Matthew 12:1-8
In that moment of time Jesus went around on the Sabbath through
the standing grain in the field. And His
disciples hungered and they began to pluck off the heads of grain and to
eat. But after the Pharisees saw, they
said to Him, “Behold! Your disciples do
that which is not permitted to do on the Sabbath.” But He said to them, “Did you all not read
what David did when he and the ones with him hungered: how he entered into the
house of God and they ate the bread of the presentation – which it was not
permitted for him to eat nor the ones with him, just only the priests? Or did you all not read in the Law that on
the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and they are
guiltless? But I say to you all that
something is here that is greater than the temple. And if you all had known what this is – ‘I
desire mercy and not sacrifice’ – you all would not render an unrighteous
verdict upon the guiltless. For the Lord
of the Sabbath is the Son of Man.
Thoughts for Today
First Thought:
This is a classic passage to set up true godliness against
the religious tradition of the Pharisees.
Deuteronomy 23:24-25 clearly says that the disciples weren’t doing
anything wrong by plucking grain out of the field and eating. However, it was the tradition of the
Pharisees that to do so was considered “work.”
And we all know that the Pharisees had an issue with “work” on the
Sabbath. To look at Jesus’ rebuttal
against this passage, let’s take the middle example found in verse 5. In this verse, Jesus reminds the Pharisees that
the priests of the temple do work on the Sabbath every time they offer up
sacrifices as directed by the Law. See
Numbers 28:9-10. Thus, there is work on
the Sabbath that is acceptable – even if the disciples were doing something
that was considered work. From a legal
perspective, so long as we are going about godliness on the Sabbath, we should
not have any trouble with being active or “doing work” – in spite of what
culture or tradition might have to say.
What would you consider religious work on the Sabbath? If God calls you to such work, should you be
made to feel guilty about such things?
Second Thought:
Let’s now return to the first appeal to the scripture that
Jesus makes. Jesus references the story
of David from 1 Samuel 21. Here David is
on the run and out of food. So he goes
in to the holy place and takes the bread that is offered up to God. It was bread that was designated for the
priests, yet David and his soldiers ate it.
Some have argued that David is a priest in the line of Melchizedek, and
although that is true it certainly doesn’t explain away his soldiers’ ability
to eat the bread. What it does tell us
is that human need should take precedence over tradition. Even if something has always been done a
certain way, if there is a need to do it differently it should at least be able
to be considered as well as done if necessary.
Have you ever been in a situation where necessity trumped
tradition? How did you react? How did the people around you react? Why do we tend to think more highly of
tradition than necessity?
Third Thought:
The third reference that Jesus makes is
to Hosea 6:6. I love that verse. God desires love, not sacrifice. God desires knowledge of God over burnt
offerings. This really puts it into
perspective for us. The things we do don’t
matter as much as the motivation behind them.
If we offer up blind ritualistic worship to God, what good is it if
there is not any genuine love of Him or love of the neighbor? Merely obeying the rituals and traditions for
the sake of the tradition is just not good enough! As Jesus indicates in the final words of this
discussion, Jesus is Lord over the Sabbath, not the other way around. Ritualistic obedience to religious tradition
is nothing when compared to faith relationship with the Son of God.
What is more meaningful to you:
relationship or tradition? When can it
be difficult to have both? Why can it
sometimes be difficult to have both?
Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 12:9-14
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