Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWELVE

Part II (Con’t)

As far as the sudden departure of Jesus is concerned, Early Church theologian, Origen, has some interesting thoughts on this as well. He writes: “Jesus withdraws, not fearing their judgment but to dispel evil. And, lest anyone should suppose that it was through fear that He had withdrawn, Jesus healed everyone, displaying His almighty power. But, as one who does what is fitting, without pride, He sent them away, telling them not to publicize this.”¹ This is a clear example of our Lord’s foreknowledge because He knew that the only physical battle He was ever going to fight would begin with His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.

So until then, Jesus only wanted to go where those who believed would follow, and those who hung around just to protest what Jesus was saying and doing would not consider it worth their effort to go along. This way He would be able to teach those who were interested without these unnecessary interruptions that may also put doubt in their minds.

Bishop Hilary believes Jesus had another reason for ordering silence about the healings. He writes: “He ordered those whom He healed to be silent. Was it silence about the healing that He ordered? Not at all. For the salvation that was given to each one was its own testimony. But by ordering it to be kept secret Jesus also shunned boasting about Himself. It was better that knowledge of Him remains in Himself. So He admonished them to remain silent about Him. The observance of silence springs from that about which one must keep silent.”² It may not have been so much the boasting about Jesus as the One who healed them that bothered our Lord, but that such boasting would lead to His finding it harder and harder to carry out His ministry based on faith in the power of God, rather than based on His personality.

For Matthew, he finds the answer in the words in Isaiah. Chrysostom gives us this as part of his explanation: “For so great was the accuracy of the prophets that they did not omit even these little matters. But they foretold His travels, changes of place and the intent with which He would act, that we might learn that they spoke by the Spirit. If human secrets cannot be easily discerned, how much more difficult it is to discern Christ’s purpose, except when the Spirit reveals it to us.”⁵

One Rabbi, who was well-known for his interpretation scriptures related to the Messiah, said this: “Many Jewish commentators agree that this passage [in Isaiah] refers to the Messiah. One Targum paraphrases it: ‘Behold my Servant, the Messiah, I will draw Him near, my chosen one in whom I am pleased to put my Word.”⁶ In fact, another Targum renders it this way: “Behold, my servant, the Messiah, whom I bring, my chosen in whom one delights: as for my Word, I will put my Holy Spirit upon Him; He shall reveal my judgments unto the nations”.⁷ But some Jewish commentators disagree.

For instance, the venerable Rabbi Rashi says: “My chosen one: Israel is called ‘My chosen one’ in some manuscripts. ‘His chosen one’ in Psalm 135:4. For the Eternal chose Jacob for Himself. Scripture states also: ‘For the sake of My servant Jacob and Israel My chosen one.”⁸”⁹ This is in harmony with Jewish Wisdom Literature where it reads: “The salvation of the Lord is upon Israel his servant forever.”¹⁰ Also, “See, O Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David, at the time which you chose, O God, to rule over Israel your servant.”¹¹ However, they have a hard time aligning Jacob’s (Israel’s) life and exploits with the words of this endorsement.

When comparing the original Hebrew of Isaiah with the Greek from which we get the English version here,¹² we find differences simply because of language translation. But there is no doubt that this is the part of Isaiah that Matthew was quoting. As a matter of fact, the earliest translation from Hebrew into Greek by Jewish translators reads this way: “Jacob is my servant, I will help him: Israel is my chosen, my soul has accepted him.”¹³ In one of the earliest translations from the Aramaic version in the 2^nd century AD we have: “Behold, I have relied on My servant and in your heart My soul is fulfilled,”¹⁴ Then in the Jewish paraphrase of Isaiah the first line reads: “Behold, my servant, the Messiah, whom I bring, my chosen in whom one delights.”¹⁵ In the standard Jewish version we find: “This is My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one, in whom I delight.”¹⁶ And in a Jewish version of today, this line is rendered: “Here is my servant, whom I support, my chosen one, in whom I take pleasure.”¹⁷

When it comes to being heard by the crowds, one Early Church bishop finds what he feels may be the answer in the line: “nor will anyone hear His voice in the street.” Says Apollinaris: “Those who teach in the streets do this, not for the sake of helping anyone but out of egotism and to deceive the gullible. The result of this is that everyone views them with suspicion and they fail to reach the goal of their teaching. Thus the Savior taught us these lessons not only by word. His way of life also taught us not to scream nor to show off but to lead a public life in respect to virtuous actions. For a talkative disposition would be most harmful for us. It is the opposite that is most useful and beneficial.”¹⁸

Then another early church leader adds this to the same thought: “Jesus did not eagerly contend with the folly of the rulers, nor did He scream and provoke them to anger against Himself. Rather, with gentleness Jesus withdrew slowly so that He might not, in confuting them, cause them to be destroyed while they were still weak in soul like ‘a bruised reed’ or like ‘smoking flax,’ that is, very close to being snuffed out. He bore with them patiently, so as not to reduce them to utter oblivion on account of their weakness, until He had fulfilled the purpose of His dispensation,that is, to bring judgment to a full end. By this dispensation all the nations would come to believe.”¹⁹

But this was meant for that particular time and season in history. Jesus knew that the day would come when His name would be on the lips of billions of believers around the world; that they would attribute all such miracles of healing to Him and perform many of them through the power of the Spirit in His name. So all along the Son of God saw far into the future, and sometimes the things He did and things He said were somewhat confusing to His audience in those days of long ago.

So there can be no doubt that Matthew had the same impression that this belonged to the Messiah who he identified as Jesus of Nazareth. So let’s look at what Isaiah said about people not seeing the Messiah run in fear nor hear Him screaming and hollering on a street corner for people to listen to Him in order to gain attention, honor, applause or notoriety. Either the Ethiopian version is corrupt or the English translation inaccurate by reading: “No man shall hear His voice in the synagogues” because His voice was often heard there.

Then we have: He will not be violent or destructive, forcing people to believe under duress. This is clearly seen in the metaphor of the reed and lamp. The crushed reed represents people who are broken in spirit because things have not turned out the way they had hoped when He said He was the Messiah, and the flickering flame represents those who have almost given up hope, perhaps after He was crucified and not seen for three days. That is because He knows that after He rises from death their spirits and hopes will be revived.

Matthew and the followers of Jesus were not fooled by the Pharisees rejection of Jesus as God’s Son and the long expected Messiah. They had seen Him respond to such criticism before. As one 19^th Century commentator put it, these words of Isaiah about the Messiah were …amply fulfilled in the gentle, lowly, condescending and beneficent nature of Christ’s miracles and personal ministry, His perseverance in the midst of opposition, without engaging in contentious disputation, and His kind and tender dealing with weak and tempted believers.²⁰

So the Pharisees and other religious leaders were in a quandary. The more they confronted Him the more they were embarrassed by His words and authority over nature, sin and death. Unfortunately, they chose to belittle Him rather than believe Him. And as antagonists, since they could not silence Him with words, they were forced to use weapons. However, there was more for His distractors to learn, so by the will of the Father and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the right occasions transpired.

Verse 22: Then some people brought a man to Jesus. This man was blind and could not talk, because it was believed he had a demon inside him. Jesus healed the man, and he could talk and see.

From this description given here it appears that the man was born with serious birth defects. As a matter of fact, one Jewish Rabbi mentions one man who could neither hear nor speak as being so in his mother’s womb.²¹ In the case given here, the man was both blind and mute, but apparently could hear. It is noteworthy that Jesus did not speak to a demon or say “come out.” Therefore, we might conclude the statement: “he had a demon,” was the general perception of the people or a conclusion drawn by Matthew. In any case, whatever Jesus did, the man was instantly healed.

