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The Manger to the Cross Five
In the Manger to the Cross Four, Jesus selected the twelve and is sending them out. His instructions to them can give us clues about His coming arrest and trial.
Today we are going to continue looking at events in Jesus’ life as He goes from the manager to the cross. In One we looked at some of the prophecies about the coming Messiah or Christ and how Jesus fulfilled them. Our study in Two focused on the first year and His revolutionary message. In Three we looked at some of His miracles such as raising the dead and the costs of following Him. With Manger to the Cross Four, we see Jesus sending out the twelve with special instructions.
Five
In Manger to the Cross Five Jesus’ popularity has grown. Large crowds gather everywhere He goes. The Religious leaders in Jerusalem take notice of Jesus and send a delegation to test Him. They want to catch Him doing something they can claim breaks the Law of Moses.
Jesus knows this year of great success and popularity will end soon with His death upon the cross. Yet, He continues to preach about the coming Kingdom and explains the deeper meanings of the Law God gave Moses for the Israelites.
He preaches true righteousness, not the traditions taught by the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. Jesus is quick to proclaim the deeper meanings in a way that people can understand. However, this year He is more open about who He is and begins to prepare the disciples for His coming death on the Cross.
Jesus says in Matthew 11:27 NIV, 27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Jesus openly challenges the Pharisees and other leader’s hypocrisy and lack of faith. Over the centuries Jewish teachers wrote many interpretations of the Law of Mose. These interpretations were referred to as the traditions of the elders and were treated as valid as the actual Law. Please take note, however, that traditions never equal God’s law.
Today
We must be careful that we do not do the same thing with the Bible today. We must show our love for God by not doing those things He calls sin. You and I are under God’s Grace but we must remember that what is right and wrong has not changed.
Memorize this Scripture, “8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 NIV His laws will always make our lives better. Jesus reminds us that if we love our neighbor we will obey all the laws naturally. Keep in mind that God is unchanging and it is our conduct that must conform to His will.
God has not made any one of us infallible. Do not be a present-day Pharisee. Your testimony is the love of Jesus and how it has changed you. Tell them about Jesus and let the Holy Spirit lead them into all righteousness.
Don’t try to force your views on others. Teach the Word God gave you and let the Spirit guide the individual to a closer walk with Jesus.
Jesus and the Sabbath
First, we need to understand that Jesus kept the Sabbath. He was raised and trained in the synagogue school as were all young Jewish boys. Jesus did not exempt Himself from the Law because He was the Son of God. Jesus fully obeyed all of God’s commands.
Secondly, Jesus did not consider the traditions of man to be equivalent to or above the Torah or God’s Law. The Pharisees considered both to be just as valid. (Note), this is the same mistake made by many denominations and some popular preachers today. They believe that what they say carries the same weight as what God says.
Our Lord was quick to point out the hypocrisy in their teachings. They wanted to protect their popularity, system of worship, and way of interpreting the Torah. It is much the same as what church leaders are doing today. They forget their purpose is to serve God and their fellow man and often end up serving themselves.
Jesus’s command was to “go into all the world” not to build political or religious structures. It is sad to see millions spent on lavish lifestyles and physical things instead of reaching the lost.
Work and the Sabbath
While Jesus and His followers were going on to the next village they were passing through a field of grain. According to the Law, Leviticus 19:9-10, the owners were required to leave the grain for the poor along the edges of the fields. Jesus’s followers were hungry and poor, so they plucked the grain and did eat.
12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:1-2 NIV
You might ask why was it considered unlawful. They were not stealing. However, tradition labeled what they did as work. They had to pluck the grain heads and roll them in their hands to remove the husks and tradition said that was work. It was unlawful to work on the Sabbath and tradition defined this action as work. The actual law did not.
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees by saying, 7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:7-8 NIV
In Mark we find Jesus saying that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. God gave us the Sabbath so everyone could have a day of rest and a time to worship.
Lawful to do good
Later when Jesus and His disciples reach the synagogue the Pharisees continue to question Him. They are still looking for a reason to bring charges against Him.
There is a man with a shriveled hand among the congregation. We don’t know if this man had heard about Jesus and came to be healed or if he was a member of that synagogue. All the Scripture tells us is that He was there and Jesus chose to use him to teach the truth of God.
