Matthew 12 Bible Study Notes
MATTHEW 12
Mat 12:1 - At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
Mat 12:2 - But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”
Mat 12:3 - He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him:
Mat 12:4 - how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
Mat 12:5 - Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?
Mat 12:6 - I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.
Mat 12:7 - And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.
Mat 12:8 - For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
Verse 1-2
It was the Sabbath Day (Saturday) and the Pharisees accused Jesus’ disciples of doing “work,” which they were forbidden to do on Sabbath.
You can imagine how closely the Pharisees must have watched Jesus as they stalked Him every Sabbath just waiting for Him to give them some ammunition
APPLICATION:
When religious commands are weaponized to condemn others, while being stripped of any God focused meaning, we’ve got a problem with our religion.
The Pharisees observed the Sabbath but not in devotion to God
They observed the Sabbath so they could look down their noses at other people who didn’t do it as well.
We can observe “religious commands” without worship in our hearts but instead so that we can claim to be the best “Bible followers” and look down our noses at others.
Being a “Bible authoritarian” and a true worshipper of God are two different things.
Jesus is about to lay this out for the Pharisees
Verse 3-4
Verse three describes a situation where King David ate the “holy bread.”
You can read this account in 1Sam 21:1-7
The holy bread was a special bread made by the priest and was only to be eaten by priests (Lev 24:5-9)
David was not a priest but was in need of food when he ate the bread.
Why does Jesus bring up this story?
I will present two explanations of Jesus words and later I will tell you which I prefer.
(1) Some argue Jesus brought this example up because David’s actions were condemnable.
But the Jewish elite held David in high respect and never condemned him for eating the holy bread
In excusing David, they revealed their hypocrisy when they condemning Jesus’ Apostles.
(2) Others argue Jesus brought this example up because David’s actions were not condemnable.
Although not found in Matthew’s record of this event, Mark records another statement of Jesus in this discourse.
Mar 2:27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Jesus is saying the Pharisees don’t understand the Sabbath command.
To them, it is nothing more than a ritual that must be observed no matter what the cost in human suffering and inconvenience.
Jesus appears to say otherwise.
Men were not created to be servants of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was created as a day of rest for the benefit of men.
In condemning Jesus’ Apostles they reveal their ignorance about the true heart of the Law of God.
Similar in many ways to His Sermon on the Mount.
In my view, the second of the two interpretations is correct.
If verses 3-4 stood alone without context, I would favor the first interpretation.
But in light of the following verses and Mark 2:27, I believe the second interpretation is more likely correct.
Verse 5
Jesus again proves the Pharisees don’t understand the laws of God surrounding the Sabbath.
According to the Pharisee’s interpretation of “profaning” the Sabbath, their very own priest profaned the Sabbath every Saturday.
Why does Jesus bring this up?
The priests performed “work” on the Sabbath and it was part of God’s Law.
They killed animals and offered sacrifices (Num 28:9-10)
And they did it in the most sacred location on earth, the Temple.
So, if the Pharisees interpretation of the law was valid, the Temple was profaned every week, yet the Pharisees weren’t busting down the Temple gates to punish the sinful priests.
The Pharisees understood much less than they thought they understood about the Law.
It seems He is making the point made with His example of David, contrary to the self-righteous interpretation of Sabbath put forward by the Pharisees, there was more to the Sabbath law than just ritual and it was not an absolute law for absolutely every situation.
Verse 6
What was greater than the Temple?
Jesus was greater than the Temple.
The Temple had been the place of God’s presence on earth during the Mosaic era.
But now Christ was the embodied presence of God on earth.
If the priests were profaning the most holy Temple by breaking the Sabbath, it was definitely something to be concerned about.
If the Apostles were profaning something even greater than the Temple by breaking the Sabbath (Jesus), it was definitely something to be concerned about… And yet, Jesus wasn’t concerned.
No violation of the Law had occurred.
If the Sabbath made an exception for the work in the Temple, it would certainly make exception for Christ.
Verse 7
“I desire mercy, and no sacrifice” is quoted from Hos 6:6 and you may also recognize it from 9:13.
Hos 6:6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
If the Pharisees had a better grasp of this Scripture’s meaning, they would not have condemned the innocent Apostles.
