Memory Text: Matthew 11:19 NIV “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ‘But wisdom is proved right by her actions."”

Sunday – Neglecting Parents?
Luke 2:41-51 CEV “41 ¶ Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for Passover. 42 And when Jesus was twelve years old, they all went there as usual for the celebration. 43 After Passover his parents left, but they did not know that Jesus had stayed on in the city. 44 They thought he was traveling with some other people, and they went a whole day before they started looking for him. 45 When they could not find him with their relatives and friends, they went back to Jerusalem and started looking for him there. 46 Three days later they found Jesus sitting in the temple, listening to the teachers and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was surprised at how much he knew and at the answers he gave. 48 When his parents found him, they were amazed. His mother said, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been very worried, and we have been searching for you!" 49 Jesus answered, "Why did you have to look for me? Didn’t you know that I would be in my Father’s house?" 50 But they did not understand what he meant. 51 Jesus went back to Nazareth with his parents and obeyed them. His mother kept on thinking about all that had happened.”
Luke 2:49 COMMENTARY BY ALBERT BARNES Jesus reminded them here that he came down from heaven; that he had a higher Father than an earthly parent; and that, even in early life, it was proper that he should be engaged in the work for which he came. He did not enter, indeed, upon his public work for eighteen years after this; yet still the work of God was his work, and always, even in childhood, it was proper for him to be engaged in the great business for which he came down from heaven.

[Monday – Displaying Anger?
Matthew 21:12-13 God’s Word to the Nations “12 ¶ Jesus went into the temple courtyard and threw out everyone who was buying and selling there. He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and the chairs of those who sold pigeons. 13 He told them, "Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you’re turning it into a gathering place for thieves!"”
Matthew 21:12 COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY now he did it with a look, with a frown, with a word of command. Some reckon this none of the least of Christ's miracles, that he should himself thus clear the temple, and not be opposed in it by them who by this craft got their living, and were backed in it by the priests and elders.
Mark 3:1-5 God’s Word to the Nations “1 ¶ Jesus went into a synagogue again. A man who had a paralyzed hand was there. 2 The people were watching Jesus closely. They wanted to see whether he would heal the man on the day of worship so that they could accuse him of doing something wrong. 3 So he told the man with the paralyzed hand, "Stand in the center of the synagogue." 4 Then he asked them, "Is it right to do good or to do evil on the day of worship, to give a person back his health or to let him die?" But they were silent. 5 Jesus was angry as he looked around at them. He was deeply hurt because their minds were closed. Then he told the man, "Hold out your hand." The man held it out, and his hand became normal again.”
Mark 3:5 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE What was the anger which our Lord felt? That which proceeded from excessive grief, which was occasioned by their obstinate stupidity and blindness: therefore it was no uneasy passion, but an excess of generous grief.

Tuesday – Destroying Personal Property?
Matthew 8:28-32 Holman “28 ¶ When He had come to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met Him as they came out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 Suddenly they shouted, “What do You have to do with us, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” 30 Now a long way off from them, a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 “If You drive us out,” the demons begged Him, “send us into the herd of pigs.” 32 “Go!” He told them. So when they had come out, they entered the pigs. And suddenly the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the water.”
Matthew 8:32 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE Christ permits the demons to do that in the swine which he did not permit them to do in the possessed, on purpose to show us what rage they would exercise on us if left to their liberty and malice…"But the owners of the swine lost their property." Yes; and learn from this of how small value temporal riches, are in the estimation of God. He suffers them to be lost, sometimes to disengage us from them through mercy; sometimes out of justice, to punish us for having acquired or preserved them either by covetousness or injustice.
Matthew 21:18-19 Holman “18 ¶ Early in the morning, as He was returning to the city, He was hungry. 19 Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And He said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” At once the fig tree withered.”
Matthew 21:19 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE As this fig tree was by the way side, it was no private property; and on this account our Lord, or any other traveller, had a right to take of its fruit.
Matthew 21:19 COMMENTARY BY ALBERT BARNES The word curse does not imply here anger, or disappointment, or malice. It means only devoting to this destruction, or this withering away. All the curse that was pronounced, was in the words that no fruit should grow on it. The Jews used the word curse, not as always implying wrath, and anger, but to devote to death, or to any kind of destruction, Heb 6:8.

Wednesday – Neglecting the Persecuted?
Matthew 4:12-13 NLT “12 ¶ When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. 13 But instead of going to Nazareth, he went to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.”
Matthew 4:12 COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY He did go into the country as soon as he heard of John's imprisonment; not only to provide for his own safety, knowing that the Pharisees in Judea were as much enemies to him as Herod was to John, but to supply the want of John Baptist, and to build upon the good foundation he had laid…. The place where he preached; in Galilee, a remote part of the country, that lay furthest from Jerusalem, and was there looked upon with contempt, as rude and boorish. The inhabitants of that country were reckoned stout men, fit for soldiers, but not polite men, or fit for scholars.
Matthew 11:2-3 NLT “2 John the Baptist, who was now in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, 3 "Are you really the Messiah we’ve been waiting for, or should we keep looking for someone else?"”
Matthew 14:1-13 NLT “1 ¶ When Herod Antipas heard about Jesus, 2 he said to his advisers, "This must be John the Baptist come back to life again! That is why he can do such miracles." 3 For Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favor to his wife Herodias (the former wife of Herod’s brother Philip). 4 John kept telling Herod, "It is illegal for you to marry her." 5 Herod would have executed John, but he was afraid of a riot, because all the people believed John was a prophet. 6 But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, 7 so he promised with an oath to give her anything she wanted. 8 At her mother’s urging, the girl asked, "I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!" 9 The king was sorry, but because of his oath and because he didn’t want to back down in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. 10 So John was beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. 12 John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they told Jesus what had happened. 13 ¶ As soon as Jesus heard the news, he went off by himself in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed by land from many villages.”
Matthew 14:13 COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY He withdrew into privacy when he heard, not of John's death, but of the thoughts Herod had concerning him, that he was John the Baptist risen from the dead, and therefore so feared by Herod as to be hated; he departed further off, to get out of Herod's jurisdiction.

Thursday – Hanging Out With Undesirables
Matthew 9:10-13 NRSV “10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 12 But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."”
Matthew 9:11 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE The self-righteous Pharisees considered it equal to legal defilement to sit in company with tax-gatherers and heathens. It is certain that those who fear God should not associate, through choice, with the workers of iniquity, and should only be found with them when transacting their secular business requires it, or when they have the prospect of doing good to their souls.
Matthew 11:18-19 NRSV “18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; 19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."”
Matthew 11:19 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY The charge was, of course, exaggerated and twisted so as to imply something far different from what the facts would justify. His friendliness toward men who were reputed to be gluttons and drunkards His critics took as an excuse for charging Christ with being like them. The attempt of the Jews to force ritual fasting on Jesus was a complete failure. These critics apparently wanted to fast when they pleased and to feast when they pleased; they would have none of the abstemious life of John or of the normal association of Jesus with men who needed the help He could bring.
Luke 5:32 NRSV “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance."”
1 Corinthians 1:26-28 NRSV “26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are,”
1 Corinthians 1:27 COMMENTARY BY JOHN GILL It will be to the utter confusion of the rich and mighty, to see persons of the lowest class in life made kings and priests by Christ, set among princes, and upon the throne of glory; and they themselves fleeing, and calling to the mountains to fall upon them, and cover them from the sight of him that sits on the throne, and the Lamb.