The Pharisees were asking Jesus this question about healing on the Sabbath to trap Him. The Word tells us, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
Before Jesus heals the man’s hand He tries to reach the Pharisees with logic. 11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
The Sabbath
Jesus is declaring to them that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or any other day. Perhaps we can apply that to our ideas about work on Sunday. As Christians, we often bind ourselves to parts of the Sabbath law with our convictions about Sunday. We need to remember that even under the law Jesus says in Mark 2:27b NIV, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
Jesus knows their hearts and that they are looking for a way to accuse Him and yet He chooses to do good regardless of the costs. Matthew 12:13 NIV reads 13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.
You may ask how it is possible for them not to believe such a miracle. I say look at what we choose to believe and not believe. Are we any more open to God’s truth today? Many churches love the praises of men and the things of the world more than the things of God, their way rather than God’s way.
Plot to kill
After this miracle of compassion, the Jewish leaders realize that they must accept Him or kill Him. They decide to find a way to kill Him. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. Matthew 12:14 NIV
Truth and hypocrisy cannot stand side by side. Understand that many of the leaders of that day were being as righteous as they could by their definition. They grew up learning the law and listening to their teachers teaching what they thought each law meant.
I often hear that we do not learn from history not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Churches split over very small differences in beliefs while the Scripture encourages unity.
God did not mean for the church to grow by division. Unity is a theme we see often in God’s Word. God does not require us to agree on every scripture, but He does require us to yield our lives to Him. As we yield to Him the Holy Spirit will guide us into understanding His Word and love for each other.
Our second choice is to follow the example of the Pharisees and plan to kill Jesus. No, we can not actually kill Him as they did, but we can water down His teachings. Or, we can interpret Bible verses to say what we want them to say. If we do not follow what Jesus taught then we are in effect killing Jesus in the lives of others.
When you are not for Jesus you are against Him.
Jesus and Beelzebul
Later a demon-possessed man was brought to Jesus to be healed. Can you imagine how the Pharisees were watching to see what He would do? They could not admit that Jesus had the power of God to work miracles. If they did they would have to follow Him also.
Matthew 12:22-28 NIV tells us,22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
Note that the people were on the right track. They ask the question, ‘Could this be the Son of David?, in other words, the Messiah. The people were seeing Him do the things that the Messiah was to do.
24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”
Jesus explained to them why this could not be true.
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
In verse 28 He tells them what is happening. The kingdom of God has come upon them. This was a glorious pronouncement for those who believed. The Messiah was among them.
The Sign of Jonah
For two years Jesus traveled the countryside performing many miracles and performing signs and wonders for the people to see. He taught in the synagogues, healed the sick, cast out demons, and even raised the dead. Were these not signs enough?
The leaders did not want to see a sign. What they wanted was to find some way to get rid of Him.
38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Can you imagine them trying to figure out what Jesus could mean? We only understand because we have read the Bible. They could not see Him laying in the grave for three days and coming out. Only God could do that!
Conclusion:
Jesus sent His disciples out to preach the coming Kingdom, cast out evil spirits, and heal all manner of diseases. They had a job to do much like what Jesus has called us to do. We also are to go out and proclaim Jesus where we now live.
Each of these articles telling of Jesus’ march from the manger to the cross is designed to encourage you to become a true follower. He makes it clear that there will be trials. Walking in the truth of Christ sets us apart from the world and the world does not like for us to be different. This is especially true when we stand for the Word of God!
I hope that you will read them all and share them with your friends. Do take time to comment if you can. Thank You!
This is a sequence of the life and ministry of Jesus. It is best if you can read them in order, but each one will stand alone. You can reach any of the articles by clicking the link in blue. Prophecies and His birth – Manger to the Cross – One, Jesus proclaims the Kingdom – Manger to the Cross – Two, Jesus’ Teaching – Manger to the Cross – Three, Jesus Appoints the Twelve – Manger to the Cross – Four, Opposition Grows – Manger to the Cross – Five, Jesus predicts His death – Manger to the Cross -6, and Jesus’ death and resurrection – Manger to the Cross -7