Week 41
John 5, Matthew 12:1-21, Mark 2:23-3:12, and Luke 6:1-11
On many occasions Jesus healed people and cast out demons on the Sabbath, which drove the Pharisees crazy with anger, yet the Lord was grieved on account of their hard hearts, and lack of compassion for the needy. Jesus told them that they did not understand that the Sabbath was ordained by God as a gift to men, and not as a means of fulfilling religious obligation. In John 5 Jesus tells the Pharisees that they also misunderstand the scriptures and the law, since they would love Him if they followed the law of Moses as it was intended from God. He also told them that all of the Old Testament scriptures were actually written about Himself, and everything there was included by God to point forward to the coming of Jesus.
Matthew 5, Mark 3:13-19, and Luke 6:12-36
The 12 apostles are called by Jesus, and then He begins to teach them. In Matthew 5-7 we find the Lord’s sermon on the mount, which begins with Him calling His disciples together, and then teaching them the principles of the kingdom of God. Matthew 5 includes the so-called Beatitudes, where Jesus lays out the behavior and attitudes of those who belong to God’s kingdom. The rules that Jesus describes in these chapters are even more difficult than the laws of Moses, since they speak to the attitudes of the heart, and they demonstrate the righteousness required of anyone who seeks to be saved through his own actions. These are impossible for men and women to obey in every aspect, and at all times, demonstrating the need for Christ’s righteousness in all who will be accepted by God, since He is the only one who actually kept all of God’s laws (both the OT law, as well as the intent of God’s laws, as cited by Jesus). We can look ahead to these being the laws of the kingdom when Jesus rules on the earth.
Matthew 6-7, and Luke 6:37-49
In Matthew 6 the Lord tells His disciples how to pray, and the critical necessity for us to forgive others if we hope to be forgiven by God. In like manner, Jesus tells us to treat others in the way that we want to be treated, which speaks of how God will treat us (in light of how we treat others).
Jesus stresses the importance that we do the things He said, and that there will be some in the judgement who are not His, because they failed to do what He commanded. Of course, we are not saved by the things we do, since we know that salvation comes by God’s grace, and our faith in Jesus Christ. However, Jesus is saying that those who belong to Him also experience a change of heart, and each person wants to do what He has commanded, even though such practice may be far from perfect.
Luke 7, Matthew 8:1, 5-13, and 11:2-30
It is notable to consider the faith of the Centurion, who’s servant was sick, and who asked Jesus to heal the servant. The passage tells us that Jesus was blown away by the faith of this (Gentile) Centurion, who not only understood that Jesus had the authority to heal, but he understood that the Lord only needed to say the word, and it would happen. Jesus told the crowd that He had not seen the like of this man’s faith in all of Israel. The faith of this man was not something that was built up within him, but it was just a reflection of his confidence in the power and authority of the Lord’s Word.
Jesus did many other great miracles in these passages, including raising a young man from the dead, and also demonstrating that He had the power to forgive sin, with the woman he encountered at Simon’s house.
When John the Baptist was in prison he sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus if He was The Christ, which represented a low point in his life, just before Herod was going to have him killed. Jesus responds with grace and love, telling them to go back to John and describe the many miracles that Jesus was doing. After they leave, Jesus admonishes the crowd regarding John, saying that he was the greatest man who had lived until that time, and that he was the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophesy about Elijah coming in advance of The Christ.
Matthew 12:22-50, Mark 3:20-35, and Luke 8:1-21
Jesus is becoming very popular in His ministry, with multitudes following Him wherever He goes. Jewish leaders out of Jerusalem come and claim that Jesus is casting out demons by the power of the devil, yet the Lord points out the insanity of their logic, and tells them that their generation will be judged more harshly than even Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba (gentile nations and people who didn’t have the benefit of God’s law). Jesus tells them that the words of their mouth demonstrate what is actually in their hearts, and states that the judgement of God will accurately reflect the condition of each person’s heart. The hearts of men are like fruit trees, which demonstrate what they are by what comes from within.
Mark 4:1-34, and Matthew 13:1-53
Jesus begins to teach in parables, which is a fulfillment of Psalm 78:2, and He gives the story of the sower and soils as a primary parable that helps in interpreting all of His parables. He told His disciples in Mark 4:13 that they couldn’t understand the parables if they didn’t understand this one in particular. Consequently, we understand that the metaphors given in the parables are consistent, which means that birds are always servants of the enemy, leaven (or yeast) always represents sin, the seeds represent both the word of God, as well as the saints, etc… This is called the principle of expositional constancy, where metaphors and allusions always refer to the same thing.
In these passages Jesus also tells His disciples that it was ordained by God that they understand these things, and that the parables were taught so that some would understand, and others would not. Jesus quotes from Isaiah 6:9-11, which predicted that Israel would be deaf and blind to the works of God for a very long time, until the end of the age, after there has been great destruction on the earth, and only a remnant in Israel remained.
In Matthew 13 Jesus tells many parables, with all of them providing simple comparisons to the kingdom of God and of satan, and how the disciples of each kingdom will be judged separately at the end of the age.
Mark 4:35-5:43, Matthew 8:18, 23-34, 9:18-34, and Luke 8:22-56
Jesus and His disciples get into a boat on the Sea of Galilee, and He tells them “let us go over to the other side”. On the way to the other side, Jesus goes to sleep in the back of the boat, and a hurricane force wind comes up, to where those seasoned fishermen in the boat were convinced they were going to die. After being woken up, Jesus rebuked the wind and waves, and then His disciples, for not believing what He had previously said (“let’s go over to the other side”). This was a lesson in faith for His disciples, and for us, as Jesus is also faithful to take each of us to the other side.
On the other side of the lake, Jesus casts thousands of demons out of a man, but the people in that region were afraid, and ask Him to leave their country. The man who had been freed wanted to go with Jesus and His disciples, but the Lord told him to stay in his own country, to tell the people there about the good things God had done for him. Jesus was not welcome there, and he left this totally unqualified man behind as His witness, yet people ended up believing as a result of hearing his testimony. This is a strong lesson for us, to realize that our own testimony has great ability to change hearts, as the Spirit uses us as witnesses for Jesus, even though we might be totally unqualified.
After returning to Galilee, Jesus is asked to go and heal the 12 year old daughter of a synagogue leader, and on the way a woman was also healed after touching the hem of his garment. Jesus commended her for her faith. The 12 year old girl ended up dying before Jesus got there, but He put out all of the unbelievers, and she was raised from the dead after He commanded her to get up.