A Heart of Compassion / Matthew 12:1-21
It is so good to be with you. If you have your Bibles, we are going to be in Matthew chapter 12. As a quick note on cross-references, because Matthew is a synoptic gospel, you will find this same account in Mark 3 and Luke 6. Some of your Bibles might note that, and we will bring out a few of those nuances as we work through the text.
Before we dive in, if you are a guest with us, welcome to The Well Community Church. We are stoked that you are here. My name is Brad, and I get the privilege of hanging out with you. We get to open God’s Word together on the regular, and we have been doing that for almost twenty years. It is a high privilege to handle the Scriptures together.
I want to remind us why we assemble. Whether it is gathering here at the North Campus or joining via video at one of our other campuses, we assemble together to be reminded that there is a God who created this world, set it in motion, and shaped us in His image to be ambassadors for Him. As much as the world tries to convince us that life is all about grabbing life by the tail—making money, earning a living, vacationing well—those things are fine, but underneath it all is something far more valuable: real joy, real beauty, and real meaning in life come when we live in relationship with the God who created us.
As our world gets more chaotic and we see more news stories of people who have completely lost their way without Christ, we as followers of Jesus need more than ever to walk intimately with Him. If you have sensed an earnest pleading over the last several weeks, it is because we want to invite one another into a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus. That is where hope is found.
The Purpose of Gathering and the Easy Yoke
With that in mind, look at Matthew chapter 12. As we begin, I want to remind us of the invitation Jesus left us with at the end of chapter 11. He was speaking to a group of religious leaders who had presented a teaching philosophy—commonly called a yoke—that was a heavy burden laid on their listeners. Jesus came along and gave this invitation:
Matthew 11:28-30 (NASB)
’Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ’Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. ‘For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.’
If you have ever tried to do life on your own, if you have ever tried to find peace with God without Jesus, you know how exhausting that is. If you have ever climbed the ladder of success only to find when you got to the top that without God it is all meaningless, I want to invite you to the fact that Jesus offers a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light. It is with that backdrop that we enter chapter 12, as Jesus calls the weary and heavy-laden.
Let me set this up by asking a question: How many of you are parents, both here in the room and watching on video? Raise your hands high. How many of your kids came with an instruction manual? Did anybody get one? I was always afraid we missed it—like maybe they handed it out at the hospital with the birth certificate and the little footprints, and we just missed the manual.
Growing up without a mom in my life and with no sisters—just me and my pops—I remember coming home with two daughters thinking, I don’t even know what to do with this. Why is she crying? She’s fed, she’s clean, she’s safe—what’s the deal? Like most of you, we entered parenting determined to do the best we could. The last thing I wanted was to mess up my kids by being a bad parent. We read widely, found great mentors, and tried to train up our children in the way they should go.
Early on, we received a brilliant piece of advice. Someone told us: when you discipline your child, make sure you go not just for the obedience, but for the heart. Train your child not simply to obey, but to understand why they obey. At first, I didn’t get it; I just wanted them to do what I said when I said it! But Scripture tells us to watch over our hearts with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. As water reflects the face, so a person’s heart reflects who they truly are. Who we are on the inside determines who we will be on the outside.
We tried to teach our girls that obedience preserves relationship, while choosing to disobey severs relationship—both with us and with God. We wanted their hearts to long for harmonious relationship at home and peace with God, not just obedience for obedience’s sake.
Going for the Heart: The Grainfield Confrontation
In Matthew 12:1, Jesus deals with people who are focused entirely on external behavior rather than the heart.
Matthew 12:1 (NASB)
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads [of grain] and eat.
The Greek word used here for “time” is kairos, meaning Matthew is connecting these events conceptually rather than giving a strict chronological sequence. The disciples are walking from point A to point B, they are hungry, and they start plucking heads of grain, rubbing off the chaff, and eating. There were no protein bars back then, so they grabbed what was available.
The Old Testament explicitly permitted this. In Deuteronomy, God’s law provided for this exact situation.
Deuteronomy 23:25 (NASB)
’When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.