The anonymous author of the incomplete work on Matthew had this comment: “When Jesus left the synagogue … then the whole world was offered to Him in one man. He was a blind, mute man who neither saw nor spoke. Symbolically he neither recognized his Maker nor gave thanks to Him. What was visibly done in the case of one man therefore could be understood to have significance for everyone. For really, if the Lord had not bypassed Judea, all the Gentiles would still be blind and mute in the power of the devil.”²²

Verse 23: All the people were stunned at what Jesus did. They said, “Maybe He is the promised Son of David!”

This amazement may not only have to do with what they saw, but that this man named Jesus of Nazareth did it! One Jewish Rabbi recalls this story: “One should not presume that their Messianic king can work miracles and wonders, bring about new phenomena in the world, resurrect the dead, or perform other similar deeds. This is definitely not true. Proof of this can be seen in from the fact that Rabbi Akiva, one of the greater Sages of the Mishnah, was one of the supporters of King Bar Kozibah and would describe him as the Messianic king. He and all the Sages of his generation considered him to be the Messianic king until he was killed because of his sins. Once he was killed, they realized that he was not the Messiah. The Sages had failed to ask him for any signs or wonders.”²³

What this Rabbi is saying is that for some people they are ready to accept a man claiming to be the Messiah without any miracle working powers, as did Rabbi Akiva. So we can see that Jesus was ready to remove all doubt as to who He really was. But it also seems to have sparked such disbelief in the Pharisees that saw it, they tried to cover their unbelief with a concocted alibi that put the burden on Jesus, not on them.

The same anonymous writer mentioned above, goes on to give this commentary: “How precise Matthew was in saying ‘they were stunned,’ because they did not yet know who Jesus was. No one can really judge another’s work unless one understands the character of the one who is performing the work. For example, if a student of some master teacher creates a great work, we marvel because the student who was appointed such a task by him could accomplish it. But if the master teacher himself has done it, we are not very amazed. For what is the great accomplishment, that a highly trained master created a great work? So whatever deeds God has done, does not mean that is all He can do. For that reason, when the Son of God does a miracle, we should not be astonished. Do you want to know why they did not recognize Him and so were astounded? Hear what they say: ‘Can this be the Son of David?’ If they had recognized Him rightly, they would not have merely said, “This is the Son of David.” They would have said, “This is truly the Son of God.”²⁴

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWELVE

Part II

Verse 11: Jesus asked them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a ditch on the Sabbath, will you not grab hold of that sheep and help it out of the ditch?”

It isn’t that Jesus didn’t know the answer, but that He wanted to force them to acknowledge the obvious. A Greek philosopher once remarked: “Necessity is the true creator, it is the mother of invention.”¹ Jesus was using the same philosophy by pointing out that although the Jews knew about the Sabbath restrictions, sometimes intellectual necessity would overrule their religious objection.

Jesus, as well as the Pharisees, no doubt already knew what verbal tradition said on this subject as laid out by their Rabbis: “The following rules apply when an animal falls into a cistern or into a water conduit from which it cannot climb out on its own: If one can supply it with its needs while it is there, one should do so until Saturday night. If not, one may bring cushions and blankets and place them beneath it. If this enables the animal to climb, there is no difficulty…Regardless of the circumstances, it is forbidden to lift the animal up by one’s hands.”²

However, Jewish scholars tell us that by the time Jesus came there are authorities who were more lenient and maintained that even the prohibition of lifting the animal out of the cistern or hole is waved because of the animal’s suffering. He goes on to say: “Then later authorities ruled that one may rely on this lenient decision in a situation where a great loss will be incurred. Moreover, they add that all agree that one may instruct a Gentile to lift the animal from the cistern.”³ The look on the faces of the Pharisees and their lack of retort told Jesus that the Pharisees got the point of His question, so now He makes His point by answering.

Verse 12: Surely a human is more important than a sheep. So it is only right to do good for them on the Sabbath.

This certainly concurred with what the Rabbis spoke of for centuries. It was taught that when the possibility of danger to human life existed, the laws of the Sabbath were suspended. When a person fell ill, it was stated clearly: “One may warm water for a sick person on the Sabbath, both for the purpose of giving him a drink or of refreshing him, and not only for one Sabbath did they rule thus, but also for the following one. Nor do we say: Let us wait, because perchance he will get well, but we warm the water for him immediately, because the possibility of danger to human life renders inoperative the laws of the Sabbath.”⁴

You would think that over the centuries with millions of people turning to Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, critics would not be as harsh or closed minded. But that has not been the case in many areas. One polemic writer in the Middle Ages had many reasons to find fault with Jesus reasoning that is exhibited in the previous twelve verses. He says: “What sort of answer is this that Jesus gave the Pharisees? If David behaved improperly, this does not give them the right to pluck those ears of corn on the Sabbath. Furthermore, if priests perform services in the Temple both on weekdays and on the Sabbath as they are commanded to do, how does this permit Jesus’ disciples to desecrate the Sabbath by plucking ears of corn? As for His statement, ‘I wish mercy and not sacrifice,’ i.e., that He does not want any sacrifices, how does this square with His command to the leper whom He cured to bring a sacrifice in accordance with the commandment given to all lepers in the Torah which was revealed of old? And as for His statement, ‘What man is there among you that has one sheep etc.,’ this is a lie. All people know that Jews are not permitted to lift any animals on the Sabbath either from a well or from a ditch. Why, then, did He answer the way He did? By saying this He was actually permitting work on the Sabbath.”⁵ Apparently this critic forgot that Jesus was pointing out the inconsistencies on the part of the Jews, not on the part of His own disciples. In other words, He was telling them to clean up their act before they found fault with what He was doing.

There was this well-known Jewish story that went around concerning one of their most revered Rabbis: “It was reported about Hillel the Elder that every day he used to work and earn a small sum, half of which he would give to the guard at the synagogue, the other half being spent for his food and for that of his family. One day he found no employment, and the guard at the synagogue would not permit him to enter. So he climbed up and sat in the open window to hear the words of the living God from the mouth of those teaching that day. They say, that day was the eve of Sabbath in the winter solstice and snow fell down while he sat there. When dawn came, one of the teachers said to the other, every day this house is light and today it is dark, is it perhaps a cloudy day. They looked up and saw the figure of a man in the window opening. They went up and found Hillel covered by three feet of snow. They took him down, bathed and anointed him and placed him next to the fire and said: This man deserves that the Sabbath be profaned on his behalf.”⁶ So the Master had taken a cue from His critics who were trying to set Him up for a fall, and turned it around so that now it was their turn to decide if it was proper to heal on the Sabbath.

Verse 13: Then Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, “Hold out your hand.” The man held out his hand, and it became well again just like his other hand.

With a change of venue from the open fields to the confines of the synagogue. By doing so, our Lord had been given an opportunity to show that He was without doubt the Jewish Messiah everyone was waiting for. Medical science tells us that when a hand is immobile for an extended period of time the muscles begin to lose mass and power. These symptoms are indicative of hand atrophy. The condition is common when a fracture of the hand or wrist requires casting. Joint problems, such as arthritis, in which normal movements become painful can also bring about hand atrophy. That this man with the withered hand suddenly appearing out of nowhere shows that Jesus was obviously aware of the trickery planned by His opponents. So as soon as they asked their baited question about the lawfulness of healing on the Sabbath, Jesus had a loaded answer for them. As we also see, Jesus thwarted their efforts to accuse Him of working on the Sabbath by speaking to the man, not touching him.

