Matthew 12:1 reminds me of Ruth.
Ruth gleaned heads in Boaz's field.

The book of "Ruth" is like a tiny jewel sandwiched between Judges and Samuel. It describes God's goodness.
There are no bloody scenes.
(There are a lot of battles in Judges and Samuel.)

When I read the Bible from the beginning to the end, I feel relieved when I come to Ruth.
How about you?
Ruth, going into Boaz's field without knowing,
All is in the hand of God.
Please remember the painting of the "Gleaner"...

In verse 7, it is written "I desire mercy and not sacrifice."
We can talk about God's mercy; "Goel," which runs through the Old and New Testaments from the word "glean."
This is God's love.
He covers and hides...

I leaned this when I was a high school student.
Here are many messages.
Over and over my teacher said, "Remember this word, Goel."

The 66 books of the Bible are all linked.
If we do not immerse ourselves in the love of God, our thinking becomes legalistic and fear begins to rule our heart.
Then, as it is written here, we might say or do things like putting the cart before the horse.
(Like the Sabbath problem...)
The love and mercy of God are wider, larger, and deeper.
We want to follow with flexibility and obedience, not being hedged about with restrictions, thinking we must do this.

In any age, there are crackdowns on truth, and when we read the Bible we find many passages describing crackdowns on the Lord Jesus.

In Matthew 12:20-21, it is written that "A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory; And in His name Gentiles will trust."
This is a profound passage.

It is only recently that this passage has really penetrated into my soul.
I have read it and heard it many times since I was a child, and I thought I was familiar with it (I thought I understood.)
However, now I can only bow my head for the depth of the love of the Lord Jesus.

In 12:22,
it is written "Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw."

How happy we are! This is the good news.
Let us work for it.
This is the salvation!!
This is the release!!

We too used to be like that man.
In actual fact, we could neither see nor speak at all.
However, when we met the Lord Jesus, we became able to see and speak.
The good news... the power of God extends to the fields of spirit, body and soul.

In verse 23,
There is a very interesting passage.
"Could this be the son of David?"
At the time, it was said that anyone who could cast out a mute spirit was the Messiah. (In Judaism)
Therefore, everybody was surprised,
because the Lord Jesus cast out a mute spirit.
However, those with a twisted heart do not rejoice even if they see or hear the works of God.

In verse 24,
We don't want to be like that, do we?

The passage in 12:34 is harsh.
It says that we are Brood of vipers.
In Matthew 3:7, John the Baptist also uses the word, "Brood of vipers."

This means that what we have in our heart, or what we have in our stomach (in Colloquial version), comes out through our mouth.

What we have in our heart -- That is the point.
We do not want to talk about vulgar things, do we?
We need to keep a watch to make sure that our heart does not become low-minded.

I want to be flexible and obedient to, and not going against the Holy Spirit.
Let us live this week too as free and radiant Christians with joy and follow God, being led by the Spirit of truth.