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Matthew 12:1-24 Guard Against Turning Flexible Commands Into Rigid Commands.

The New Testament states very clearly that drunkenness is wrong. That seems clear; except that it is hard to define the point at which a person has become drunk. Even one sip of alcohol can dull the senses. How many sips can a person take before they cross the line into drunkenness? That is not an easy question to answer.

That uncertainty leads some Christians to believe that all Christians should practice total abstinence from alcohol, and that failure to do so is a sin. The reasoning is that the best way to avoid drunkenness is to never take even the first sip. That is a valid argument, but the reality is the Bible does not prohibit alcohol altogether, it only prohibits drunkenness. There are other commands in the New Testament that contain similar gray areas.

The Mosaic Law commanded the Israelites not to work on the Sabbath. That naturally brought up a debate on how to define work. By the first century AD the Jews had developed elaborate rules on what constituted work and what did not. In the process they prohibited behaviors that the Mosaic Law did not prohibit. The response of Jesus to the excesses of 1st century Judaism teaches us that we should be careful about teaching rules regarding alcohol and other topics that exceed what the Bible actually says.

The first 11 chapters of Matthew record many teachings of Jesus and list multiple miracles He performed. Matthew clearly wrote that Jesus was followed by a huge throng of people. The healings performed by Jesus were witnessed by hundreds, if not thousands, of people.

It was inevitable that the authorities would hear about Jesus and what He was doing. Jesus was a threat to the status quo, so the religious leaders began to resist Him. Chapter 12 explains how they used their rules regarding the Sabbath to try and discredit Jesus.

Matt. 12:1 ¶ At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat.

I grew up on a farm and we used to do this. A grain field is made up of thousands of stalks of grain. At the top of each stalk is a head that contains a couple dozen kernels of grain. We used to pull the head of grain off the stalk, rub the kernels in our hands to separate the chaff from the grain, blow in our hands to blow the chaff away, and then the only thing in our hands was the kernels of grain which we would plop into our mouth and eat as a little snack. That is what the disciples were doing.

Matt. 12:2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.”

The Mosaic Law prohibited working on the Sabbath. Harvesting a field is work, but that is not what the disciples were doing. They were simply picking a few heads of grain and eating a snack.

The Pharisees could have made the argument that picking one head of grain leads to picking another head of grain, which eventually leads to picking all the heads of grain, which would be harvesting the field and would be work. The best way to avoid working on the Sabbath, so their argument probably went, was to never pick even one head of grain.

Matt. 12:3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions,

Matt. 12:4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?

This is recorded in 1Sam 21. Saul was trying to kill David, so David and his men fled. They went to the priest at Nob and asked for some food for their journey. The only food on hand was the consecrated bread. David and his men were not priests, so they were not allowed to eat the consecrated bread; however, the priest gave it to them anyway so that they would not go hungry.

It is interesting that Jesus did not point out that His disciples were not actually working. Instead, He reminded the Pharisees that there were occasions when it was permissible to break the law, especially when a person was hungry.

Matt. 12:5 Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?

The priests were required to offer a morning and evening sacrifice on the Sabbath. Since their job was to offer sacrifices, they were required by the Law to work on the Sabbath.

Matt. 12:6 But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.

Matt. 12:7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

The Mosaic Law required sacrifices, and they should have been offered according to the law; however, life is messy, and sometimes compassion requires some flexibility on the law. The Pharisees were so obsessed with obeying the law perfectly that they did not have any compassion.

Matt. 12:8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Matt. 12:9 ¶ And departing from there, He went into their synagogue.

Matt. 12:10 And behold, a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him.

Notice that those questioning Jesus were opposed to Jesus and wanted Him to give the wrong answer.

Matt. 12:11 And He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?

This is similar to priests offering sacrifices on the Sabbath. There were occasions when the Pharisees did tasks on the Sabbath that could appear to be work.

Matt. 12:12 How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Matt. 12:13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other.

Matt. 12:14 But going out, the Pharisees took counsel together against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

The Pharisees were so strongly opposed to Jesus they wanted to destroy Him.

Matt. 12:15 ¶ But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all,

Matt. 12:16 and warned them not to make Him known,

Matt. 12:17 in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, saying,

Matt. 12:18 “BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN;

MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL IS WELL-PLEASED;

I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM,

AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES.

Matt. 12:19 HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT;

NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS.

Matt. 12:20 A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF,

AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT,

UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY.

Matt. 12:21 AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE.”

Matt. 12:22 ¶ Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw.

Jesus did not find the blind and mute man, the man was brought to Jesus by people who knew the man was truly mute and blind.

Matt. 12:23 And all the crowds were astounded, and were saying, “Can this man really be the Son of David?”

Jesus did this miracle in front of many people.

Matt. 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

The Pharisees could not deny that Jesus had healed a blind and mute man, but they were opposed to Jesus, so they accused Jesus of using the power of Beelzebul to cast out the demons.

There are prohibitions in the New Testament, such as the one against drunkenness, where it is difficult to define the point at which a person has crossed the line into sin. It is common for religious leaders or religious zealots to try to make the rules black and white. However, in doing so, they often treat as sin actions that the Bible does not actually prohibit. Sometimes religious leaders use their rules as weapons to control people.

Jesus did not accept the overly restrictive rules of the Pharisees. Nor did He allow them to use their excessive regulations to control Him.

Likewise, Christians in the 21st century should not claim the Bible teaches standards of behavior that it does not actually teach. It is okay to recommend that people avoid alcohol completely so that they don’t ever cross the line into drunkenness, but that should be taught as something that is a good idea, not as a Biblical requirement.

Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. Tomorrow I will start reading at Matthew 12:25 and correct a false accusation regarding the unpardonable sin. That post is for paid subscribers only, so if you are not a paid subscriber, please subscribe now. In order to subscribe, go to Bible Mountain dotcom and click on Subscribe. Once again, thanks for visiting Bible Mountain.

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”