Lesson 12 – The King’s Authority
Read Matthew 12 – www.bible.com/bible/59/mat.12 

In this chapter Jesus demonstrated the authority He, as King, has over His kingdom. First, in two events, He showed He had authority over the man-made rules they had made regarding their holy day, the Sabbath. The first was in allowing His disciples to eat grain as they walked. The second was when He healed a man’s withered hand simply by telling him to stretch it out.

Jesus left the area when the leaders became angry with Him – not because He was afraid of them but because He was fulfilling another prophecy about how He would respond to these challenges. Note, Jesus did not argue with them at this point. But He did teach the leaders with other things – for example, more healings. When they accused Him of using the power of evil to do these signs, He answered with what we sometimes call the “unforgivable sin.” Please understand, this is not a sin that is committed unawares, but with full knowledge and intent. These leaders KNEW He was the Messiah, but they charged Him with evil just because they didn’t want to give up their own authority over the people. No matter what they saw Him do, no matter how many signs He could ever do (verse 38), they had no intention of believing in Him.


Jesus responded to them with a way of telling if someone believes in God or not; just like we look at a tree and tell what it is by the fruit it bears, so we can tell if someone believes in God by their fruit – their words and actions. He restated His words with a prophecy of His own death and resurrection, but warned that people needed more than just getting rid of the evil in their lives – they needed to replace the evil with good.

Finally, Jesus’ authority is demonstrated over family relationships. The Law had made the family the single most important unit of human community in God’s view. While He did not change that law, He declared Himself to be above that law by being able to choose for Himself who were His family. This is important for those of us who were not born then, or even born of the Jewish race – He can make us His family just as easily as He chose His disciples to be His family that day.

*What did Jesus say was more important than the Sabbath and its sacrifices (see verse 7)?
*When the religious leaders asked Jesus for a sign, He gave them a prophecy of a) their destruction, b) His death and resurrection, c) Jonah’s place in heaven. Answer: ______
 *How can you know you are part of Jesus’ family?