Episode notes

Matthew 9:9–17; John 5:1–47; Matthew 12:1–21

Jesus calls a tax collector named Matthew away from his booth and eats with him and his friends, prompting questions about why his disciples don't fast like John's do. In Jerusalem for a feast, he heals a man who has waited thirty-eight years beside the pool of Bethesda — on the Sabbath, drawing open hostility from the religious leaders for the first time. Back in Galilee, his hungry disciples pick grain as they walk through a field on the Sabbath, and he heals a man's withered hand in the synagogue that same day, standing his ground each time on what the Sabbath is really for.

We are in a Matthew-John Harmony. Today's episode covers: Matthew 9:9–17, John 5:1–47, Matthew 12:1–21 (the calling of Matthew, healing at the pool of Bethesda, and two Sabbath controversies).