You were allowed to take a handful to satisfy your immediate hunger; you just could not bring a sickle and harvest your neighbor’s field. Biblically, what the disciples did was entirely lawful. But the religious leaders were looking for something to pin on Jesus. They had hard hearts, and because this happened on the Sabbath, they thought they caught them red-handed.
Matthew 12:2 (NASB)
But when the Pharisees saw [this], they said to Him, ‘Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.’
These Pharisees were religious traditionalists and legalists focused on behavior modification. The Bible did not forbid what the disciples were doing, but the Mishnah—the oral rabbinic tradition—did. To the Pharisees, plucking grain was equivalent to harvesting, and rubbing away the chaff was equivalent to threshing. In their eyes, that was work on the Sabbath. They elevated human tradition to the level of God’s Word.
This accusation was extremely serious because the Old Testament penalty for violating the Sabbath was severe.
Exodus 35:2 (NASB)
’For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy [day], a sabbath of complete rest to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.
If the disciples were legitimately breaking the Sabbath, their lives were at stake. Furthermore, a disciple was expected to live as his rabbi lived. Jesus was responsible for His disciples’ actions, meaning this accusation was aimed directly at putting Jesus to death.
David, the Priests, and the Lord of the Sabbath
In response, Jesus offers three powerful rebuffs to their legalism.
Matthew 12:3-8 (NASB)
But He said to them, ’Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? ’Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? ’But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. ’But if you had known what this means, ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. ‘For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’
First, Jesus points to David in 1 Samuel 21. When David and his men were fleeing from Saul and hungry, they entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which ceremonial law reserved only for the priests. Human need took precedence over ceremonial regulation.
Second, Jesus points to the priests who minister in the temple every Sabbath. They perform strenuous physical work on the Sabbath—offering sacrifices, carrying wood, lighting fires—yet they are held guiltless because their work serves the temple.
Third, Jesus makes a staggering claim: “Something greater than the temple is here.” If the temple excused the priests’ Sabbath labor, how much more does the Lord of the temple excuse His disciples? In Mark’s account, Jesus adds another vital truth.
Mark 2:27 (NASB)
Jesus said to them, ’The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
The Sabbath was created as a gracious gift to serve humanity, not as a burdensome master to enslave people. Then Jesus quotes a passage He had cited earlier in Matthew 9:13, taken directly from the prophet Hosea.
Hosea 6:6 (NASB)
For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Jesus tells them, If you had understood that God desires compassion and not mere ritual sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. The Pharisees were consumed with external compliance to their rules, but they missed the compassionate heart of God.
A Trap in the Synagogue: Doing Good on the Sabbath
From the grainfields, Jesus enters their synagogue, and the conflict intensifies.
Matthew 12:9-10 (NASB)
Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. And a man [was there] whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’– so that they might accuse Him.
This situation was a calculated setup. They placed a man with a withered, paralyzed hand right in front of Jesus and asked, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” They were not seeking theological clarity; they were hunting for an accusation.
Jesus responds by exposing their hypocrisy with a question of His own.
Matthew 12:11-12 (NASB)
And He said to them, ’What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? ‘How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’
If one of their sheep fell into a pit on the Sabbath, not one of them would hesitate to pull it out. Under their strict interpretations, rescuing the sheep was work, but they would quietly make an exception to protect their financial asset. Mark records Jesus’ emotional response in that moment.
Mark 3:4-5 (NASB)
And He said to them, ‘Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?’ But they kept silent. After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
Jesus looked around at them with righteous anger, deeply grieved by their hardness of heart. They cared more about their livestock than about a human being made in the image of God. This man with the withered hand was alienated, unable to work, and excluded from full participation in community life. Jesus had the power to restore him, and the religious leaders only cared about their legalistic loophole.
Matthew 12:13-14 (NASB)
Then He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand!’ He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, [as to] how they might destroy Him.
Jesus looks the man in the eye and commands him to stretch out his hand, and instantly it is completely restored. Instead of rejoicing that a suffering brother was healed, the Pharisees walked out and began plotting how to murder the Son of God.
