Matthew 12:1

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

1 At that time ^aJesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to ^bpluck heads of grain and to eat.

2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

3 But He said to them, “Have you not read ^awhat David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:

4 how he entered the house of God and ate ^athe showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, ^bbut only for the priests?

5 Or have you not read in the ^alaw that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple¹ profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?

6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is ^aOne greater than the temple.

7 But if you had known what this means, ^a‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Healing on the Sabbath

9 ^aNow when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.

10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, ^a“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.

11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?

12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.

14 Then ^athe Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.

Behold, My Servant

15 But when Jesus knew it, ^aHe withdrew from there. ^bAnd great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.

16 Yet He ^awarned them not to make Him known,

17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

18 “Behold! ^aMy Servant whom I have chosen,
My Beloved ^bin whom My soul is well pleased!
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.

19 He will not quarrel nor cry out,
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.

20 A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench,
Till He sends forth justice to victory;

21 And in His name Gentiles will trust.”

A House Divided Cannot Stand

22 ^aThen one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the¹ blind and mute man both spoke and saw.

23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the ^aSon of David?”

24 ^aNow when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by¹ Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

25 But Jesus ^aknew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.

26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.

28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, ^asurely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

29 ^aOr how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

The Unpardonable Sin

31 “Therefore I say to you, ^aevery sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, ^bbut the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.

32 Anyone who ^aspeaks a word against the Son of Man, ^bit will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

A Tree Known by Its Fruit

33 “Either make the tree good and ^aits fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.

34 ^aBrood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? ^bFor out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

35 A good man out of the good treasure¹ of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.

36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

The Scribes and Pharisees Ask for a Sign

38 ^aThen some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and ^aadulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

40 ^aFor as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

41 ^aThe men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and ^bcondemn it, ^cbecause they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

42 ^aThe queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.

An Unclean Spirit Returns

43 ^a“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, ^bhe goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.

44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.

45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; ^aand the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers Send for Him

46 While He was still talking to the multitudes, ^abehold, His mother and ^bbrothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him.

47 Then one said to Him, “Look, ^aYour mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.”

48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?”

49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My ^abrothers!

50 For ^awhoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

Commentaries:

Forerunner Commentary
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Matthew 12:2 >>

What Does Matthew 12:1 Mean?

The Pharisees considered the disciples guilty of reaping, threshing, and winnowing grain, thereby preparing a meal on the Sabbath, likely a high holy day during the Days of Unleavened Bread. The disciples were hungry, itinerant, and had no place to prepare food. Though young and strong enough to fast, Jesus deliberately used the moment to reveal a main purpose of the Sabbath: it is a day of mercy, not sacrifice. Drawing justification from I Samuel 21:1-6, He reasoned that just as David lawfully ate consecrated bread under unusual circumstances, the disciples could provide for their needs. God's law intends to ensure life, not deprive. A larger obligation, mercy, overruled the letter of the law, leaving them blameless.

Matthew 12:1-8

Jesus truly knew God's law and that other concerns (mercy, in this case; verse 7) may sometimes override the strict letter-of-the-law approach the Pharisees used. The Pharisees no doubt thought Jesus a flaming liberal, but to Jesus, He was simply working within the liberty God's law allows (see Psalm 119:45; John 8:31-32; II Corinthians 3:17; James 1:25; I Peter 2:16).

David F. Maas
Righteousness from Inside-Out

Matthew 12:1-4

According to the Pharisees, the disciples reaped a crop. They threshed it by rubbing the berries in their hands and breaking the hulls off. Then they winnowed it by blowing the hulls away. By doing so, they were guilty of preparing a meal. This was actually a high holy day, very likely one of the holy days of the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Consider the disciples' motivation for what they did. First, they were hungry. Second, they were itinerate, using "shoe leather express," traveling with Jesus as a part of His entourage. He instructed them, giving them examples of His way of life, all along the way. He Himself said that He had no place to lay His head. They had, therefore, no place to prepare a meal. They did not have homes that they could readily return to.