What does it mean?
The Sabbath command was a direct command from God and was to be heeded.
Loving your neighbor was a direct command from God and was to be heeded.
The sabbath command was instituted for the good of man
If presented with the choice between the good of man and the stringent keeping of the Sabbath law, the good of man was to take priority.
The Sabbath law was designed with this in mind, therefore, laying aside a ritual so that love could take its place was not contrary to Sabbath (this being the exception, rather than the rule).
God would rather have mercy and love shown to your neighbor than the expense of them in order to keep a ritual.
Imagine you were walking on the road and you saw a man who had been trampled by a cow. What would Jesus have you do if it was Sabbath?
Leave the man because carrying him and walking him to the hospital would violate Sabbath?
Or show mercy?
Imagine you were driving to worship and saw a man hit by a car?
You are caught between two commands.
The command to worship (sacrifice)
Or the command to love your neighbor and the command that reads, “the one who knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17)
To which command are you obedient?
I think the answer is right here!
The Pharisees had this completely backward.
They put all the importance on the ritual
They put none of the importance on the mercy and love (accusing Jesus of healing on Sabbath and violating the Law.)
Side Note: It should be noted that the Apostle’s actions were not in any way opposed to God’s Sabbath law. The Pharisees had taken God’s Sabbath law and created more stringent traditions about what could and couldn’t be done. In this text their accusation is only based off of their personal traditions about how to keep Sabbath. Even so, Jesus was able to use it as a teachable moment to reveal their deep misunderstanding of God’s Law.
Verse 8
Jesus’ claim here is bold and should not be understated.
He claims deity in front of the Pharisees
He had authority to speak on the interpretation of Sabbath law because He was the Lord of the Sabbath.
Only God could claim authority over the laws of God.
Mat 12:9 - He went on from there and entered their synagogue.
Mat 12:10 - And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.
Mat 12:11 - He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?
Mat 12:12 - Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Mat 12:13 - Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.
Mat 12:14 - But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
Verse 9-12
This narrative appears to be a continuation of the dialog which just took place.
After reeducating the Pharisees on Sabbath, Jesus goes into the synagogue and finds a man with a handicapped hand.
If there was ever an illustration of the hard-headedness of the Pharisees, this is one.
Jesus just finished talking to them about doing good on the Sabbath day.
Then they asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
They didn’t ask if Jesus would extend mercy and love to heal the man.
They asked about the legality of the good work
They received an “F” on their comprehension test!
Again, Jesus takes the opportunity to teach a lesson and point out the Pharisees’ hypocrisy.
Evidently, it was considered acceptable to make an exception to the Sabbath law to save a person’s endangered sheep but here they were questioning Jesus’ willingness to save a human being.
Rather than helping this handicapped man, the Pharisees were using him as bait to catch Jesus and in a place that was meant for Jewish unity, the synagogue.
You can see where the priorities of the Pharisees lied.
This is why Jesus tells them they ignored the weighty matters of the Law.
They cared more about an animal they were going to use to make a sacrifice than a brother in need.
APPLICATION:
Do our actions reveal our priorities?
Have you ever been part of a congregation or met a person inside a congregation who would gladly spend $10,000 on new sound equipment to make the sacrifice (worship) sound better, but spending $10,000 on a program to reach the lost souls in their community would never cross their mind?
Where is our priority?
The Pharisees had completely missed the lesson Jesus taught in verses 1-8 and so He again takes an opportunity to point out their hypocrisy and make it publicly clear how little the “Jewish leaders” knew about true godliness.
Jesus restates the principle He just made plain in verses 1-8, “So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Sabbath wasn’t a day where doing good went on hold so that they could keep some rules! To see it as such was to miss the point!
Verse 13-14
After the Pharisees received their second lesson on Sabbath law, Jesus turned His attention to the man with the withered hand and healed Him.
I want to be more like Jesus in that, while He answered His critics with logic and sound reasoning, He always turned His attention back to those with honest hearts and those in need.
I don’t want to get so busy arguing with critics that I forget there are honest hearts out there in the world that need a teacher.
I don’t want to make fancy argument and debate my primary Christian pursuit when it should be the simple gospel sowing and caring for orphans and widows.
