1.We have the merciful patience of the Lord toward the rebellious wicked displayed.

We would have been totally out of patience with these Pharisees and scribes long before for they have continually been hounding and contradicting the Lord and seeking to fault his words and actions.

It ended with their conspiracy to kill Him. Matthew 12:14.

This is where Christ-rejection ends.

2. He explains the central purpose of His coming.

Save lost sinners. "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost," Luke 19:10.

Not, as the Pharisees and scribes believed, the glorification and exaltation of the nation of Israel and the establishing of Messiah's earthly kingdom.

This was a common expectation amongst the Jewish people back then. Even the disciples are looking for that time of blessing. "When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Acts 1:6.

Even after Calvary this idea was still in their head! They were, however, to learn that before that day of Israel's earthly glory there would be the gospel age when all nations would hear the message of salvation.