Lord of the Sabbath
12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Rules. We all have them. Speed limits. Barriers we shouldn't cross. Even family rules such as no yelling in the house. Usually, rules are set up for us to keep us safe, to keep us from repercussions, or to keep the peace. They serve a purpose. However, there are always exceptions to rules for certain purposes. Ambulances do not always abide by the speed limit if they are transporting someone who is hurt. If there is a fire, the fire fighters are not going to sit by and watching a house burn because entering a someone else's house is illegal. If a child falls and breaks their arm by jumping off their bed, yelling is going to occur in the house. Rules serve a purpose but they are also a guideline for behaviour.
The Pharisees were all about upholding the rules. Regardless of the exceptions.
"Some culturally conservative churches today interpret the Bible the way the Pharisees in this passage do, building an ever tighter fence around the strictest interpretation of the law to keep from breaking it. Thus, for example, I have known firsthand of some that misconstrue Scripture to condemn all divorced people, women's wearing slacks to church, music relevant to youth, and anything else that violates their tradition. Conservatives can dishonor God's Word through abuse and neglect just as liberals can dishonor it through neglect and rejection. Jesus instead pursued the point of biblical texts in the situation in which they were written (19:8). The principles of God's Word actually demand far more from us than extrapolated rules: they demand the absolute integrity of our hearts before God, summoning us to devote all our actions and thoughts to his glory (5:17-48). Perhaps some Christians take refuge primarily in legal debates because we lack the courage to pursue a genuine relationship with the Father through faith in Jesus Christ." (quote from this commentary)
The Pharisees did not understand mercy. They understood rules. It must have been aggravating to have Jesus be able to defend (very successfully) all of their rules that they lived by to the extreme. They also did not understand that Jesus had supremacy over all things (even the Sabbath) and when the Pharisees' lack of knowledge was exposed, it made them vulnerable and angry.
"But the charge was that Jesus’ disciples had violated the Law but had violated the rabbinic teachings that had been elevated to the authority of Old Testament Law. So Jesus’ reply included notable exceptions in preeminent Old Testament Scripture that demonstrated that not only were his disciples innocent, but also that the Pharisees did not understand the very Law their traditions rested upon.
The Lord Jesus also pointed out that there are no distinctions to be made between the hard letter and spirit of the Law. He reminded these elites that God had already given permission for the priests to “violate” the law when they performed their sacrifices on the Sabbath. Butchering oxen and rams was grueling, back-breaking work, and here Jesus also shows the stark hypocrisy between these religious professional’s willingness to overlook Sabbath sacrifices in order to condemn him and his disciples. For even under the most generous of considerations, the disciples plucking a few heads of grain and rubbing their hands together in order to separate the chaff from the kernels, required far less effort than spending the entire day heaving large carcasses around and carving them up in accordance with God‘s instructions.
The greater lesson that Jesus teaches here is that it is not merely the letter of the Law that is important, but the heart and intent behind it.
The ensuing escalation between Jesus and the religious elites is predictable. Offended by Jesus’ reply, the Pharisees continue their harassment by laying a trap for him at a local synagogue and they set their trap with a simple question, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” The Pharisees knew Jesus’ compassion for the sick and so should Jesus he the man they could immediately accuse him as a law breaker. But should he not heal the man, they could then accuse him of being a hypocrite.
As was often the case, Jesus answered the Pharisee’s questions with a question of his own: “Would any of you rescue one of your sheep if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath?” The answer is obvious, as each of them had probably performed such a rescue many times before or had given their consent when a family member or townsman had done so. And again, such a rescue begs the question: How much more work is it to lug a hundred pound sheep out of a eight foot ravine than plucking heads of grain? How much more work is pulling sheep out of a hole than to simply command a man to stretch his hand so that he could find it healed?
Catching them in their own trap, Jesus asks the man with a shriveled hand to stretch it out and obeying the man finds it fully restored. And note carefully that Jesus neither touched the man, nor did the healed man violate rabbinic law by simply stretching his arm out.
The disabled man found mercy, and the religious elite received a valuable lesson. But instead of embracing the miracle as confirmation that Jesus was right and that God was with him, the elites went on to commit the worst of all Sabbath violations. Instead of repentance and the acknowledgement that God is merciful, the religious professionals began plotting the Lord’s death. Jesus sought to give a man the mercy of God, while the elites sought to put a man to death for showing such mercy." (quoted from this commentary)
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 12:15-21
2 comments:
Love this, Pam.
The Sabbath was actually fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Jesus. In Him we find that Sabbath rest.
The Sabbath was the only one of the 10 commandments that was a ceremonial law, instead of a moral one. And ceremonial laws were never to take precedence over need, service to God, or mercy.
Great post! It's funny how human beings can take a rule or law that was put into effect for a certain purpose, and follow that law in such a way that the purpose is completely defeated. Actually, I take that back. It's not funny.
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