Jesus answered His critics when it needed done but notice how He almost always does it while He’s doing some other good work.
I want to be like that… I don’t want the critics to be able to find me behind a keyboard somewhere. If they are going to find me, I want them to have to find me out fulfilling some gospel need in the world.
Verse 14 reveals the Pharisees did not practice religion out of devotion to God. If godliness was their motivation, they would have had no problem accepting Jesus’ teachings on the Sabbath. They were motivated by pride and the prestige they received in their positions of religious authority.
Jesus had revealed them to the people, maybe for the first time, as nothing but hypocrites.
The pride that motivated them in their religion then motivated them to “destroy” Jesus.
Mat 12:15 - Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all
Mat 12:16 - and ordered them not to make him known.
Mat 12:17 - This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
Mat 12:18 - “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
Mat 12:19 - He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;
Mat 12:20 - a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory;
Mat 12:21 - and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”
Verse 15-16
Jesus, knowing the evil intentions of the Pharisees, departed the synagogue.
Great multitudes of people followed Him and He healed many people.
But after healing them, He told them not to spread the news.
Why?
Answer: to fulfill the prophecy found in verse 17-21
Verse 17-21
This prophecy is found in Isaiah 42:1-4
This prophecy speaks of a gentle, quiet, and even subtle arrival of the LORD’s “Servant.”
There is no question that the “servant” refers to Christ (see Acts 4:27; 30)
But how was Jesus’ arrival and ministry gentle and subtle?
When we only read the gospel accounts and view Jesus through the eyes of a 1st Century Galilean Jew, it is almost impossible to describe Jesus as gentle and quiet.
Multitudes were following Him
He gave the respected Jewish elite a tongue lashing on a daily basis
He preached the end of the Mosaic Law.
Hardly a subtle arrival.
But when we step back and view the Messiah from a wider perspective, we may be shocked at just how quietly God arrived on the earth.
He was born in secret in a manger
Born to socially insignificant parents
Grew up quietly in a town with poor reputation
Only publicly addressed the world for 3 years
Spent most of His time in Galilee which wasn’t exactly the cultural center of the Roman Empire.
Didn’t overthrow any world governments
Didn’t claim any position of political authority
If you told me God was going to come to earth, I would expect some history book altering event to take place in record time. I would expect the history book publishers to be putting out some updated editions.
But until the resurrection, I think it is fair to say Jesus came quietly.
You’ll also notice Jesus was prophesied to bring hope to the Gentiles.
Jesus was the Savior, not just of the Jews, but also the Gentiles.
Mat 12:22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw.
Mat 12:23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”
Mat 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”
Next, we have a man who comes to Jesus with a demon which made him blind (couldn’t see) and mute (couldn’t speak).
Jesus casts out the demon and the man is healed.
Those who surrounded Jesus were amazed at His power and allowed themselves to examine the evidence and consider that Jesus might be the prophesied Son of David who was coming to deliver Israel.
The truth was starting to form in the minds of the simple people guided by common sense.
But the “educated” told them it wasn’t so!
APPLICATION:
Don’ let someone “educate” you out of the common sense God gave you.
We allow ourselves to be “educated” out of understanding simple biblical teaching because someone with a seminary degree told us it wasn’t so.
We allow ourselves to be “educated” out of belief in God because someone with a PH.D. told us the world came about in the most commonsense-less way imaginable.
These common Jews were on to something. Hopefully they didn’t allow the Pharisees nonsense to stop them from pursuing truth.
But the Pharisees quickly shot them down, stating that Jesus power came from “Beelzebul, the prince of demons.”
Mat 12:25 - Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.
Mat 12:26 - And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
Mat 12:27 - And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
Mat 12:28 - But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Verse 25-26
Make no mistake, what the Pharisees were suggesting was nonsense.
They were suggesting that Jesus was defeating the Devil’s servants with power derived from the Devil. (Insert face-palm).
Jesus immediately rebukes their ignorance.
If a Kingdom goes to war with itself it will destroy itself
If a household is divided it will have no strength
A business man doesn’t try to sabotage his own start-up
Satan is not ignorant enough to go to war with himself and his mission.
Verse 27
If you read 1st Century Jewish history, you’ll find reference to the practice of exorcism.
