121 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 . 2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, "Look , Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath ." 3 But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he became hungry , he and his companions e , 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 ? 5 "Or have you not read in the Law , that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent ? 6 "But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here . 7 "But if you had known what this means , ' I DESIRE COMPASSION , AND NOT A SACRIFICE ,' you would not have condemned the innocent . 8 "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath ."
9 Departing from there , He went into their synagogue . 10 And a man was there whose hand was withered . And they questioned Jesus, asking , " Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath ?"-so that they might accuse Him. 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 he not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 " How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep ! So then , it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath ." 13 Then He said to the man , "Stretch out your hand !" He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal , like the other .
14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired e against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
15 But Jesus , aware of this, withdrew from there . Many followed Him, and He healed them all , 16 and warned them not to tell who He was. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet : 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 . 19 " HE WILL NOT QUARREL , NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS . 20 " A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY . 21 " AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE ."
31 He entered again into a synagogue ; and a man was there whose hand was withered . 2 They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath , so that they might accuse Him. 3 He said to the man with the withered hand , "Get up and come forward e !" 4 And He said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath , to save a life or to kill ?" But they kept silent . 5 After looking around at them with anger , grieved at their hardness of heart , He said to the man , "Stretch out your hand ." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored . 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
7 Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples ; and a great multitude from Galilee followed ; and also from Judea , 8 and from Jerusalem , and from Idumea , and beyond the Jordan , and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon , a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. 9 And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd , so that they would not crowd Him; 10 for He had healed many , with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. 11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout , "You are the Son of God !" 12 And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.
13 And He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted , and they came to Him. 14 And He appointed twelve , so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach , 15 and to have authority to cast out the demons . 16 And He appointed the twelve : Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter ), 17 and James , the son of Zebedee , and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges , which means , "Sons of Thunder "); 18 and Andrew , and Philip , and Bartholomew , and Matthew , and Thomas , and James the son of Alphaeus , and Thaddaeus , and Simon the Zealot ; 19 and Judas Iscariot , who betrayed Him.
20 And He came home , and the crowd gathered again , to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal . 21 When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying , " He has lost His senses ."
22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying , "He is possessed by Beelzebul ," and " He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons ." 23 And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables , "How can Satan cast out Satan ? 24 "If a kingdom is divided against itself , that kingdom cannot e stand . 25 "If a house is divided against itself , that house will not be able to stand . 26 "If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided , he cannot e stand , but he is finished ! 27 " But no one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his property unless e he first binds the strong man , and then he will plunder his house . 28 " Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men , and whatever e blasphemies they utter ; 29 but whoever e blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never e e has forgiveness , but is guilty of an eternal sin "- 30 because they were saying , "He has an unclean spirit ."
31 Then His mother and His brothers arrived , and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. 32 A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, "Behold , Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You." 33 Answering them, He said , "Who are My mother and My brothers ?" 34 Looking about at those who were sitting around e Him, He said , " Behold My mother and My brothers ! 35 "For whoever e does the will of God , he is My brother and sister and mother ."
61 Now it happened that He was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath ; and His disciples were picking the heads of grain , rubbing them in their hands , and eating the grain. 2 But some of the Pharisees said , "Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath ?" 3 And Jesus answering them said , "Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry , he and those who were with him, 4 how he entered the house of God , and took and ate the consecrated bread which is not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone , and gave it to his companions e ?" 5 And He was saying to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath ."
6 On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and was teaching ; and there was a man there whose e right hand was withered . 7 The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath , so that they might find reason to accuse Him. 8 But He knew what they were thinking , and He said to the man with the withered hand , "Get up and come forward e !" And he got up and came forward. 9 And Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath , to save a life or to destroy it?" 10 After looking around at them all , He said to him, "Stretch out your hand !" And he did so; and his hand was restored . 11 But they themselves were filled with rage , and discussed together e what e they might do to Jesus .
12 It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray , and He spent the whole night in prayer to God . 13 And when day came , He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles : 14 Simon , whom He also named Peter , and Andrew his brother ; and James and John ; and Philip and Bartholomew ; 15 and Matthew and Thomas ; James the son of Alphaeus , and Simon who was called the Zealot ; 16 Judas the son of James , and Judas Iscariot , who became a traitor .
