Thoughts on the Word

Yesterday in our group Bible study, we read Matthew 12:1-21. This morning, I read it again, to glean (note the pun?!) more from what scripture has to say.

I’m a detail oriented person. Sometimes I miss the forest for the trees. I look at all the leaves, the trunks, the roots, and sometimes don’t see the bigger picture. Yesterday might have been one of those days. In re-reading the first part of Matthew 12, Jesus chastises the Pharisees because they aren’t seeing the bigger picture either. They are so caught up in the minutiae of the law that the miss the overarching act of God to his people, well, actually, to all people (remember ethnē, people? Oh my goodness, the puns are just pouring out this morning!).

As we discovered last night, when Jesus is walking with his disciples on the Sabbath, the Pharisees are looking for any law they might be breaking, in order to make Jesus look bad. When they bring up what appears to them to be a legitimate case of crossing the line on the Sabbath (remember, no work on the Sabbath), Jesus brings up examples of similar infractions that are documented in scripture (read Old Testament), but that were “overlooked” or “forgiven” or “permissible.” In each case that Jesus brings forward, the doer of the action is doing something that preserves life. The actions are not for personal gain or profit. I wonder if this has something to do with it. Jesus later asks the question what the owner would do on a Sabbath if one of his or her animals fell into a pit, when confronted by the Pharisees about whether or not it is permissible to heal someone on the Sabbath (Jesus apparently was doing lots of healing by this time, so the Pharisees, to try to mute his influence on the people seem to be trying to find a way to demonstrate that Jesus’s act(s) of healing are wrong). Naturally, the owner of an animal wants to protect his or her livestock, and would do all necessary to get the animal out of the pit. Remaining silent at this point, the Pharisees do not refute the position that they too would work on the Sabbath in order to preserve the life of their animals.

In between these two parts in the passage, Jesus highlights the forest for the trees. Right after giving two examples where highly honoured, respected and law-abiding people in Jewish history seeming “broke” the letter of the law, namely David and the priests, Jesus says this shocking statement: “But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here!” Jesus uses a phrase introducing this truth which carries a lot of weight that we in the 21st century likely just glide right over, not seeing its importance. “But I tell you.” In the Greek, the work “but” is implied. If you look through a list of English translations of Matt 12:6, you will discover that most of them include the “but” as a conjunction. Some do not. The evidence to support the implied contrasting conjunction is that previously Jesus had used examples from scripture to demonstrate his principle. Now, he was speaking to them from himself. This demonstrates the authority which Jesus claimed to have. He was speaking on his own. The next bit following that phrase was coming straight from Jesus, and he was not claiming another source to support his position. He was the authority. If you were to search this Greek phrase, you would discover that it is only Jesus that is recorded as using this phrase in the Gospels. Which of course makes sense, because He is the authority in the Gospels according to the gospel writers, post resurrection, but they are highlighting that, for the Pharisees, at the time, scripture was their authority. So the “but” is showing the contrast from the previous examples Jesus gave where the authority was scripture and now the fact that Jesus was the one doing the “saying” so he established himself as the authority. “I tell you.” So Jesus is the authority, which is mentioned before the content. But the content here is the important bit. What is Jesus trying to get across? There is something more important than the “temple,” and it is here, right now. The temple in this sentence, signifies the authority, the scripture, the text, the law, the rule. The temple is the place where God’s spirit dwells. Where the high priest meets God personally once a year. The place where the priests burn incense regularly, and where the shewbread is placed as a sacrifice to God on a continual basis. Jesus is now saying that something GREATER THAN THAT is here. What could possibly be greater than that? You can begin to appreciate how Jesus gets himself into trouble with the Pharisees and he accuses them of blasphemy. Jesus is claiming that he is greater than the temple. Wow. Astounding for the Pharisees. And if the people believe that, then all of what the Pharisees do to establish their authority and maintain power over the people is now being put in jeopardy, and all by this Jewish teacher from the backwater, who blatantly seems to disregard the laws they have been following for generations. He doesn’t teach his disciples according to the established norms of the Pharasaic traditions. What is to be done with him? This understanding helps us better see why after this incident the Pharisees “went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him” (Mt 12:14).

One more comment, well maybe two. In the next bit, after sharing the teaching from Hosea that God desires mercy and not sacrifice [what he means here is that relationship is so much more important than following the rules and regulations], Jesus says, if you had known this, you would not have condemned the innocent. Here I think the innocent can include the disciples when they accused them of working on the Sabbath, Jesus other followers in other parts of the gospels where they are attacked by the Pharisees, but also Jesus himself. The word used in Greek for the “innocent” is plural. So it can’t apply only to Jesus himself, but I think it can apply to all of those that the Pharisees continue to try to accuse.