1722 | Matthew 11:25
The Father Revealed in the Son
11:25-27pp— Lk 10:21,22
25 At that time Jesus said,“ I praise you, Fa ther, m Lord of heaven and earth, be cause you have hid den these things from the wise and learned, and re vealed them to lit tle chil dren. n 26 Yes, Fa ther, for this is what you were pleased to do.
27“ All things have been com mit ted to me o by my Fa ther. p No one knows the Son except the Fa ther, and no one knows the Fa ther ex cept the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to re veal him. q
28“ Come to me, r all you who are weary and bur dened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, s for I am gen tle and hum ble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. t 30 For my yoke is easy and my bur den is light.” u
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
12:1-8pp— Mk 2:23-28; Lk 6:1-5 12:9-14pp— Mk 3:1-6; Lk 6:6-11
At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sab bath. His dis ci ples were
12 hun gry and be gan to pick some heads of grain v and eat them. 2 When the Phar i- sees saw this, they said to him,“ Look! Your dis ci ples are do ing what is un law ful on the Sabbath.” w
3 He an swered,“ Haven’ t you read what Da vid did when he and his com pan ions were hungry? x
4 He en tered the house of God, and he and his com pan ions ate the con se crated bread— which was not law ful for them to do, but only for the priests. y 5 Or haven’ t you read in the Law that the priests on Sab bath duty in the tem ple des e crate the Sab bath z and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that some thing greater than the tem ple is here. a 7 If you had known what these words mean,‘ I de sire mercy, not sac ri fice,’ a b you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man c is Lord of the Sab bath.”
9 Go ing on from that place, he went into their syn a gogue, 10 and a man with a shriv eled hand was there. Look ing for a rea son to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him,“ Is it law ful to heal on the Sab bath?” d
11 He said to them,“ If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sab bath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? e 12 How much more valu able is a per son than a sheep! f There fore it is law ful to do good on the Sab bath.”
13 Then he said to the man,“ Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was com pletely re stored, just as sound as the other. 14 But the Phar i sees went out and plot ted how they might kill Jesus. g
11:25 m Lk 22:42; Jn 11:41 n 1Co 1:26‐29
11:27 o Mt 28:18 p Jn 3:35; 13:3; 17:2
q Jn 10:15
11:28 r Jn 7:37
11:29 s Jn 13:15; Php 2:5; 1Pe 2:21; 1Jn 2:6 t Jer 6:16
11:30 u 1Jn 5:3 12:1 v Dt 23:25
12:2 w ver 10; Lk 13:14; 14:3; Jn 5:10; 7:23; 9:16
12:3 x 1Sa 21:6 12:4 y Lev 24:5, 9
12:5 z Nu 28:9, 10; Jn 7:22, 23
12:6 a ver 41, 42
12:7 b Hos 6:6; Mic 6:6-8; Mt 9:13
12:8 c Mt 8:20
12:10 d ver 2; Lk 13:14; 14:3; Jn 9:16
12:11 e Lk 14:5 12:12 f Mt 10:31
12:14 g Mt 26:4; 27:1; Mk 3:6; Lk 6:11; Jn 5:18; 11:53 a 7 Hosea 6:6
11:25 – 30 Jesus beautifully summarizes the biblical balance between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. God initiates, revealing himself to his Son and thus to“ those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him”( v. 27), and humans must respond—“ Come to me”( v. 28). Those who think themselves too wise for God lose out to those who know their true need. 11:25 Those who esteem themselves“ wise and learned” will often find God’ s truth hidden from them. Those who recognize their dependence on God, just as little children depend on adults, will discover he has revealed himself to them. 11:27 Cf. John 14:6. Jesus is the only way to the Father, and God reveals himself to his chosen people through Jesus. 11:28 – 30 All who are weary and burdened may come to Christ for rest. His is not the yoke of the law( a common rabbinic expression), which made demands without adequate empowerment for obedience. Jesus also offers a yoke( commands that restrict and guide), but with the greater demand comes a greater empowerment through the Spirit, so that his“ yoke is easy” and his“ burden is light”( v. 30).
12:1 – 14 Both plucking grain and healing a man whose life was not at risk violated the
Pharisaic laws that had sprung up around Sabbath-keeping. Jesus justifies his behavior by claiming that he is“ Lord of the Sabbath”( v. 8), a claim that makes sense only coming from one who is divine. 12:1 – 8 Pharisees considered plucking grain to be work, because it was a form of harvesting and led to the preparation of a meal. These were two of the many activities that the Pharisees decided involved work, which the Scriptures forbade on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week( Exod 20:10). 12:3 – 4 Jesus, the greater son( descendant) of David, justifies his disciples’ lawbreaking behavior by appealing to the OT example of David eating the sacred bread of the Presence when his men were hungry and nothing else was available( 1 Sam 21:1 – 6). 12:5 – 6 For a second OT example of justifiable lawbreaking, and one that even involved the Sabbath, Jesus reminds his critics that priests who administered the sacrificial rites in the temple on the Sabbath( e. g., Num 28:9 – 10) were at work but were not considered to be sinning. Now“ something greater than the temple is here”( the kingdom and Jesus’ ministry of ushering it in), so he has even greater authority to determine what does and does not violate the Sabbath. 12:7 I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Hos 6:6 shows the priority of moral law over ritual law. Applied to the behavior of Jesus’ disciples, satisfying hunger takes precedence over adhering to unwritten Sabbath traditions. 12:8 Lord. Need not mean more than“ Master,” but who has sovereignty over God’ s law but God himself? So Jesus may be indirectly pointing to his deity as well. 12:9 – 14 This time certain Pharisees provoke the controversy by asking if it is“ lawful to heal”( v. 10) on the Sabbath, the day of rest. Jesus answers by another“ from the lesser to the greater” argument and then heals a man whose hand is either atrophied or paralyzed(“ shriveled,” v. 10). 12:11 – 12 Although the Dead Sea Scrolls community at Qumran forbade rescuing animals on the Sabbath, all other Jews permitted it. So they should be all the more concerned to heal a human being on God’ s holy day. it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. This statement opens the door for sweeping changes in the understanding of this day because there are countless forms of helpful, constructive behavior that can be seen as doing good. 12:14 Legalists of all eras put obedience to rules above love for people. In extreme instances, this misguided passion leads to murderous rage. Matthew may hint here at their hypocrisy as they condemn Jesus for doing good on the Sabbath but are willing to plot his death on the same day.