While They Watched (Matthew 12:9-14)
The story of Jesus healing a man's withered hand in the synagogue on the sabbath forms a critical point in Matthew's Gospel. It was because of this event that the Pharisees started the chain of events that would lead to the cross. R. T. France, in his excellent commentary on Matthew, explains their anger in the fact that Jesus had publically challenged their ability to speak authoritatively on such an important subject as the sabbath.
Stepping Out (Matthew 14:24-33)
The picture shows Peter's abortive attempt to emulate Jesus' miracle of walking on the water. We will never be able to follow fully in Jesus' footsteps, but that should be no reason give up on the attempt.
Crumbs (Matthew 15:21-28)
When a Canaanite woman asks Jesus to heal her daughter of an evil spirit, he says, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs" referring to his earthly ministry being primarily to the Jews rather than the Gentiles. She replies, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." At that point he rewards her for her faith and persistence by healing the daughter. This passage seems to portray Jesus as a rather cold-hearted character unless one reads it as it was probably acted out--a dialogue of playful banter between the two parties.
Clarias Macracanthus (Matthew 17:24-27)
In this story, Peter is instructed by Jesus to go fishing. He catches a fish with a coin in its mouth that can be used to pay the temple tax. This is one of two stories in Matthew involving the responsibility Christians have to obey the civil authorities--the other is the more famous story ending in Jesus' proclamation: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." The proper respect owed to our governmental leaders continues to be a debated issue today.
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