17 Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place ; and there was a large crowd of His disciples , and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon , 18 who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases ; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured . 19 And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all .
20 And turning His gaze toward His disciples , He began to say , " Blessed are you who are poor , for yours is the kingdom of God . 21 "Blessed are you who hunger now , for you shall be satisfied . Blessed are you who weep now , for you shall laugh . 22 " Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil , for the sake of the Son of Man . 23 "Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold , your reward is great in heaven . For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets . 24 "But woe to you who are rich , for you are receiving your comfort in full . 25 "Woe to you who are well-fed now , for you shall be hungry . Woe to you who laugh now , for you shall mourn and weep . 26 "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way .
27 "But I say to you who hear , love your enemies , do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 " Whoever hits you on the cheek , offer him the other also ; and whoever takes away your coat , do not withhold your shirt from him either . 30 "Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours , do not demand it back . 31 " Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. 32 " If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 "If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same . 34 " If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive , what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 35 "But love your enemies , and do good , and lend , expecting nothing in return ; and your reward will be great , and you will be sons of the Most High ; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. 36 "Be merciful , just as your Father is merciful .
37 " Do not judge , and you will not be judged ; and do not condemn , and you will not be condemned ; pardon , and you will be pardoned . 38 "Give , and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure -pressed down , shaken together , and running over . For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return ." 39 And He also spoke a parable to them: " A blind man cannot e guide a blind man , can he? Will they not both fall into a pit ? 40 " A pupil is not above his teacher ; but everyone , after he has been fully trained , will be like his teacher . 41 "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye , but do not notice the log that is in your own eye ? 42 "Or how can you say to your brother , 'Brother , let me take out the speck that is in your eye ,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye ? You hypocrite , first take the log out of your own eye , and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye .
43 " For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit , nor , on the other hand , a bad tree which produces good fruit . 44 " For each tree is known by its own fruit . For men do not gather figs from thorns , nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush . 45 " The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good ; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil ; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart .
46 " Why do you call Me, 'Lord , Lord ,' and do not do what I say ? 47 " Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like : 48 he is like a man building a house , who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock ; and when a flood occurred , the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built . 49 "But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation ; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed , and the ruin of that house was great ."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Matthew 12:1-21
Commentary on Matthew 12:1-8
(Read Matthew 12:1-8)
Being in the corn-fields, the disciples began to pluck the ears of corn: the law of God allowed it, Deuteronomy 5:14. No law must be understood so as to contradict its own end. And as Christ is the Lord of the sabbath, it is fit the day and the work of it should be dedicated to him.
Commentary on Matthew 12:9-13
(Read Matthew 12:9-13)
Christ shows that works of mercy are lawful and proper to be done on the Lord's day. There are more ways of doing well upon sabbath days, than by the duties of worship: attending the sick, relieving the poor, helping those who need speedy relief, teaching the young to care for their souls; these are doing good: and these must be done from love and charity, with humility and self-denial, and shall be accepted, Genesis 4:7. This, like other cures which Christ wrought, had a spiritual meaning. By nature our hands are withered, and we are unable of ourselves to do any thing that is good. Christ only, by the power of his grace, cures us; he heals the withered hand by putting life into the dead soul, works in us both to will and to do: for, with the command, there is a promise of grace given by the word.
Commentary on Matthew 12:14-21
(Read Matthew 12:14-21)
The Pharisees took counsel to find some accusation, that Jesus might be condemned to death. Aware of their design, as his time was not come, he retired from that place. Face does not more exactly answer to face in water, than the character of Christ drawn by the prophet, to his temper and conduct as described by the evangelists. Let us with cheerful confidence commit our souls to so kind and faithful a Friend. Far from breaking, he will strengthen the bruised reed; far from quenching the smoking flax, or wick nearly out, he will rather blow it up into a flame. Let us lay aside contentious and angry debates; let us receive one another as Christ receives us. And while encouraged by the gracious kindness of our Lord, we should pray that his Spirit may rest upon us, and make us able to copy his example.