Ma-thi-ơ 12

Lord of the Sabbath

¹About that time Jesus was walking through the fields of grain on a Sabbath day. His disciples were hungry, so they started picking some heads of grain and eating them. ²The Pharisees saw it and said to him, “See there! Your disciples are doing something that the law forbids on the Sabbath.” ³Jesus answered them, “Do you not remember reading what David did when he and the men with him were hungry? ⁴He went into the house of God, and they ate the sacred bread set out before God. Neither David nor his men were allowed to eat it; only the priests were. ⁵Or have you not read in the law that every Sabbath the priests working in the temple break the Sabbath, and still they bear no guilt? ⁶I tell you, here is something greater than the temple.^{a 7}If you had understood what the words mean, ‘I want mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned people who have done nothing wrong. ⁸For the Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath.”

Doing good on the Sabbath

⁹Jesus left that place and went into their synagogue. ¹⁰A man was there whose hand was shriveled. They put a question to him: “Is healing allowed on the Sabbath?” They wanted a reason to bring a charge against him. ¹¹He answered them, “Suppose one of you has just one sheep, and it falls into a hole on the Sabbath. Will you not grab hold of it and pull it out? ¹²And a human being is worth far more than a sheep! So the law allows doing good on the Sabbath.” ¹³Then he told the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man held it out, and it was made well again, just like his other hand. ¹⁴The Pharisees left and met together to plot against him, looking for a way to put him to death.

God’s chosen servant

¹⁵Jesus knew what they were planning, and he withdrew from there. Many people followed him, and he healed every one of them. ¹⁶But he ordered them not to tell others who he was. ¹⁷This was so that the word spoken through the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled: ¹⁸“See my servant, the one I have chosen, my dearly loved one, in whom my soul delights. I will place my Spirit on him, and he will make justice known to the Gentiles. ¹⁹He will not quarrel or shout; no one will hear him raising his voice in the streets. ²⁰He will not snap off a bent reed or snuff out a wick that is barely burning, until he has led justice on to victory. ²¹And the Gentiles will put their hope in his name.”

By the Spirit of God

²²Then a man under the power of a demon was brought to him. The man was blind and unable to speak. Jesus healed him, and now the man could speak and see. ²³The crowds were all beside themselves. “Might this man be the Son of David?” they asked. ²⁴But the Pharisees heard it and said, “This man drives out demons only with the help of Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” ²⁵Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said to them, “Any kingdom that is split into warring parts falls into ruin, and any town or family that fights against itself will not last. ²⁶So if Satan is throwing Satan out, he has turned against himself. In that case, how could his kingdom survive? ²⁷And if I drive out demons with Beelzebul’s help, then whose help do your own people use when they drive them out? So they will be the ones to judge you. ²⁸But if I am driving out demons by the Spirit of God, then God’s kingdom has already arrived among you. ²⁹Or how could anyone break into the house of a strong man and make off with his goods, without tying the strong man up first? Only then can he strip the house bare. ³⁰Anyone who does not stand with me stands against me. Anyone who does not help me gather is scattering. ³¹This is why I tell you that people can be forgiven every sin and every slander, but no one will be forgiven for blasphemy against the Spirit. ³²A person who says something against the Son of Man may be forgiven. But a person who speaks against the Holy Spirit will find no forgiveness, not in the present age and not in the age that is coming.^b

³³Either count the tree good and its fruit good, or count the tree rotten and its fruit rotten. For the fruit shows what kind of tree it is. ³⁴You family of snakes! How could good words come from you, since you are evil? The mouth speaks what spills over from the heart. ³⁵From a good storehouse a good person draws out good things; from an evil storehouse an evil person draws out evil things. ³⁶And I tell you this: every idle word people speak is a word they will have to answer for on judgment day. ³⁷Your own words will declare you innocent, or your own words will condemn you.”

The sign of Jonah

³⁸At this some of the scribes and Pharisees spoke up. “Teacher,” they said, “we would like you to show us a sign.” ³⁹He answered them, “An evil, unfaithful generation goes looking for a sign, but the only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah the prophet. ⁴⁰Jonah spent three days and three nights inside the great sea creature, and in the same way the Son of Man will spend three days and three nights deep in the earth.^{c 41}On judgment day the people of Nineveh will stand up alongside this generation and condemn it. They turned from their sins when Jonah preached. Yet here is something greater than Jonah. ⁴²The queen from the south will stand up on judgment day alongside this generation and condemn it. She traveled from the far edges of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom. Yet here is something greater than Solomon.

The unclean spirit returns

⁴³When an unclean spirit leaves a person, it wanders through dry country in search of a place to rest, but it finds none. ⁴⁴So it says, ‘I will go back to the home I came out of.’ It returns and finds the place standing empty, swept, and set in order. ⁴⁵Then it goes off and brings back seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they move in and settle there. In the end that person is worse off than at the start. And this evil generation will fare the same way.”

Those who do the Father’s will

⁴⁶Jesus was still talking to the crowds when his mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside, hoping for a word with him. ⁴⁷Someone told him, “Look, your mother and brothers are standing out there. They are asking to speak with you.”^{d 48}Jesus answered the one who had told him, “Who is my mother? And who are my brothers?” ⁴⁹He held out his hand toward his disciples. “Look,” he said, “these are my mother and my brothers. ⁵⁰For anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is a brother and sister and mother to me.”