This is what we call today, argumentum ad hominem. They had been pointing at Jesus, and now it was His turn to point at them. His point is quite simple. He was comparing His potential healing of this man on the Sabbath with what they would do if they found an animal in stress. No more than they would leave that sheep that had fallen into a hole where it could not extract itself, neither would He leave this man with the withered hand to spend the rest of his life handicapped. This was in the spirit of the law which did not contain any Sabbath restrictions.⁷ It was the humane thing to do. So if they could accept that, why couldn’t they accept the healing of this man. As the Pharisees stood there dumbfounded, Jesus healed the man without even touching him. So He did not defile the Sabbath after all, because they would be hard pressed calling that “work.” And if they did, they’d have to count it as the work of God, and they were not about to accuse God of breaking the Sabbath. As the healed man left the Pharisees huddled together in order to find some way to save face. We don’t know what they said, but Matthew apparently found out that it was a vow to kill this prophet from Galilee in order to solidify their religious authority.

Verse 14: So the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

This shows clearly the close-mindedness and hypocrisy of the Pharisees in rejecting the truth of Jesus’ ministry. Today there are many Pharisaical people in this world who are equally defensive when it comes to having their traditional Christian ideas and customs challenged. You hear it over and over again in their objections: “We’ve never done it that way before,” or “It wasn’t done that way when I was young.” In this case, it wasn’t what any man had done but what God did through His Son.

Early Church father Jerome had this to say about what happened here. He writes: “Envy is responsible for the fact that they set a trap for our Lord. What had He done to incite the Pharisees to kill Him? Certainly it was because the man had stretched out his hand. Who of the Pharisees did not stretch out his hand on the sabbath day when he was carrying food, when he was offering a drinking cup or performing the other actions that are necessary for nourishment? So if stretching forth one’s hand and lifting up food or drink on the sabbath are not offenses, why should they make this accusation? They themselves are found guilty of doing the same, especially since that stone-cutter⁸ had not carried anything like food or drinking cups like they had but had only stretched out his hand at the order of our Lord.”⁹

And Chrysostom offers this in one of his sermons: “By this Jesus makes clear that deluded souls are not even persuaded by miracles. And He shows how His disciples also had been wrongly blamed by them without cause. Note how fierce His detractors have suddenly grown, and this happens especially when they see others benefiting from His ministry! When they see someone delivered either from disease or iniquity, then that immediately alerts them to find more fault. According to this pattern they repeatedly demeaned Him, as when He was about to save the prostitute, and again when He was eating with publicans, and now again, when they saw the withered hand restored. Note carefully how He does not cease in His tender care for the infirm yet softens the envy of His adversaries. Hence ‘great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all; and He charged those that were healed that they should not tell anyone.’ But the multitudes seemed more ready to admire Him and trail after Him than to change their decadent ways.”¹⁰

Verse 15-21: Jesus knew what the Pharisees were planning. So He left that place, and many people followed Him and He healed all who were sick. But then He warned them not to tell others who He was. This was to give full meaning to what Isaiah the prophet said when he spoke for God:

‘Behold my servant
whom I have selected,
My chosen one
with whom my soul is pleased;
I will put my Spirit upon Him,
and He declare justice to the nations.
He will not fear nor will He run
nor will anyone hear His voice in the street.
A crushed reed He will not break
and a flickering flame He will not quench
Until He establishes justice forever,
and in His name the Gentiles hope.”¹¹

No matter what the Pharisees thought, Matthew comes to his own conclusion about what just happened. To him this was another case of a prophecy being fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus to show who He really was. But he did not pick out just some prophetic word that fit his mind or the occasion, but one found in Isaiah that many astute Jewish scholars believed pointed to the Messiah.¹²

I once saw this brainteaser: “What do these words have in common: polish, job, herb?” I knew that one was a liquid, another work, and the third a plant. But other than that they didn’t seem to have any relationship.

Sometimes things in our lives that appear to have no meaning other than what is common to our understanding, can end up altering our whole life with just one modification. For instance, the word “love” is most often understood as: “having the feeling of affection for something or someone.” But in the Bible, love is best defined as: “giving your all for God and others.” Likewise with “hope.” To most it means: “keep wishing for something you’ve been promised.” But in the Bible it is described as: “taking possession of something promised even if you don’t see it yet.” And the word “faith” is most often taken as a synonym for “belief or believing.” But in Scripture it is used to define consistency, steadfastness, and assurance.

So what about polish, job and herb. Well, if you write them this way: Polish – it is an ethnicity; Job – a book in the Bible; and Herb is a man’s name. So look at what words in your life can have a whole different meaning when they go from being common to being proper. Then you’ll notice the difference between man’s word and God’s Word. – Robert R. Seyda

I sat in a Pentecostal Servicemen’s convention in Kaiserslautern, Germany listening to the speaker share about the harvest for souls being so ripe, and the need for more workers in the vineyard. He used the verse in Psalm 142:4 that said: “I look to my right and observe— no one is concerned about me. There is nowhere I can go for refuge, and no one cares for my soul.”
As they passed the offering plate, the Spirit spoke to my spirit and told me to give all I had in my wallet. At first, I was baffled because I planned to be in France for evangelistic work the next day. However, as the plate got closer the voice got stronger, so I quickly pulled out my wallet and emptied it into the plate.
The next day I left for France with an empty wallet. I had filled up the gas tank in my VW the previous morning, so I was praying I’d have enough gas to get there. I didn’t stop to eat because I had no money. Just as I neared the border my brakes screeched as I tried to slow down, telling me my brake pads were worn out. I didn’t want the border guards to hear it so I used my transmission and emergency brake to stop.
As I arrived at the pastor’s house, I looked down at an empty gas tank as I screeched to a halt with worn out brakes. I shared my situation with the pastor who graciously advanced me money to get the brakes fixed. When the revival was over, he gave me a love offering, minus the money for the brakes. It was just enough to fill the gas tank once again.
As I neared the city in Germany for my next revival, my fuel gauge had dropped to below empty. I started praying, Lord help me make it, please help me make it, since my VW got 10 km to a liter and I had 20 km to go. As I pulled into a parking spot near the church my engine died, my gas tank was completely empty. The pastor met me at the door, but I said nothing about my situation.
The next morning as I opened the door to my room, I found a letter attached to the door. I opened the letter. It was from a serviceman stationed in Germany and it went like this: “My wife and I were praying and asking God where we might send our tithes to help the ministry. I saw a copy of the Servicemen’s On Guard Magazine laying on the kitchen table, and in it I saw an article written by you. Right away, the Holy Spirit said, send it to him. However, I didn’t know where you lived so I sent it to the magazine address. I hope you get it.”
When I opened the envelope, there was a check for the exact amount of money I put in the offering plate two weeks earlier. Right then and there my trust and faith in God rose to staggering heights. After that, I never doubted God to meet my needs for preaching the Gospel. You don’t need much faith, just big enough of a seed to be planted, and you will see things you could never see without it. – Dr. Robert R. Seyda

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWELVE

Part I (Con’t)

Verse 5: And you have read in the Law of Moses that on every Sabbath day the priests in the Temple break the law about the Sabbath day. But they are not wrong for doing that.

Here Jesus is referring to the kneading, making and baking of the bread on the Sabbath for the altar of showbread in the holy place.¹ Also, they were able to kill the Passover lamb, sprinkle its blood, wipe its inwards, and burn the fat on the Sabbath.² One of their teachers observed: “The slaughter of the Passover sacrifice, pouring its blood on the altar, pressing out its innards, and offering its fats supersede the Sabbath prohibitions. For it is impossible to perform these before the Sabbath, because the sacrifice has a fixed time, as implied by the Torah which states that the sacrifice must be brought ‘at its appointed time.’³”⁴ Once informed as to the fallacy of their thinking, Jesus now advises them on what His heavenly Father thinks about all this.

