Matthew 12

There are infinite numbers of ways to start a quarrel . . . if you really want one. Chapter 12 begins with a dispute about the Sabbath, a touchy subject for Orthodox Jewry of Jesus time because much weight was given to the observance of all that could be inferred from Exodus 20:10 “but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.”

      What is work, anyway? Science uses this definition (or at least it did when I was in High School): Work is done when a force moves a mass through distance. Our assignments included calculating how much work had been done using appropriate measures for force, mass and distance.

      I'm betting they still do that in High Schools, or probably, by now, in Grade Four!

      To the pharisees challenging Jesus' and his disciples on Sabbath law, picking food off it's stem in order to eat it is work. In point of fact, many household chores are too this day prohibited on the Sabbath (like lighting a fire) and a non-Jew (Shabbot Goy) may be hired to do these tasks in Orthodox communities.

      Jesus reply doesn't chide them for making their Sabbath laws too strict; what he seems to be saying is that that their anal attachment to the letter of the law is blinding them, rendering them incapable of making meaningful choices. He accuses them again of failing to understand Hosea 6:6 “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

      I have to ask myself: Do I know what Hosea 6:6 meant in the prophet's time? in Jesus' time? and most importantly, in my time? What quarrels of today would have Jesus throwing Hosea in our faces? I wonder.

      Most of Chapter 12 crosses over into the world of aphorisms (sayings, maxims) like “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit,” and so on. It makes for discontinuous reading; Matthew the list-maker at work again! But embedded in all the wise sayings is the one that gave us the heebie-jeebies as kids: “ . . . every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” A thousand theologians and way more than that many Sunday School classes later, I still don't get it.

      As I'm equally puzzled by Verses 43 to 45: “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” 

     I'm sure someone has ventured an interpretation for the images of “the house unoccupied, swept clean and in order,” and perhaps I should consult a commentary: it's obviously continuing in the predominant vein of the whole chapter: the audience is a nest of vipers and—possibly—driving out one of the snakes will only end up making room for seven others. Hopeless, hopeless, hopeless.

      I used to marvel that Jesus would let his mother and the rest of his family stand outside waiting to speak to him, and then proclaim that his disciples were now his family. More mellow now, I put that impression to bed with a nod to Matthew's brevity; Jesus is tenderly expressing his love for his followers by using the image of family, an image that plucks at the heart strings of anyone who's grown up in a fully-functioning home.

      I like to think that right after he said this, he made his way through his audience, embraced his mom, his brother and sister and, and . . . I really would like to know what they wanted to talk to him about!