Jesus and the disciples are plucking grain to eat (which is in accordance with Mosaic law) and the Pharisees throw a fit. The heads of grain were broken up to eat the seeds inside, as you might eat sunflower seeds. They get mad claiming He’s laboring on the Sabbath, which is insane to us to try to make picking a plant to eat and harvesting a field equivalent actions, but this was the kind of burden the average Jew of the era was under. It had gotten that strict.

Jesus brings up King David, a highly respected man among Jews. David ate bread set aside for holy purposes in a time of desperation. So if a man of such status among Jews could violate a very specific law in exactly the manner prohibited when the need was great and not be condemned, how have we arrived here, where it’s a loose and excessive interpretation? What was the INTENT of the law? And priests working the temple on Sabbath were guiltless, so obviously there’s some room for realistic life requirements. God isn’t expecting us to go insane trying to obey Him. The Sabbath was not the single highest priority to God and that wasn’t the intent of the law. Jesus follows up by saying something greater than the temple is here: the Messiah. Jesus rebukes them for holding rule-following over mercy for God’s people, who He loves.

Jesus enters the temple and it becomes obvious these people are just trying to catch him doing something wrong. A man has a withered hand and they ask if it’s lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus asks if you would stop to help your sheep out of a pit, surely you would help a man in need? If you can show mercy to an animal, why not a person? The Sabbath wasn’t put in place to stop you from helping others and the Pharisees are trying to nail him on their redefinition of law. He reframes the question as “do you show mercy or permit suffering on the Sabbath” and heals the man.
Well… That didn’t change their minds. As far as they’re concerned, they set a trap and Jesus willfully stepped in it. They begin conspiring against him. Was it pride? Couldn’t handle being corrected or someone CLEARLY more holy taking their status from them? Unsure. Anyway, Jesus knows full well what they’re up to and rolls out, healing people as He goes.

Jesus heals another afflicted man and the Pharisees once again accuse Him of doing it through the power of the devil. It does double duty denying his Godhood and accusing Him of devilry, which would carry a death sentence (they really want this). Jesus makes the obvious point that Satan wouldn’t send out demons to afflict people just to then send them away. Why would the devil go to war against himself? This isn’t 5D chess. Pharisees either practiced exorcisms or claimed to, by what power did THEY do it? He makes it clear they just don’t want to believe, no matter the evidence before them. Perhaps, as Jesus seems to hint, because if He IS God, then the kingdom of God is here and they feel threatened. Jesus establishes that His goal on earth is to rob Satan of the souls he would ensnare and to do so has already claimed authority over him. He delivers his ultimate statement: If you’re not with Him in opposition to Satan, you’re necessarily against Him.

Okay here we go, confusion time. “All sins are forgiven except the unforgiveable sin”. Uh oh. What’s that now? Okay so if you briefly have a thought against God or slander the Holy Spirit or something, this is NOT what He’s talking about. He’s specifically referring to saying that the work of Jesus is powered by Satan after having seen Him perform a miracle. Being SO completely committed to rejecting Jesus that He is directly in front of you performing miracles in the name of God and you STILL have to find any other explanation. So…. since Jesus ISN’T here in front of you to slander…. That’s not even possible. So don’t worry. It was unforgivable for its time but you straight up can’t even cross this line if you wanted. Really, if you’re afraid of being damned for this sin, you’re not guilty of it because you have an ordered fear of God.

Here’s another brood of vipers line. We must recall that this is about Pharisees as this context makes blindingly obvious. He didn’t condemn all Jews, which necessarily would’ve included all the Apostles and Himself. He has established that their very deliberate (and frankly, very strenuous) disbelief is rotten fruit and evidence of a rotten tree. Their teachings that they’ve prided themselves on can’t be good if they are clearly evil. They (as well as we) will be judged for every careless word.

Yes that includes online. Your trolling spree doesn’t please Jesus. …….mine neither. Well, I mean it depends. It reveals your heart, right? If you have a righteous heart but rough edges, that’s different than bullying someone online because they’re ugly or something. Use your brain but when in doubt, emulate Christ as much as you can.

The Pharisees, in a mind bogglingly obnoxious move, ask for a sign. Assuming it’s chronological. Which Matthew often isn’t. But even still, by now there’s been NO shortage of signs and miracles. Are you serious. At least they respectfully address Him as “teacher”. Jesus isn’t having it and condemns not just them but (this time) all the Jews of the age. It’s all signs with you people, never faith. The “sign of the prophet Jonah” is foreshadowing Him being dead for 3 days as Jonah was in the sea creature (not a whale) for that long. It’s a big Hint Hint for later. He draws parallels to casting out demons, leaving a hint that their rejection of Him could bring curses on them.

Jesus’s mother and brothers show up to speak with him. Other books indicate that they were told “Hey your Jesus son is going nuts in there, go take control of Him”. They probably wanted to extract Him from danger. Specifics aren’t given why they complied. He says “Who is my mother and brothers?” and uses this not to deny his blood family, but to make the case that His “family” consists of all believers over blood (preparing the Jews to share heaven with gentiles, basically). Note for Catholics “brothers” means “cousins” and I’ll leave it at that.