This included chants, incantations, incense, etc.
Jesus power was unique in that the demons submitted to His word.
Jesus asks the Pharisees, “If I cast out demons with the power of the Devil, with what power do your Jewish exorcists (your sons) try to cast out demons?”
Verse 28
If Jesus wasn’t casting demons out with Satan’s power, it must have been through the power of God (Spirit of God).
And if God’s Spirit is at work in the world, it signifies the coming of the Kingdom.
And if God had come to overthrow the reign and stranglehold of Satan, the Kingdom of God was on its way.
Verse 29
If you are going to take something that belongs to a strong man, you first have to find a way to bind him.
If this can be done, you will then be able to plunder his house (take what belongs to him).
What does this have to do with anything?
Jesus is explaining His power over Satan.
Satan is the strong man and Jesus has the power to bind him and take what belongs to him.
In this case, the demon possessed individual was under Satan’s power
Christ came with the Spirit of God to plunder what Satan possessed.
Verse 30
Jesus left no middle ground or grey space in which His audience could linger.
There are only two sides in the universal conflict between good and evil.
You either belong to the power of Satan.
Or you belong to the power of the Spirit of God.
Rom 8:9 - You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
You either gather with Christ or scatter with Satan.
The terms scatter and gather may be alluding to the two ends of the agricultural spectrum.
A sower scatters seed
A harvester gathers into barns.
Mar 4:26 - And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.
Mat 3:12 - His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
As the spring planting and fall harvesting couldn’t be farther apart, the power of Satan and the power of Christ couldn’t be farther apart.
Verse 30-32
This dichotomy, makes clear the seriousness of rejecting the Spirit of God.
Every sin will be forgiven men except the blasphemy of the Spirit.
Blasphemy: “the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God.”
Is there a greater blasphemy than to attribute the works of God to the power of Satan?
The Pharisees, with their own tongues, confessed their loyalty… and it wasn’t to Christ.
They chose the side they accused Jesus of drawing power from in order to condemn Him.
As long as they persisted in mocking and rejecting the Spirit of God, they would not find forgiveness in this life or the next.
Jesus’ work was not yet complete.
He still needed to die on the cross, resurrect from the dead, and ascend into heaven.
When that work was accomplished, He would send the Spirit of God to the world.
The Spirit would guide men into the truth.
It would testify to the truth taught by Jesus.
It would explain to men and women what they needed to do to be saved by Jesus’ blood.
We know that many Jews who mocked Jesus when He was on earth turned in repentance when the Spirit spoke through Peter on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2).
They were forgiven the words they spoke against Christ (namely, “Crucify Him!”)
But those who rejected Christ during His life and rejected the messengers of Christ and His Spirit even after His death would not be forgiven until they left off scattering with the Devil and came to gather with Christ.
The same is true for us.
If we insult the Spirit of grace and count the blood of Jesus a common and unholy thing, we cannot be forgiven until we stop persisting in blasphemy.
Mat 12:33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.
Mat 12:34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Mat 12:35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.
Mat 12:36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,
Mat 12:37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Verse 33
The Pharisees had accused Jesus of working with the power of the devil.
If He was indeed a servant of the devil, His works (fruits) should be consistent with that fact and He should be rightly labelled a “bad tree.”
But If Jesus was not a servant of the devil, His works being consistent with godliness, He ought to be labelled a “good tree” and the Pharisees charged with blasphemy for speaking against God.
Jesus continues to destroy the grey space between good and evil.
If you read the book of 1John you will find that John often speaks in these extremes.
He may have picked that up from listening to Jesus.
A tree is either all good or it is all bad.
They either stood with God or they blasphemed… which was it?
Verse 34-35
Jesus immediately gives the answer in no uncertain terms in verse 34, “You brood of vipers.”
Who really belonged to Satan (verse 24)? It wasn’t the Son of God, it was these sons of the serpent.
The Pharisees had been trying to say all the right things to make it appears they were good followers of Moses
They must have thought sticking up for strict Sabbath laws was really a way to appear righteous, but in doing it they had revealed their rotten inner hearts.
Christ had exposed them with their own words as being “bad trees” with “bad fruit.”
