Matthew 12

Chapter 12

Jesus has authority over rules about the day of rest

1On a Jewish day of rest, Jesus was walking through some fields where wheat was growing. His disciples were hungry. So they began to pick some of the grains of wheat. They began to eat them. 2While the disciples were doing this, some Pharisees saw them. They said to Jesus, ‘Look at what your disciples are doing! It is against God's Law to do that on our day of rest.’

3Jesus replied, ‘You have certainly read about what David did one day. He and the men who were with him were hungry. 4David went into the temple. He ate the special bread that was there. He also gave some of it to his men to eat as well. But it is against God's Law for anyone except the priests to eat that special bread. #12:4 See 1 Samuel 21.

5You also know what God's Law says about the priests. They work in the temple, even on the day of rest. They have not obeyed the Law about the day of rest. But God's Law tells us that they have not done anything that is wrong. 6But I tell you this. There is someone here now who has greater authority even than the temple. 7You should understand what the Bible teaches. God says there, “I want people to be kind to each other. I do not just want them to offer sacrifices to me.” If you had understood this, then you would not have said to me, “Your disciples are doing something wrong.” 8The Son of Man has authority over rules about the day of rest.’

Jesus makes a man well on the day of rest

9Then Jesus left that place. He went into the Jewish meeting place. 10A man was there. His hand was very small and weak, so he could not use it. Some Pharisees asked Jesus, ‘Is it right to make someone well again on our day of rest?’ They wanted to find a reason to say that Jesus was doing wrong things.

11Jesus said to them, ‘Maybe one of you has a sheep that falls into a deep hole on our day of rest. What will you do? You will take hold of it and you will lift it out of the hole. 12You know that a man is much more valuable than a sheep. So it is right for us to do good things on our day of rest.’

13Then Jesus said to the man with the weak hand, ‘Lift up your hand.’ So the man lifted up his hand and it became well again. It was now as strong as his other hand. 14Then the Pharisees went out from the meeting place. They began to talk to each other about how they could kill Jesus.

Jesus is God's special servant

15Jesus knew that the Pharisees wanted to kill him. So he went away from that place. A large crowd of people followed him. He made all the sick people become well again. 16He said to these people, ‘You must not tell anyone about me.’ 17This has made what the prophet Isaiah spoke long ago become true. Isaiah wrote what God said:

18‘Here is my servant.

I have chosen him to serve me.

I love him and he makes me very happy.

I will give him the strength of my Spirit.

He will tell all the nations that I will judge them fairly.

19He will not argue with people. He will not shout at them.

People will not hear his loud voice in the streets.

20He will not hurt weak people,

like someone who breaks a weak reed.

He will not destroy helpless people,

like someone who puts out a weak flame.

He will do this until there is justice everywhere.

21All the nations will trust him to save them.’ #12:21 See Isaiah 42:1-4.

Jesus talks about Satan and bad spirits

22After that, some people brought a man to Jesus. The man had a bad spirit in him. Because of this, he was blind and he could not speak. Jesus caused the man to become well again. The man could speak again and he could see. 23When Jesus did this, all the people were very surprised. They asked each other, ‘Maybe this man is the Son of David that God will send to us. Could that be true?’

24The Pharisees also heard about what had happened. They said, ‘This man can send demons out of people only because Beelzebul gives him authority. #12:24 Beelzebul is another name for Satan. That is Satan, the one who rules all the demons.’

25Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking. So he said to them, ‘If armies in a country fight each other, then they will destroy their own country. If people in one city or in one family fight each other, then they will destroy their own city or family. 26So Satan would not try to destroy himself. If Satan fights against himself, that would be the end of his own kingdom. 27Some of your disciples can also send demons out of people. You would not say that it is Satan's power that helps them. So your own disciples show that you are wrong about this. 28When I send demons out of people, I use the authority of God's Holy Spirit to do this. This shows that God's kingdom has already come among you.

29Nobody can go easily into the house of a strong man to rob him. To do that, he must first tie up the strong man. Then he can take away all that man's valuable things. #12:29 Jesus is saying that he must be stronger than Satan because he sends Satan's bad spirits out of people and they go away.

30If someone does not agree to help me, he is working against me. You should work with me to bring people to me for help. If you do not do that, you are really making people run away from me. 31God is able to forgive all the wrong things that people do. He also forgives the bad things that people say against other people. But God will never forgive people who say bad things against the Holy Spirit. 32God will forgive people who say bad things against me, the Son of Man. But God will never forgive people who say bad things against the Holy Spirit. He will not forgive them now or ever.’

Jesus talks about trees and their fruit

33Then Jesus said, ‘To have good fruit you must have a good tree. If you have a bad tree, then you will get bad fruit from it. You can know all about a tree by the kind of fruit that it makes. 34You are like the children of dangerous snakes. You cannot say good things when your thoughts are bad. When you speak, your words show what is in your mind. 35It is like things that you bring out of a room where you keep them. The good man says good things because he keeps good thoughts in his mind. The bad man says bad things because he keeps bad thoughts in his mind. 36I tell you this. One day, God will judge everybody. On that day, he will ask you about every useless word that you have spoken. 37God will think about the words that you have spoken. Then he will decide whether to let you go free or to punish you.’

The Pharisees want Jesus to show that God has sent him

38Then some teachers of God's Law and some Pharisees said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we want to see you do a miracle. That will show us that God has really sent you.’

39Jesus replied, ‘The people who are alive today are very wicked. They do not obey God, but they want God to show them something powerful. But God will not do this for them. They will only see the same powerful thing that God did for his prophet Jonah. 40Jonah stayed inside a big fish for three days and three nights. #12:40 See Jonah 1:17. In the same way, the Son of Man will remain in the ground for three days and three nights. 41When God judges everyone, the people who lived in Nineveh will be there. They will stand up and they will speak against you. They will show that the people who are alive today are bad. When Jonah spoke to the people in Nineveh long ago, they stopped doing bad things. But look! There is someone here now who is greater than Jonah was.

42Also, the Queen of Sheba travelled a long way to meet King Solomon. She wanted to hear his wise words. When God judges everyone, she will stand up. She will speak against you who are alive today. She will show that you are bad people. She listened to King Solomon. But look! There is someone here now who is greater than Solomon was. But you are not listening to me.’ #12:42 See 1 Kings 10:1-10.

43Jesus then said, ‘When a bad spirit leaves a person, it travels through dry places. It looks for a new place to live. But maybe it does not find anywhere. 44So it says to itself, “I will return to the place where I lived before.” Then it goes back to that person. It finds that the place is empty. Everything there is now good and clean. 45So the bad spirit goes out and it brings back seven other spirits. They are even worse than itself. They all go into the person and they live there. Now the person's life is even worse than it was before. The same thing will happen to you wicked people who are alive today.’

Jesus says that his disciples belong to his family

46While Jesus was still speaking to the crowd of people, his mother and his brothers arrived. They stood outside the house. They wanted to speak to Jesus. 47Someone told him, ‘Look! Your mother and brothers are standing outside. They want to speak to you.’

48Jesus replied, ‘I will tell you who my mother and my brothers really are.’ 49Then he pointed to his disciples. He said, ‘Look! Here are my mother and my brothers. 50My brothers and sisters and my mother are those people who do what my Father in heaven wants.’ #12:50 People who believe in Jesus belong to the family of God.

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