These were strong, young men, probably in their twenties or early thirties (about the same age as Jesus), so they could have fasted without damage. But, because it was the Sabbath, Jesus deliberately drew attention to one of the Sabbath's main purposes: It is a day of mercy and not a day of sacrifice.

Christ's justification comes from I Samuel 21:1-6. He reasoned that, if it was all right for David to allay his hunger under an unusual circumstance by eating bread that had been consecrated for holy use, His disciples could provide for their needs in this manner. (The showbread was put into the Tabernacle on the table, and it sat there during the entire week. Then, every Sabbath it was exchanged for new bread. David ate the week-old bread that had just been exchanged for the new.)

So what is He saying? The Sabbath is a day of mercy. And if one can rightly, lawfully use "holy bread" to do something that, according to the letter of the law, was illegal, then it was also legitimate for the disciples to provide for their needs also in an unusual circumstance.

The emphasis here is on the word unusual. How frequently was David fleeing for his life and finding himself hungry? It did happen, at least this one time, but it did not happen every Sabbath. Maybe in David's lifetime something like this occurred a few times, but even for a man of war like David, it did not happen all that frequently.

The overall lesson, however, is that it is not the intention of God's law to deprive anybody of good things. The intent of God's law is to ensure life. If the need arises, one should not feel conscience-stricken to use the Sabbath in a way that would not "normally" be lawful. Christ admitted that what David did was not "normally" lawful. Neither was what the disciples were doing "normally lawful," except for the extenuating circumstance.

In this case then, they were blameless because a larger obligation overruled the letter of the law. The larger obligation was to be merciful. The letter of the law said that they could not have that bread. The larger obligation said that it was more important to eat than it was to fast (to sacrifice eating). Holy bread, or holy time (the Sabbath), can be used exceptionally in order to sustain life.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fourth Commandment (Part 3)

Matthew 12:1-8

Matthew 12:1-8 adds yet another example of Sabbath encounters Jesus had with the Pharisees. According to the Pharisees, the disciples reaped, threshed, and winnowed the grain; they were guilty of preparing a meal. What was the disciples' motivation? They were traveling, hungry, and had no place to prepare a meal. They were young and strong and could have fasted without harm, but because it was a Sabbath, Jesus drew attention to one of the Sabbath's main purposes. It is a day of mercy.

Christ draws His justification from I Samuel 21:1-6. He reasons that, if David under unusual circumstances could allay his hunger by eating bread consecrated for holy use, then the disciples could also legitimately provide for their needs in unusual circumstances. The emphasis here is on "unusual." How many times did David flee for his life and find himself hungry near the Tabernacle? It happened at least once, but even for a man of war like David, such situations occurred only rarely.

The overall lesson is that God does not intend His law to deprive but to ensure life. If the need arises, we should not feel conscience-stricken to use the Sabbath in a way that would not normally be lawful. Christ admits David's actions were not normally lawful, and neither were the disciples'—except for the circumstances. In this case, they were blameless BECAUSE A LARGER OBLIGATION OVERRULED THE LETTER OF THE LAW. In this circumstance, mercy is more important than sacrificing a meal. Holy bread or holy time can be used exceptionally to sustain life and serve God.

Christ takes advantage of the situation to teach another connected lesson. He draws attention to the extent of the priests' Sabbath labors in the Temple. Their work actually doubled on the Sabbath because of the number of sacrifices God required, yet they were guiltless. Why? They were involved in God's creative, redemptive work, as Christ explains in John 5, 7, and 9. They fulfilled a purpose of the Sabbath that someone had to do.

Because of the disciple's involvement in the work of God, circumstances dictated a profaning of the Sabbath. From this, we can understand that LOVING SERVICE IS GREATER THAN RITUAL FULFILLMENT. What is mercy? It is a helpful act where and when it is needed. It is an act of loving encouragement, comfort, pity, and sympathy for the distressed. It is the relieving of a burden.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fourth Commandment (Part Two): Christ's Attitude Toward the Sabbath

**Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Matthew 12:1:**

Exodus 20:8
Matthew 12:1-8

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