Introduction
We heard the King offering the Kingdom to the Jews in Matthew 11. They rejected Him, despite the mighty works He performed in the name of His Father. Being rejected, He compares the multitude of Jews to spoiled children who love to be divided against each other. He tells them they don't know righteousness when it was presented to them. Jesus tells them that wisdom is proven by what it produces. Then He pronounces judgment on the cities where He preformed most of the works of the Messiah. He found little repentance in those cites of Galilee.
Chapter 12 presents Jesus and His disciples in a cornfield. They are plucking ears of corn for food. God provided for the poor by commanding the Israelites to reserve a corner of their fields for the poor to glean from. The Pharisees complained about Him allowing His disciples to harvest on the sabbath. He answered them by speaking of the way David provided for his men during the days of his rejection as king (1Sa 21). Jesus reminds the Pharisees that God accepts the service of the priests in the temple by grace. The temple and sabbath were at the center of a great deal of legalistic power for the Pharisees. Jesus engendered their hatred by placing himself in the position of God, greater than the temple and Lord of the sabbath. They knew He was claiming to be equal with God. (It's tragic that so many, especially those who claim to know and love Him, question His deity.)
Jesus was right to say the Pharisees were merciless, because we see them gathering in verse 14 to talk about destroying Him. We begin to find His enemies setting traps for Him in Matthew 12:9-14. They will not be satisfied until He is dead.
The rejected King in the countryside
Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. (Mat 12:22-28)
To be continued...