Early Church father Jerome gives us his view of how Jesus spoke to these distractors: “You falsely accuse my disciples, Jesus says, for plucking ears of grain while passing through the standing fields. They did this because of their pangs of hunger. But you must violate the Sabbath by immolating victims in the temple, slaughtering bulls and burning holocausts on a heap of firewood and, according to the testimony of the other Gospel, circumcising children on the Sabbath. Thus, while you wish to observe the one law, you dishonor the Sabbath. But God’s commands do not contradict each other.”⁵ This certainly was an example of their gross hypocrisy.

But our Lord used this occasion to offer them insight into exactly what they were witnessing. If they could claim innocence of violating the Sabbath with what they did in the Temple, He wanted them to know that His disciples had every right to do the same because in their service to Him. They too were absolved of any punishment because what He brought to the Jews was greater than the Temple. He represented the very God they claimed to serve with their sacrifices.

Verse 6: I tell you that there is something here that is greater than the Temple.

Early Church Bishop Hilary has this to say about Christ being the new Temple. He writes: “Christ also reminded them of another prophecy so that they might learn that all things that were spoken of previously were accomplished in Him through the law, that the priests in the temple broke the Sabbath without offense, clearly revealing that Jesus Himself was the Temple. In Him salvation was given to the Gentiles through the teaching of the apostles, while the people who were bound by the law wandered about faithlessly, so that He Himself might be greater than the Sabbath. The evangelical faith that lives in Christ transcends the law.”⁶

In other words, with Jesus the Messiah being with God from the beginning to create the world and establish the Sabbath as a day of rest for mankind, He certainly knew what the purpose of the Sabbath was and that included recognizing the One from whom all good blessings flow. Since the wheat and corn in the field were gifts from God, then by partaking of and sharing these gifts was another way for people to give Him thanks and honor the Giver.

Verse 7: The Scriptures say, “I don’t want animal sacrifices; I want you to show kindness to people.”⁷ You don’t really know what that means. If you understood it, you would not be criticizing those who have done nothing wrong.

These opponents of our Lord were being told by Him in this incident that they were serving God with their heads, not with their hearts. Bishop Hilary has this to add on what occurred here. He says: “The business of our salvation lies not in sacrifice but in mercy. When law is made void, we are saved by the goodness of God. If they had understood the grace of this statement, they would never have condemned the blameless. They would not have condemned the apostles whom they were going to accuse falsely, out of envy, of transgressing the law. When the ancient practice of sacrifices was stopped, the unfamiliarity of mercy became more clearly known. Had this been known, they would not have thought that the Lord of the Sabbath was confined by the law of the Sabbath.”⁸

The great Early Church preacher Chrysostom also points out why mercy for others was more important than the meat they placed on the altar in the Temple. He expounds: “The faithful are more than priests. For the Lord of the temple Himself has come to them. The Truth personally has arrived, not merely the image of the truth. So He could say, ‘I tell you, something greater than the Temple is here!’ Nevertheless, great as the sayings were which they heard, they made no reply, for they were inattentive to the coming salvation of humanity. Then, because it might otherwise seem harsh to His hearers, Jesus quickly drew a veil over His discourse, giving it a undemanding turn, yet even then conveying a sharp admonition: ‘If you had known what this means, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the guiltless.’ Do you see once again how His speech is inclined toward leniency, yet showing the priests themselves to be in need of leniency?”⁹

Verse 8: For the Anointed One is Lord over the Sabbath day.

Our Lord has already pointed out what the priest do in the Temple every Sabbath, “On the Sabbath you must give two lambs that are one year old. There must be nothing wrong with them. You must also give a grain offering of sixteen cups of fine flour mixed with olive oil, and a drink offering.”¹⁰ So why aren’t they cited for working on the Sabbath? And then, much to their consternation, Jesus announced that what was going on there in that grain field was much more important than what was going on in the Temple that day. I’m sure the Pharisees would have really had to back down had our Lord quoted to them from Malachi: “The LORD All-Powerful says, ‘I am sending my Messenger to prepare the way for Me. Then suddenly, the Lord you are looking for will come to His temple. Yes, the Messenger you are waiting for, the One who will tell about My agreement, is really coming!’”¹¹

However, the Master chose to repeat the quotes He made before in Chapter 9:13 from the prophets Hosea¹² and Micah.¹³ By studying these Scriptures Jesus tells the Pharisees that they would learn a valuable lesson on the difference between doing something for God out of obligation rather than by their free will. They would have also benefited from what Solomon said: “The LORD hates these two things: punishing the innocent and letting the guilty go free.”¹⁴ It is important to note that the word Jesus uses here for sacrifice refers to the altar sacrifices in the temple. This had become the legal way out of condemnation. Once one was judged and found guilty, they were then ordered to offer the appropriate sacrifice, either from their own resources or those of the Temple. Unfortunately, the penalty for what they did wrong was thereby covered, but it did little to relieve the pain they caused by their actions against the innocent.

For that reason, the sacrificial system had become as hard as granite. It was uncompromising and without pity to the point that the hearts of those bringing the sacrifices were also hardened and unrepentant; they were just going through the motions. But Jesus knew the tremendous saving value of grace and mercy. The Father had sent Him to a wicked, undeserving world simply out of love because the Lord delights in mercy. Even though those altar sacrifices are no longer used or required today, it is so easy to become dogmatic, regimented and perfunctory in using our forms of apologetic sacramental penance by merely requiring those condemned to confess: “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,” and accept that as being sufficient to grant forgiveness and absolution.

But Jesus is teaching that we are to love others with grace and mercy, even as God loved us. However, for some it is a lot easier to keep going through the apologetic formula over and over, thereby throwing the offer of mercy and grace back into the face of the Giver. That’s why employing what Jesus said is far better than relying on the old habitual and ritualistic altar sacrifice under the Law to get someone to really make a change. Furthermore, since the Son of Man was Lord of the Sabbath, He then controls the rules of this special day. Even one of the Jews most venerable teachers saw it this way, by pointing out what God told Joshua to do on the Sabbath when they conquered Jericho.¹⁵ In other words, the One who consecrated the Sabbath also has the authority to override that sanctity when He sees fit.

When I was growing up my father preached against dancing, yet in church people were encouraged to dance in the spirit. I couldn’t figure it out. Since then I’ve learned that it is not the “dancing” itself that was prohibited, but what the dancing was intended to communicate and who it was meant to impress. This is what Jesus was trying to point out about the Sabbath, that it’s not actions that count as much as it is the reason for those actions. This is a lesson we should all be willing to learn.

Verse 9: Jesus went from there to their synagogue.

It certainly appears that our Lord did not want to continue this discussion out in a grain field, so I would not be surprised, since it was the Sabbath, that He said, “Let’s go to the synagogue and talk about this further.” But from what follows, it appears more like there was a divine plan for Him to teach another lesson on how actually doing good has precedence over just saying you are good. Early Church father, Origen, sees it this way: Since Jesus established the new covenant understanding of the Sabbath outdoors, now He want’s to show its clarity indoors.

Verse 10: In the synagogue there suddenly appeared a man with a crippled hand. Some Jews were looking for any reason to accuse Jesus of doing something wrong, so they asked Him, “Would it be right if you healed this man on the Sabbath?”

