongst Christians.   As followers of Jesus we read this and say to ourselves "I remember before I was a Christian I did some things that might be considered blaspheming the Holy Spirit.   Maybe I'm really not saved."   I assure you that God forgives, and I don't think that's what is being said here.    I believe that what God is saying is that salvation comes through allowing the Holy Spirit to move you, He convicts us, reminding us of sin and guilt, and provides the mechanism by which our prayers reach heaven.   Jesus hears our prayers because of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.   We hear what God is saying to us because the Holy Spirit carries it to us.   Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot interact with God, because the Holy Spirit is God, and is the part of God that connects us with Him.   If we reject or blaspheme the Holy Spirit, there cannot be forgiveness, because to our own shame we cut ourselves off from the only way to be forgiven.    The path to forgiveness runs through the Holy Spirit.

vs 40.   The sign of Jonah is a prophetic proof that Jesus is the person He says He is.   Now we know why Jonah wasn't rescued from the great fish until three days had passed, even though he likely repented the moment he was inside the beast.   God knew that Jonah's circumstances would one day reveal the Savior.   God never wastes an experience.

vs. 43.   We should exercise caution when asking forgiveness...not to leave the task half undone.   If we ask the Lord, he will drive the demons from our lives....but beware!  Demons will try to return.   Unless we fill in the empty place with Jesus the devil will instruct the demons to marshal forces and return in large numbers.    We can actually end up worse than we were in the first place.

Vs. 48.  when we become Christians, we are adopted into a new family.   That's great, because many people haven't ever been privileged to be part of a large family, or a functional family.   The family of God is both large and functional.    I honestly don't know how people who don't have a church family make it through life.   How sad and lonely it must be to try and cope with day to day life without a family!    Jesus was pointing out a great spiritual truth when he directed the crowd to recognize his real family.     This isn't intended as a rebuke of blood relatives, or biological families in any way, it's just that the spiritual family is more enduring and of a better quality than our biological families could ever be.     The perfect scenario would be that everyone in the biological family is also part of the spiritual family, so there would never be any tension between the two.


PR