Decisions, Consequences, and the Turn to the Gentiles
In our parenting, we always tried to teach our kids that decisions have consequences. When you obey, life goes well and relationship is protected. When you choose rebellion, discipline follows. The author of Hebrews reminds us of the nature of discipline.
Hebrews 12:11 (NASB)
All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Consequences are designed to produce righteousness. Because the religious leaders persistently rejected Jesus and conspired against Him, a major shift occurs in Jesus’ ministry.
Matthew 12:15-16 (NASB)
But Jesus, aware of [this], withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all, and warned them not to tell who He was.
Jesus withdraws from them. A massive crowd follows Him, and He heals them all. That is remarkable, because Jesus did not always choose to heal everyone in every crowd. Here, He demonstrates overwhelming compassion to the humble, while withdrawing His presence from the hard-hearted leaders. He instructs the crowds not to make Him known publicly because His hour had not yet come.
Matthew then explains that this withdrawal and subsequent turn toward the nations was the direct fulfillment of prophecy. Throughout Matthew up to this point, Gentiles were mentioned largely as outsiders.
Matthew 6:7 (NASB)
’And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
Matthew 6:32 (NASB)
’For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
Matthew 10:5 (NASB)
These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: ’Do not go in [the] way of [the] Gentiles, and do not enter [any] city of the Samaritans;
Jesus had initially prioritized the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But in Matthew 10, He warned that Israel’s leaders would reject the message.
Matthew 10:17-18 (NASB)
’But beware of men, for they will hand you over to [the] courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.
Because the religious leadership rejected their Messiah, Jesus began to extend His ministry outward, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 42.
Matthew 12:17-21 (NASB)
[This was] to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: ’BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN; MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL is WELL-PLEASED; I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES. ’HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS. ’A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY. ‘AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE.’
Jesus is the gentle Servant who does not crush the bruised reed or snuff out the smoldering wick. He does not brawl or shout in the streets to force His kingdom by worldly power. When rejected, He turns to proclaim hope and justice to the Gentiles.
Grafted In: Hope for the Nations
The apostle Paul explains the theology behind this turn in Romans 11.
Romans 11:11 (NASB)
I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation [has come] to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.
Through Israel’s rejection of Jesus, salvation has been opened to the nations. Paul uses the olive tree metaphor to remind us where we stand.
Romans 11:17-18 (NASB)
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, [remember that] it is not you who supports the root, but the root [supports] you.
We who are non-Jewish were wild olive branches, graciously grafted into the rich root of God’s covenant promises. There is no room for Christian arrogance or anti-Semitism; the root supports us, not the other way around. The religious leaders missed the fact that right relationship with God, not mere external rule-keeping, was always the goal.
Do we face the very same temptation today? We may not wear the robes of a first-century Pharisee, but do we become so consumed with religious activity and rule-keeping that we neglect intimacy with Christ? Do we get so caught up in our spiritual checklists that we lose the heart of compassion? We can walk into church, look for things to complain about, and miss the entire reason we gathered: to draw near to Jesus.
Mary, Martha, and Sitting at Jesus’ Feet
Look at this classic passage in Luke 10, which provides the perfect picture of what Jesus desires from us.
Luke 10:38-42 (NASB)
Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up [to Him] and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.’ But the Lord answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but [only] one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.’
If you looked at Martha on paper, she looked spiritually impressive. She was serving, hosting, and working hard. Martha was distracted and worried by all her service, but Mary chose the one thing necessary: she sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to His voice.
We live in a fast-paced world with endless devices that promise to save time, but often just ensure we are always accessible and constantly working. In our churches, we can fall into the same trap, competing over how many Bible studies, committees, or ministries we can juggle. If we are not careful, we cultivate a Martha culture.
Jesus is not asking us to exhaust ourselves with religious busyness. He invites us to come to Him, take His easy yoke, and sit at His feet. Earlier today, while sitting in my office doing message prep, I felt the Lord prompt my heart to simply stop. Turn off the phone, silence the noise, take a deep breath, and enjoy His presence.
His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. Let your primary aim this week be simply sitting at the feet of the Savior who loves you and delights to be in relationship with you.