We cannot escape the obvious here. The opponents of Jesus had prearranged this encounter to put Him on the spot. That’s why even Matthew noticed how the man “suddenly appeared.” But our Lord in His foreknowledge was ready for this sham. He knew their intentions and was about to turn if back on them in a way that would force them to acknowledge who He really was. The fact that this happened in the synagogue made it even more important. One Early Church Father tells us that in the Gospel, which the Nazarenes and Ebionites¹⁶ used, this man is said to have been a plasterer, so he might have possibly suffered his misfortune by falling from a ladder while doing his work.¹⁷

In any case, the question here by our Lord’s opponents is whether or not what Jesus would do for this man was “intentional” healing – which would be considered “work”, or was it just an unplanned “consequence” of His touch. We see this concept in the story one venerable Rabbi wrote about taking medication on the Sabbath: “A person who has a sore throat may not gargle with oil. He may, however, drink large amounts of oil, and if he is cured in this manner, it is welcomed.”¹⁸ In other words, there is nothing wrong with drinking a liquid on the Sabbath, and if a person by drinking the oil is somehow cured, then the Sabbath rules were not broken, but by gargling it was considered work.

We also read that this factor was discussed by a group of Rabbis when they were told this story: “A Rabbi suffered from scurvy, he applied this remedy: Take the stones of olives which have not become one third ripe, burn them in fire upon a new grill, and stick them into the inside of the gums on the Sabbath. He did so and was healed. How could this Rabbi do that? — one said: It is different with scurvy, because whereas it starts in the mouth, it ends in the intestines. Other Rabbis added what another Rabbi taught: if one has pains in his throat one may pour medicine into his mouth on the Sabbath?”¹⁹ So even the Rabbis could not agree on what was or was not permitted on the Sabbath to promote healing.

Then Early Church orator Chrysostom gives us his thoughts: “Is it allowed to heal on the Sabbath? Jesus knew their love of wealth. He knew that they were all the more taken up with love of things than persons. And indeed the other Evangelist²⁰ said that Jesus also scrutinized them as He asked this question, that by His very glance He might win them over, but they did not become softened. While in other cases He healed physically by the laying on of His hands, in this case He only speaks and gazes. But nothing more could make them agreeable. Rather, even while the man was being physically healed their spiritual condition was becoming worse. Jesus’ desire was to first heal their bitterness before He healed the man’s withered hand. But even in His various attempts to offer them healing, both by what He said and did, their illness proved all the more incurable.”²¹

How true this is even today to those who are numbed to the truth by unbelief. If they suffer from misbelief, there is the possibility that exposure to the Word can straighten out their thinking. And if they are dealing with disbelief, then showing them the connection between what Jesus said and what He did can bring them around to acceptance. But when they are mired in unbelief, they are committed to closing their heart and mind to anything and everything that does not fit their preconceived notions, no matter what you say or what they see.

But Jesus sees their ploy, so instead of answering their question about healing on the Sabbath directly He poses His own question. Our Lord knew a technique that is now practiced by many counselors and advice givers. It is called: “Leading the person into answering their own question.” This is done to prove whether or not they are seeking advice or validation. Jesus knew the answer to that, so that’s why He took the route that He did in answering them.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWELVE

Part I

NOTE: If the Jewish teachers and Pharisees accepted the things done in the Temple to honor and obey God, how much more should they have been open to receive the things done by Christ for the same reason? If Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, how much more should they have repented at the preaching of the Anointed One? If the queen of Sheba came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, how much more should they have been impressed to hear the wisdom of the Messiah? The judgment day spoken in this chapter are different from those pronounced on cities that rejected Him as the Savior. Those warnings were condemnations on centers of society and commerce which have already been carried out and documented by history. But here Jesus speaks of individuals and their future day of judgment when all flesh will appear before the judgment seat of God. A representation of Christ’s three-fold ministry is also seen here in this chapter. As it relates to the Temple: Christ is our High Priest. As it relates to Jonah: Christ is our Prophet. As it relates to Solomon: Christ is our King. In each case, He declares that greater things can be seen in Him, since the Temple, Jonah and Solomon were all earthly and temporal, while His is spiritual and everlasting.

Verse 1: About that same time of year, Jesus was walking through the fields of grain on a Sabbath day. His followers were with Him, and they were hungry. So they began to pick up seeds of grain and eat them.

There is nothing in this narrative that suggests that Jesus has left the area around Capernaum in Galilee. So the crops being grown there are the ones we find in this story. Based on the agricultural cycle in Israel, this most likely took place sometime between April and June. As to the type of seeds, according to ancient records, they could have been wheat, barley or flax seeds.

One Hebraic scholar however, finds a possible discrepancy in the way the text is written as to how the disciples retrieved the grain, and the way it really happened. He says: “It seems fairly clear that when the original Hebrew account (written by Matthew who knew the customs and even the local differences in interpretation) was translated into Greek, the translator, not knowing these customs, and perhaps trying to make the scene more colorful, added the statement about plucking the wheat, and thus introduced the one and only act of transgression of the Torah recorded in the synoptic Gospels.”¹

By picking up the grain the disciples were abiding by the law: “When you go through another person’s field of grain, you may eat all the grain you can pick up with your hands. But you cannot use a sickle to cut that person’s grain and take it with you.”² That’s why I have incorporated this understanding in the translation of this verse as rendered above. So the Pharisee’s objection to what the disciples were doing was not a violation of the law on how they obtain the seeds, but that it was a violation of the Sabbath.

So they were not breaking any laws as far as Jesus was concerned. Luke adds that once they picked up the grains they began “rubbing them in their hands and eating them.”³ This, of course, was their way of getting rid of the husks so they could chew on the whole grain. I’m sure the Jews surmised that these Jewish followers of Jesus knew what was being taught by the Rabbis by which they declared: “If a person is aware that it is the Sabbath but forgets that certain works are forbidden, each labor is a separate fact, and he is liable for each one separately.”⁴ And among these were: “Reaping, including the picking of fruit from trees.”⁵

Nevertheless, when they confronted Jesus that what His disciples were doing was wrong on the Sabbath. Jesus specifically says that it was because His disciples were hungry. Here Our Lord is referencing that part of verbal tradition that says: “If someone is seized with illness due to extreme hunger he may be fed even with prohibited foods until his appearance is restored when it may be assumed that the danger to his life has passed.”⁶

Another scholar comments about the fact that the disciples were hungry. He says: “The key to understanding this difficult passage and its Synoptic parallels ought to be an analysis of the circumstances in which the incident took place. The text, however, does not provide a clear picture of those details which would be determinative from a legal point of view. The words ‘His disciples were hungry’ — a vital fact — appear only in the version of Matthew; they are absent in Mark and Luke. If Jesus’ disciples indeed profaned the Sabbath, as it might seem at first glance, was it because they were starving? That this was so would seem to be confirmed by verse 3, for the fact that David was hungry — which appears in all three Synoptic accounts as part of Jesus’ argument — is not mentioned at all in the Old Testament version of the episode. If it is added here as an explanation and justification of David’s action, then it presumably also explains and justifies the action of Jesus’ disciples, and this (rather than some other legal argument, or a Christological argument) is apparently the crux of Jesus’ reasoning.”⁷

Early Church father Chrysostom interjects this thought into the passage. He writes: “How could He who foreknew all things be unaware of the consequences of this action, unless it had been His will that the Sabbath law had to be reinterpreted? That was His will indeed, but not in a simple sense. He never broke the law without adequate cause, and always by giving a reasonable justification. His purpose in doing so was to bring the old law to an end, yet not in a defiant manner. There are indeed occasions in which He repeals the old law directly and without any fanfare, as when He anointed the eyes of the blind man with clay, and when He said, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’⁸ He does this to glorify His own Father and to soothe the enmity of the Jews. His appeal is to the necessity of nature in this case, since His disciples were hungry.”⁹

This must not only have irritated the Pharisees because in their eyes it violated the laws of the Sabbath, but it may have also made them wonder why Jesus had not provided the traditional Sabbath delight for His followers. Jewish Rabbis tell us what is meant by “Sabbath delight.” They say: “This refers to our Sages’ statement that a person must prepare a particularly sumptuous dish and a pleasantly flavored beverage for the Sabbath. All of this must be done within the context of a person’s financial status. The more one spends both financially, in expenses undertaken for the Sabbath and in effort, in the preparation of many good foods, the more praiseworthy it is. If, however, this is not within one’s [financial] capacity, even if one merely stews food or the like in honor of the Sabbath, this is considered to be Sabbath delight.”¹⁰