They pretended to love God but they were vipers in the grass.
They may have been able to fool the people but all are exposed in the mind of God.
Heb 4:13 - And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Verse 36-37
On the day of Judgement we will give an account for every thoughtless thing we’ve said.
The Pharisees had opened their mouths one to many times and uttered careless and sinful words.
Jesus offers us this general warning to watch our words more closely than the Pharisees.
Our words reveal who we are in our hearts and one day the abundance of their source will be judged.
Mat 12:38 - Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
Mat 12:39 - But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Mat 12:40 - For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Mat 12:41 - The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Mat 12:42 - The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
The scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus asking Him to perform a miracle.
They probably approached Him in pretense, feigning to be authentic truth seekers.
They ask for a sign but their real intention was to use the sign to catch Jesus in some kind of error.
APPLICATION:
You will meet these people on your Christian walk.
They put on a good show in the beginning to make you believe they are authentic, but after a while, their true intentions come out.
They were evil because they were attempting to discredit God’s Messenger
They were adulterous because they lived under the guise of godliness but were just as much in love with the vices of the world as the tax collectors and sinners.
Christ would not give them a sign except that of Jonah
Jonah was swallowed by a whale for 3 days because he refused to preach to the people of Nineveh
Christ would spend 3 days in the earth before resurrecting.
This sign would be sufficient.
When Jonah finally travelled to Nineveh, the people heeded his message and repented
Someone greater than Jonah was speaking to the Pharisees and scribes now…
But they weren’t wise enough to repent
Nineveh (a heathen gentile city) were more open to God’s truth than these “educated” Jews.
The people of Nineveh weren’t the only gentiles wiser than the Pharisees and scribes, the “queen of the South” is also counted as being more righteous (see 1Kings 10:1ff).
The queen of the South journeyed a long way to hear the rumored wisdom of King Solomon, yet the Jews didn’t recognize and even greater wisdom walking among them in the town.
Side Note: Jesus has made some astounding claims in this chapter:
He is greater than the temple
He is Lord of the Sabbath
He is a greater preacher than Jonah
He is wiser than Solomon
Mat 12:43 - “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.
Mat 12:44 - Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.
Mat 12:45 - Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
I find this passage a bit hard to get my head wrapped around but I will do my best to draw out the point Jesus is making.
The Parable:
A man is oppressed by the power of a demon (the power of Satan)
The man receives some relief and an opportunity to get his mind oriented correctly (finds the house empty, swept, and put in order).
But the demon returns stronger than ever before.
The Explanation:
For a long time, the Jews had been oppressed by demon possession, but thinking more broadly, they were under the power and control of Satan because of their sin.
They received an opportunity, through Christ, to get their minds and hearts oriented correctly and escape Satan forever.
But instead of filling their houses with godliness, they left them open for the return of Satan.
Heb 10:29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
2Pe 2:20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
Although the verses in Hebrews and Peter aren’t directed towards Pharisees and scribes, I believe the principle contained in these verses applies here.
Peter probably took the words at the end of verse 2Pe 2:20 directly from Jesus.
The Pharisees were privileged to witness God on earth.
They saw His miracles
They saw His power over Satan’s demons
They heard His sermons
They would see His death and the miracles which accompanied it.
They would see His resurrection
With their own eyes they had witnessed the promised release from the power of Satan but they would not open their homes to it.
In rejecting Christ, they hardened their hearts and allowed Satan to entangle them to a greater degree than ever before.
Mat 12:46 - While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.
Mat 12:48 - But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”
Mat 12:49 - And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!
Mat 12:50 - For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Someone came and notified Jesus that His mother and brothers were wanting to see Him.
This would have been Mary and her other children with Joseph (Jesus’ half-brothers)
His brothers are named in Mark 6:3
Mar 6:3 - Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
As He did so often, Jesus used this everyday experience to teach a spiritual lesson.
He asked, “Who are my mother and my brothers really?”
The true family of God are those who identify with Jesus and accept His heaven-given message.
1Jn 3:10 - By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
The blood of Christ is a stronger bond than familial blood
Our family relationships dissolve when those we love pass-away.
Don’t you want a relationship that can’t dissolve in death?
The bond of Christ’s blood is only reaffirmed in death!
