(Mat 12:6, NKJV) Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater [Gk., meizon] than the temple.
(Mat 12:6, NASB) But I say to you that something greater [Gk., megas] than the temple is here.
(Mt
12:41, NKJV) The men of Nineveh will rise up in the
judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the
preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater [Gk., pleion] than
Jonah is here (in this place).
(Mat 12:41, NASB) The
men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will
condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something
greater [Gk., polus] than
Jonah is here.
(Mt 12:42, NKJV) The queen of
the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for
she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and
indeed a greater [Gk., pleion] than
Solomon is here (in this place).1
(Mat 12:42, NASB) The
Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will
condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of
Solomon; and behold, something greater [Gk., polus] than
Solomon is here.
As you can see between the two translations (NKJV / NASB), the
NKJV translation treats the gender of the adjective greater as
masculine and the NASB as neuter. The masculine emphasizes some One, the
Person of Christ, and the neuter accentuates something, His works. Take note
that the primary purpose behind the miracles was to prove who Jesus really was
(cf. Mt 12:23; Lk 7:20-23; Isa 35:5-6; 61:1). The works of Jesus served as an
identifier of the long-awaited Messiah (cf. Jn 9:32-33, for instance).
The miracles would validate His authenticity as Israel’s true
Messiah as prophesied by the ancient prophets in stark contrast to all of those
suffering from a messiah complex having merely a political agenda. The Jews
loathed the Roman occupation of their country and were looking for a political
Messiah, not the spiritual One that met the qualifications of the prophets and not the current narrative of the Jewish spiritual leaders who were in essence: the blind leading the blind.
There are
conservative scholars on both sides of the spectrum with this adjective. Welcome to the world of textual criticism, yes? Is the gender of greater neuter or masculine? This debate will probably continue
until we get to the other side and find out from the Author Himself (cf. 2 Tim 3:16) on what gender He
intended. If we take a pause on the grammatical bickering over gender, we have to
conclude that we cannot separate His Person from His words and works which in
my humble opinion is what the gender issue here is generating!
Concerning Mt 12:6, Jesus is greater than the temple because He
was the object of the temple. He is the living, an eternal temple not built with
hands (cf. Rev 21:22). Though it is not said in Scripture, Jesus is
actually greater than the Sabbath because He is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mt
12:8, 12; cf. Mk 2:27). The Pharisees were contentious with Jesus concerning
their Sabbath doctrine which was based on man-made traditions that nullified
rather than supported the Word of God (cf. Mk 7:9, 13)!
As far as Mt 12:41-42 is concerned, let’s face it; the Gentile
Ninevites in Jonah’s day responded positively to the preaching of this
Jewish prophet by desisting from sin and amending their ways, and the Gentile
Queen who traveled over a thousand miles just to see and hear of the wisdom and
wonder of Solomon (1 Kgs 10:1-13) made the enemies of Jesus look very bad;
Gentiles were receiving what the Jews refused! The Judge will have the
Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba on His mind when this particular generation
who rejected Him appears on the divine docket to give an account of their
actions towards Him at the great white throne in the final
judgment.
A greater than Jonah and Solomon was in their midst, and they
rejected Him (cf. Jn 1:11; Lk 23:21). In their stupefying self-righteousness,
the Jews didn’t see themselves as sinners; the real sinners according to
Judaism were the Gentiles, Samaritans, breakers of Jewish traditions, violators
of the law of Moses, those with birth defects (cf. Jn 9:34), and Jesus! Why was
Jesus considered a sinner by the Jews? Because He was guilty, according to
them, of breaking the Sabbath and claiming to be God. Those two particular
items really animated the Jews to no good end! They did not see Jesus as
greater but lesser!
I made mention of these verses because I wanted to share with you something that took place last Wednesday morning during a prayer and praise time of mine. Beverly was gone so I had the whole house practically to myself, except for Lexus, our Bengal cat, but she was already nestled under the comforter and fast asleep for a long day’s nap. I usually do not like to say things about my prayers, except to my wife, for fear of giving the impression that I am some super-spiritual saint; truly, I am not! She knows that! A sinner saved by the grace of God is what I really am, a mere ordinary human being possessing the same flawed and frail nature as every other believer [cf. Jas 5:17). My hope is that God is glorified by my life and service to Him. That is my only ambition! M-G is a tribute to Him; I truly fear being a disservice to Him or to my readers.
Anyway, on this past Wednesday morning, Yahweh revealed
something to me for the very first time since I was born again (Jn 3:3) which
was back on 1.19.1976. Now that’s over forty-five years ago if my math is
right! For me, this prayer and praise time ranks up there as one of
the sweetest experiences since being a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). God revealed
something about Himself to me on a very personal level. It had nothing to do
with prayer being answered for me or someone else. I was praying for this and
that and him and her and thanking God for so many things in my life! Then when
I said, “You are my Abba,” an epiphany of sorts happened.
Now, before I share with you my encounter with Yahweh during my prayer and praise time, I have to
give a brief account of the farm, my two cousins, and my step-grandfather that
is more rambling than a resume. Growing up in Florida, I have to say that I had an idyllic and
rather naïve view of farm and ranch life and the work required to keep it up
responsibly. It had a whole host of never-ending daily chores. My two cousins,
the older one were a year younger than me and the younger of the two was four
years younger than his brother, both lived, not by choice, on the
farm.
Whenever anyone in the family referred to “the farm,” it
included agriculture and livestock. We never referred to the farm as “the
ranch;” it was always expressed as going down to “the farm.” Visiting the farm
was adventurous for me as a kid; it was a place for my imagination to run wild
while my two cousins didn’t look at it quite in the same way that I did.
For them, it was work and anything but fun and highly routine.
In some respect, they lost valuable time in being a kid for every day was about
work. They wanted their imagination to run wild somewhere else to be a normal kid; nonetheless,
they put it to good use on the farm whenever opportunity knocked! My cousins
and I worked hard, and we played hard. I always felt kind of sad for them
because their mother had left them both with their grandparents to raise.
Whatever the reason, I know it was not because they were troublemakers; I can attest to that! We just never talked about it.
I often worked alongside them to help them finish their chores
so that we could play. We loved the rain that kept us out of the fields.
Whenever a Florida rain pounded on the tin roof of the barn, it roared so loud
at times that we could yell to the top of our lungs, only to be drowned out by
the roaring from the raindrops dancing on the tin roof while we played all
kinds of games. <><
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| To Part 2 |
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1. This is reiterated in Luke’s account (Lk 11:31-32).