This idea of Sabbath delight, comes from the teachings of the Rabbis. They taught: “He who delights in the Sabbath is granted his heart’s desires, for it is said, Delight thyself also in the Lord; And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.¹¹ Now, I do not know what this ‘delight’ refers to; but when it is said, and thou shalt call the Sabbath a delight, you must say that it refers to the delight of the Sabbath.”¹² Someone then asked the Rabbi: “Wherewith does one show his delight therein?” — [He answered]: “With a dish of beets, large fish, and heads of garlic.” Another Rabbi stated: “Even a trifle, if it is prepared in honor of the Sabbath, is a delight. What is the trifle?asked a Rabbi: A pie made of fish-hash.”¹³

While, as far as I know, my family was not Jewish, but this concept must have found its way into our Prussian/British heritage, because our Sunday meals were always the biggest and best of the whole week. This just gave the Pharisees one more reason to criticize this misguided entourage of the prophet from Galilee and the way they conducted themselves.

Verse 2: When the Pharisees saw this. They said to Jesus, “Look! Your followers are doing something that is against the law to do on the Sabbath day.”

The Pharisees obviously saw things differently than Jesus and His disciples. To them this was work, and work was forbidden on the Sabbath. They certainly had plenty of ammunition for their charges. The Jews taught: “There are 39 primary categories of work forbidden on the Sabbath: seeding, plowing, reaping, gathering, threshing, winnowing, sorting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, bleaching it, combing it, dyeing it, spinning it, mounting the warp of the loom, setting two looped wires in preparation for weaving, weaving two threads, unraveling two threads, tying a knot, untying a knot, sewing two stitches, tearing in preparation of sewing two stitches, trapping a deer, slaughtering it, skinning it, salting it & tanning its hide, smoothing the hide, cutting the hide into useful shapes, writing two letters, erasing in order to write two letters, building, demolishing, extinguishing a flame, kindling a fire, completing production of an object, transferring an object from place to place.”¹⁴

Of course, this all goes back to what we find in Exodus.¹⁵ Later, this was elevated to include a penalty: “There are six days for working, but the seventh day will be a very special day of rest for you. You will honor the Lord by resting on that special day. Anyone who works on the seventh day must be killed. On the Sabbath you should not even light a fire in any of the places where you live.”¹⁶ We find a chilling story about this in the book of Numbers: “While the Israelites were in the desert, some of them saw a man gathering firewood on the Sabbath day. The people who saw him gathering the wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole community of Israel. They kept a close watch on them because they did not know how they should punish him. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘The man must die. All the people must throw stones at him outside the camp.’ So the people took him outside the camp and killed him with stones. They did this just as the Lord commanded Moses.”¹⁷

As a matter of fact, one prophet told the people of Israel how to get rid of their misery, “That will happen when you stop sinning against God’s law about the Sabbath and when you stop doing things to please yourself on that special day. You should call the Sabbath a happy day. You should honor the Lord’s special day by not saying and doing things that you do every other day of the week.”¹⁸ So these were serious charges being made against Jesus and His disciples. In fact, according to verbal tradition Jesus and His disciples were not only violating the Sabbath by picking the grain, but also that they walked far enough away from town to beyond the prescribed limits for a Sabbath walk. As such, according to Exodus 16:29 “they should be punished with lashes.”¹⁹

One early church patriarch gives us this commentary: “For where nothing great or noble happens, the Pharisees remain quiet. But where they see certain people being healed, they are more offended than anyone else. In this way they are the enemies of humanity’s salvation and without understanding of the sacred writings. If the new covenant announced of old by Jeremiah differs from the first covenant, it ought by all means not to make use of old laws but of new ones. But the Pharisees, not willing to comprehend this, lay snares for the holy apostles and say about them to Christ: ‘Look here, we see those you’ve schooled opposing themselves to the stipulations of the law. For where the law commands everyone to rest on the sabbath and to touch no manner of work, your disciples pluck ears of wheat with their hands.’ But tell me, O Pharisee, when you have set the sabbath table for yourself, don’t even you break the bread? Why then do you blame others?”²⁰

So, Matthew in sharing this incident only touches on the surface of the Sabbath restrictions these Pharisees may have brought up, such as: “There is no shoot, and no branch, and no leaf even which it is allowed to be cut or to plucked on that day, nor any fruit which it is lawful to gather.”²¹ Seeing that Jesus purposely walked through the fields of grain on the Sabbath was not a case of Him unknowingly entering a trap set by the opposition, but an act on His part to bait them into asking a question or offering a criticism that they might otherwise have never asked. And when they did, our Lord was ready with an answer. It also allows us to see why Jesus was sent from the Father to remove the impossible task of obeying every letter of the Law in order to work out one’s own salvation.

Verses 3-4: Jesus said to them, “You have read what David did when he and those with him were hungry. David went into God’s tent. He and those with him ate the bread that was offered to God. It was against the law for David or those with him to eat that bread. Only the priests were allowed to eat it.”

This story is recorded in 1 Samuel 21:1-9. As He did so often, Jesus refers to the Scriptures where the Pharisees will find their answer. He points to His most celebrated and revered royal ancestor, king David. Now the tables are turned on these complaining Pharisees. Even king David was able to override the restrictions of eating the showbread²² because of dire hunger. Therefore, since His disciples were hungry, then why should they starve just because it was the Sabbath? Furthermore, even their own scholars stated that the making of the dough for this showbread was done outside the Temple court and then brought in to be baked. So even the work of kneading the dough and baking the bread after transporting it to the Temple was not considered a violation of Sabbath laws.²³

So in looking at the fine line of interpretation here: if this grain grew on the Sabbath, just like the showbread was made on the Sabbath, then eating it should be of no consequences. After all, this is exactly what their own Rabbis had to say.²⁴ What the Pharisees didn’t know was that they were talking to the New High Priest, and His followers who were the first in the priesthood of all believers, therefore they were eligible to eat the showbread.²⁵ But, as we will see, our Lord was not finished with the defense argument for His disciples, because both they and the Pharisees still have plenty to learn about what God thought of the Sabbath which He created.

IMPORTANT UPDATE FOR ALL READERS

We have just finished walking through invigorating Chapter 11 of Matthew’s Gospel.  We read where Jesus heard the disturbing news that His relative John the Baptizer had been jailed by king Herod, after some of John’s disciples came to Him with a question.  John sent them to find out if Jesus was the real Messiah.

They followed Jesus for several days, and then He told them to go back and tell John what they had seen and heard.  I’m sure that as soon as John the Baptizer heard their report, he knew that his mission as the forerunner of the Messiah was complete.  Now he could be welcomed as a good and faithful servant into the rest prepared for him. Also, his disciples could now join Andrew who had already become a follower of Jesus.

But not everyone was excited about His ministry.  So Jesus warned those cities that had seen many miracles but yet did not completely surrender to Him as their Savior.  He went so far as to say that wicked cities He had never visited would have a better outcome on Judgment Day than they would.  It’s one thing to die without ever knowing about Jesus or hearing His name, but it’s another thing to go to the grave after hearing who He was and what He came to do, but paying no attention to Him but only to oneself.  He’s the only one who can guarantee eternal life, not we ourselves.

But to those who did believe, Jesus invited them to be joined with Him in the faith so that they no longer needed to carry the heavy load of complying with every rule of Law in order to find salvation, because it was literally impossible.  He promised them an even better salvation if they would only believe in Him and do what He asked them to do.

Now we look forward to an exciting journey through Chapter 12 of Matthew.  We will learn more about what Jesus thought about the Sabbath; about His being identified as the Chosen One spoken of by the prophet Isaiah; how He handled and coped with the false accusations by the Pharisees that He received His miracle powers from Beelzebub, who was the prince of demons; the sign Jesus said would be given to prove that in fact His power came from God the Father, and cited the story of Jonah who was rescued after three days in the belly of the large fish, and how He would be rescued by God after three days from the belly of the earth. And finally, a very dramatic encounter between Jesus, His mother Mary, and His brothers who came to visit Him at His home in Capernaum.  What Jesus said when told of their arrival is very interesting indeed.

I hope to see you all when our study of Chapter 12 begins on Thursday, March 3, 2016.  God bless and reward you for your faithfulness and your love for His Holy Word.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Part V

Verse 28: So come to me all of you who are tired of being forced to carry a heavy burden and I will give you relief.”

Here Jesus gives an invitation to those who are struggling with trying the impossible task of keeping each letter of the Law in order to have a relationship with God that leads to eternal life. Augustine of Hippo explains it this way: “If you wish to reach high, then begin at the lowest level. If you are trying to construct some mighty edifice in height, you will begin with the lowest foundation. This is humility. However great the mass of the building you may wish to design or erect, the taller the building is to be, the deeper you will dig the foundation. The building in the course of its construction rises up high, but he who digs its foundation must first go down very low. So then, you see even a building is low before it is high and the tower is raised only after humiliation.”¹ In other words, before Jesus can lift you higher, you must lower yourself from the pinnacle of haughtiness: “I can do it on my own” to the level of humility: “I can’t do it without Him.”

I like the way another early church father expounded on this invitation by our Lord. He writes: “Draw near to me, so that you may become sharers of the divine nature and partakers of the Holy Spirit. Jesus called everyone, not only the people of Israel. As the Maker and Lord of all, He spoke to the weary Jews who did not have the strength to bear the yoke of the law. He spoke to idolaters heavy laden and oppressed by the devil and weighed down by the multitude of their sins. To Jews He said, ‘Obtain the benefit of My coming to you. Bow down to the truth. Acknowledge your Savior and Lord. I set you free from bondage under the law, bondage in which you endured a great deal of toil and hardship, unable to accomplish it easily and accumulating for yourselves a very great burden of sins’.”²

Verse 29: Join me in my yoke and learn this about me: I am gentle and humble in spirit, and this will give you some peace of mind.

Here our Lord repeats the Old Testament message of hope to those who are weary: “Stop at the crossroads and look; ask about paths others have taken in the past,‘Which one is the right way?’ Take it, and you will find assurance for your souls.”³ And we also hear an echo of the words used by an ancient Jewish scribe: “Draw near to me, you who are unenlightened, and lodge in the house of instruction… Put your neck into the yoke, and let your souls receive instruction; it is to be found close by.”⁴

The Jews clearly understood the use of the term “yoke” to signify submission or repression. In one Jewish apocalyptic work from 300 BC we read: “We hoped to be the head and have become the tail: We have worked endlessly and have no satisfaction in our toil; And we have become targets of the sinners and the unrighteous, And they have laid their yoke heavily upon us.”⁵ It also appears that several Rabbis saw this yoke in similar fashion as our Lord. One of them said: “He that takes upon himself the yoke of the Law, will have the yoke of the kingdom and the yoke of worrying about what will happen⁶ taken away from him; but he that throws off the yoke of the Law, upon him shall be laid the yoke of the kingdom and the yoke of worrying about what will happen.”⁷ However, Jesus saw the yoke He offered as being lighter since He would help carry the load and He has overcome the world.

In that light, perhaps Jesus’ promise of rest for the soul would compensate for the imposition of worrying about what will happen. But this time He offers the right way, because He is the only Way. This yoke that Jesus talks about was also spoken of by one Rabbi: “Rabbi Judah by the authority of Samuel said, ‘One must accept upon himself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven’.”⁸ They then go on to say that this yoke is to recite the first verse of the Shema while standing: “Hear, Isra’el! Adonai our God, Adonai is one.”⁹ Jesus was familiar with the yoke the Jews talked about, but He was offering a new one: “Hear, Israel, the Adonai our God and I are One.” We don’t send you off alone without guidance or authority. We are with you because we are yoked together.

But as we can see in Jewish writings, they had to live being yoked together with the commandments that God laid upon them.¹⁰ The reason Jesus wanted those who followed Him to be yoke together with Him was to learn that unlike the commandments, the guidelines and instructions He received from the Father were accompanied by grace and mercy. Being yoked together with the commandments, if you broke one, you shattered the yoke. You then had to be cleansed and forgiven by way of animal sacrifice, and a new yoke was placed on you to tie you together again. But the yoke of Christ came with the assurance that if you sinned, since Christ was already the accepted sacrifice, the Father would forgive you and cleanse you of all wrongdoing.¹¹ The Jews had their own version of what it meant for a teacher to be gentle and humble.¹²

Verse 30: Yes, my yoke that joins us together is comfortable, and that makes the load you carry much lighter.

So often, the last part of this section is separated contextually from the first part and thereby loses some of the impact of what Jesus was saying. He begins by talking about how deeply and intimately He knows His heavenly Father and the Father is intimately acquainted with Him. And the only way anyone can join this union is if Jesus shares with others what the Father has shared with Him. In order to illustrate this, our Lord uses the metaphor of a yoke. A yoke is not a harness, it is an object that ties two things together. So the Master is saying, by my sharing with you the deep truth and understanding of the Father we are therefore yoked together in this understanding.

Then Jesus proceeds to use the idea of a yoke to again employ metaphorical symbols of how being yoked with Him will assist those who come to know what He knows about God. Let me illustrate this by inserting what each metaphor means in this context. “So come to me all of you who are tired from the heavy burden of fulfilling every letter of the law you have been forced to carry. I will give you relief from its impossible demands. Accept knowing what I know. Learn it from me. See that I will not force it on you like the scribes. And you will be able to get relief from their impossible demands. Yes, learning what I know should be easy for you to do. The responsibility for obeying what I give you is light.” Here our Lord echos God’s message to the faithful through the prophet Isaiah, “When I make a promise, that promise is true. It will happen. And I affirm by my own power that everyone will bow before me and will take an oath to obey me. They will say, ‘Goodness and strength come only from the Lord.’”¹³ Our Lord knew what Solomon meant when he said, “Words cannot fully explain things, but people continue speaking. Words come again and again to our ears, but our ears don’t become full. And our eyes don’t become full of what we see.”¹⁴

His disciples had already heard what the Law said from their youth, and now they were listening to the Messiah teach what they should know about grace and salvation. So Jesus was basically saying, I’m ready to do some personal tutoring because I know the source of this information better than anyone else on earth. When it came to obeying the law in order to get forgiveness and live righteously, it was a burden that even the strongest found hard to carry.

The prophet Micah put it this way, “What must I bring when I come to meet with the Lord? What must I do when I bow down to God above? Should I come to him with burnt offerings and a year-old calf? Will the Lord be pleased with a thousand rams or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Should I offer him my first child to pay for my wrongs? Should I sacrifice my very own child for my sins?”¹⁵ Jesus was saying, let me lift that burden for you and give you some rest.

Once the disciples fully understood this, they could say with the Psalmist, “The Lord takes care of those who cannot help themselves. I was like that, but He lifted me up. My soul, relax! The Lord is now caring for you.”¹⁶ The prophet Isaiah knew that this was God’s desire from the start. “God will use a unique way of communicating, and He will use a different vocabulary to speak to these people. In the past He spoke to them and said, ‘Here is a resting place. Let those who are tired come and rest. This is the place of peace.‘”¹⁷ Isaiah goes on to say, “I am the Lord your God. I teach you for your own good. I lead you in the way you should go.”¹⁸ It isn’t that the disciples were not going to be responsible with what they did with the things Jesus revealed to them. But whatever it was, it certainly would be easier than teaching the law and holding everyone responsible for obeying it in every detail.

One early church father gives us his understanding of an easy yoke and a light burden. He writes: “How is it then that Jesus Himself demands a high degree of strictness? He answers, “You have not yet had experience of things that are mine, and for this reason you think this way. But if you would take up my yoke and would believe in those things I give, you would find the greatest difference between the things that are from me and those that are from Moses. From me there is great, patient endurance and kindness. Seeing such a weight of sins—murders and self-love and things more unnameable than these—I am longsuffering and bear with those who do these things, not despising them but waiting for them to repent. If ever they should repent and change their ways, I immediately forgive them, not remembering their former acts. But the law of Moses is not like this. When you sin, it immediately punishes the sinner. It knows no repentance. It promises no remission. When I make demands about the covenant, I am not so much preoccupied with investigating the things that happened. For me, it is enough that a soul choose what is good with a genuine resolution. But the law goes overboard, both adding more punishments to the smaller ones and cursing the transgressors. Therefore my yoke is good on account of forgiveness, and my burden is light because it is not a collection of customs and various observances but decisions of the soul.”¹⁹

Also, they would be able to learn at their own pace, as long as they gave it their full effort to learn and follow what they were being taught. But first they needed to rid themselves of any burdens they were already carrying in order to be yoked together with Christ. The words of the Psalmist would serve them well, “Lord, I don’t feel proud. I don’t see myself as better than others. I am not thinking about doing great things or reaching impossible goals.”²⁰ And that’s the way every aspiring believer should feel today. There is nothing wrong with confessing that you haven’t memorized every verse in the Bible, or that you don’t fully understand what each doctrine taken from the Bible means. But you can pray and study as the Holy Spirit teaches you so that you do understand the message you are about to deliver to others.

As a missionary in Europe and Asia, what Isaiah said became my mission statement, “I will not cry out or shout or try to make myself heard. I will not be hard on those who come to learn, not even the most vulnerable. I will not push away those who find it difficult to study. I will treat everyone fairly and evenly. I will not grow weak or give up until I have given everyone an opportunity to learn. So people in faraway places will be glad I came to teach.”²¹ I found that understanding God’s Word through prayer, study, asking, seeking and knocking brought what Solomon said to fruition, “Wisdom will lead you to a life of joy and peace. Wisdom is like a life-giving tree to those who hold on to her; she is a blessing to those who keep her close.”²² I’m sure Jesus had every hope that His disciples would accept this challenge and find out what a joy it was to share with others what He had shared with them.

I recently saw an advertisement where the question was asked: Do you belong to the one true church? It explained that this particular denomination was by Biblical standards the authentic church that teaches the true doctrine of Christ. They based this on the saying of Jesus to Peter: “Upon this rock I will build my church.” In other words, it would be His church, the church of Jesus.

Unfortunately their reasoning is somewhat flawed because they were basing their claim on the English version of what Jesus really said in Aramaic. For instance, in the Orthodox Jewish Bible, that is translated from the original Hebrew, Matthew 16:18 reads: “And I also say to you that you are Shimon Kefa [small rock] and upon this TSUR [large rock] I will build my Kehillah [congregation], my Chavurah [fellowship].” The English word “church” was never uttered in Jesus’s day.

In the Complete Jewish Bible it reads: “on this rock I will build my Community.” And in the oldest known English version of Matthew in Hebrew renders it: “I will build upon you my house of prayer.” When Matthew’s Gospel was eventually translated out of Hebrew into Greek, the term that was chosen to represent this Hebrew word for congregation, fellowship, and community was ekklēsia which means “a gathering or assembly.”

Then when Martin Luther translated the Bible out of Greek into German, before the English Bible appeared, he rendered it: “will ich meine Gemeinde bauen,” meaning, “I will build my community or assembly.” Even Young’s Literal English Translation says: “Upon this rock I will build my assembly.” It wasn’t until the English translation by Wycliffe was printed that the word “church” was used for this term.

But the word “church” can have several meanings. If someone asks, “Where’s your church?” they usually mean it’s physical location or address. When they inquire, “What church do you go to?” they want to know the name of your church. And when they want to know, “What church do you belong to,” they are wanting to know the name of your denomination.

The thing is, Jesus never gave His community of believers a name. He simply meant, all those who would be His followers. All names of denominations and churches today have come from what people have composed to either identify it by the name of its founder, or their form of ecclesiastical government, or even doctrine, etc. And for any of them to claim, “We’re the real church Jesus was talking about!” might not really know what they’re talking about.

All those who accept Jesus as Lord and Savior become part of the body of Christ, which is the bride of Christ. This crosses all denominational lines. So the next time someone asks you what church you belong to, try telling them that you belong to the body of Christ, and that you gather together with others at _______ (and then give them the name and location of the building where you assemble). Their response might be very interesting, and will give you an opportunity to explain. – Dr. Robert R. Seyda

Here’s a shocker! Did you know that the months of September, October, November and December are misplaced in our calendar? In fact they are two months off from where they should be. How did this happen? Well, we can blame it on the Romans.

You see, some 700 years before the birth of Christ the Roman calendar only consisted of ten months. It began in March, named after Mars the Roman god of war, to coincide with the vernal equinox when the sun was over the equator on its way back to the northern hemisphere. It ended in December after the winter solstice when the sun reached its lowest point on the horizon to the south. The Romans didn’t bother to name the months in between because it was winter when nothing was planted or harvested.

Then what happen? Well, King Numa Pompilius decided that the two unnamed months between December and March needed names so that the calendar would align with the seasons. So for the first month he chose the name “Januarius” after Janus, the god of beginnings, and for the second month he selected the name “Februarius,” after the festival called “Februa” because of “februum” a device used in ritual purification rites.

April, which some believe meant “to open” because it represented the opening buds and flowers, was the second month in the old calendar. But as a result of added these two new months it became the fourth month. May was named after “Maia” after the earth goddess of growing plants, and went from being the third month to fifth month. And June was named after “Juno” the queen of gods and the patroness of marriage and weddings, and was pushed out of fourth place into sixth.

But they weren’t through. They decided to rename the next two months. So they took the month of “Quintilis” meaning fifth, and rename it July after Julius Caesar, and followed that by renaming the month of “Sextillia” meaning sixth, and rename it August after Augustus Caesar. So this then created a twelve month calendar. But instead of adding the two new months at the end of the year, they put them at the beginning, and this then pushed September – December into ninth through twelfth places.

Yes, I know. Just when you thought everything made sense, now you are looking whose names do not match their place in the calendar. As William Shakespeare so famously wrote for Juliet to say: “What’s in a name?” She answered her own question this way: “Would that which we call a rose by any other name smell as sweet?”¹ So here’s our problem. In Latin “septem” means “seven,” and yet September is now the ninth month. “Octo” means “eight,” but October is the tenth month. “Novem” means nine, but November is the eleventh month; and “decem” means ten, but December ends up being month number twelve.

We might use the same question Juliet to asked and formulate it this way for those who call themselves a “Christian”: “What’s in a name? Would any other person be called a Christian who acts and talks like you?” And like the misnamed months in the calendar, I wonder if in God’s list of virtues and ethics we someone like you be out of place? I guess one way to start is by looking at the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 and give yourself a test. I don’t think any of us want people calling us a bad name, but when you call yourself a Christian, are you right or wrong?