Questions about the Sabbath

Matthew 12:1-8

a. The accusation and answer from Scripture 성경에서의 고발과 대답(12:1-5)

b. Jesus Christ is Lord 예수 그리스도는 주이십니다 (12:6-8)

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. The accusation and answer from Scripture (12:1-5)

i. Verse 1 begins with Jesus going through the grainfields on the Sabbath. We know that the Sabbath is Saturday before Jesus’ death and resurrection. We know that after the resurrection, we acknowledge that Sunday is the Sabbath because Jesus rose on Sunday. So when it says that Jesus went through the Sabbath here, it is Saturday. So Saturday morning, Jesus walks through the grainfields and His disciples are hungry so they began to pick the heads of grain and eat.

ii. Verse 1 is very clear that the disciples were hungry and began to eat. Verse 2, The pharisees saw this and react to Jesus. They tell Him, look, Your disciples do what is not lawful on a Sabbath. This tells us that in verse 1, When Jesus was walking through the grainfields, that His disciples were with Him and also there were Pharisees who were around Him or near Him.

iii. It was during this time that the disciples started to eat, so the Pharisees came over to tell Jesus that His disciples were going against the Sabbath. What we have seen in the previous chapter is that Jesus had been talking about suffering and persecution. Jesus was making it clear that if you follow Him, you would face persecution. We saw that evidenced by John the Baptist who was imprisoned in 11:2. We know that growing opposition to Jesus and His ministry is increasing, and these accusations will become more common.

iv. So the question is, what is the accusation here in verse 2? It says that the Pharisees told Jesus that His disciples were doing things that were unlawful. What exactly is unlawful with their behavior? There seems to be an issue that Jesus expands to two examples.

v. The issue comes in verse 1-2 where the complaint is about the idea of work. The Pharisees issue was that they were picking the heads of grain which deals with reaping. In the Old Testament work, the idea of harvesting found in Exodus 34:21 is forbidden.

vi. Today, there is even a sect that still holds this. If you know of the Amish, they don’t work on Sundays. They believe that Sunday is the Sabbath and because it is the Sabbath, they don’t work. This could be the issue because it is made clear in the Law, not explicitly in the Ten commandments, but in the Sundry Laws, that the Sabbath is discussed. You may ask, what are the Sundry Laws? Sundry just means that it is laws of many different things. They are laws to be understood and kept, but they are not in order or sequence but it also doesn’t mean, they aren’t important. The keeping of the Sabbath, is outlined in the Sundry Laws which tells us that although they are miscellaneous, they are still important and should be kept.

vii. This idea of rest that God outlined in Exodus 23:12 and Deuteronomy 5:14. Were the Pharisees were trying to explain to Jesus that He and His disciples were guilty of breaking God’s law? Well, there’s something interesting happening here. In the previous section, what does Jesus tell the disciples? Jesus says, come to me and I will give you rest. Jesus’s statement here now has absolute significance because Jesus is telling His disciples that He will give rest not only from the trials of life, but also, rest from the Law.

viii. If the complaint here by the Pharisees is referring to resting on the Sabbath, and because they were working to pick the heads of grain, then they were going against what God outlined in Exodus 23:12 and Deuteronomy 5:14. This was the conclusion by the Pharisees which is why this issue was raised. They were not resting in the eyes of the Pharisees. We know from the section that this most likely was the issue.

ix. Jesus’s response in verse 3-4 is interesting. Jesus responds to their accusation by asking them if they know and have read their Old Testament. Have you not read what David did when he and his companions got hungry? How he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat or for those who were with him, but for the priests alone?

x. What we see from Scripture is, Jesus points to the record given to us in 1 Samuel 21:1-6. If you read from 1 Samuel 20, we see the covenant between Saul’s son and David where Jonathan allows David to flee by making a covenant with him. David flees and arrives in Nob in 1 Samuel 21. Here, he meets Ahimelech the priest and tells him that the king has sent him on a mission in which nobody is to know of (1 Samuel 21:2). So he asks him for 5 loaves of bread, 1 Samuel 21:3 and Ahimelech responds by telling him that there is no ordinary bread but the bread that is offered to God. So in verse 6, Ahimelech brings the bread to David and gives it to him. What was wrong with this story? Well, David ate the loaves of bread that was set aside for God and only bread the priests could eat.

xi. The point of this story is that David in his authority, was able to override the law. David had told Ahimelech that he was on a special mission for the king and because he was on this mission, and truly an heir to the throne of Saul and one of Saul’s men, Ahimelech did what was asked of him. Again, the story here focus’s on the authority of David and how because of his authority and position, there was this exception. This was exactly what Jesus was referring to here which is why he says in verse 6 and 8, that there is something greater than the temple here. This is echoed by Christ again in verse 8 where He says that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus now places His own authority with that of David and states that it isn’t lawful because of who He is.

xii. This idea of authority and position is explained again in verse 5. Jesus speaks of the idea that priests work on the Sabbath and are still considered innocent. The idea that they work is in preparation in the offering of sacrifices (Numbers 28:9-10). In Numbers 28, God tells Moses that the sons of Israel must offer an offering to Him. A fire offering is to be offered once in the day and once at night (28:4). The explanations are given how the offerings must be done and in verse 9, God says that on the sabbath day, two male lambs one year old without defect, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering and its drink offering. What Jesus responds with here is that the priests are working on the Sabbath and they are given an exception. Why? Because of their position and also, because of what God commands of them. Again, instruction to work on the Sabbath was given to them, because of their position.

xiii. This is the same point that Jesus was making here. Because of His position of who He is, because He is the Son of God and the Son of Man, and using the language of verse 8, that He is Lord over the Sabbath, He is able to do what He wishes because it is within God’s will.

b. Jesus Christ is Lord (12:6-8)

i. This is why verse 6 is important. Jesus says I say to you, that just as the priests are innocent due to their position and because that is what God has commanded them, He is also innocent just as they are, but not only that, there is something greater than the temple here. Something is greater here is compared to an institution and not a person, but later in 12:41-42 when Jesus references that something is greater, it is referring to a person. We can see from that context in the way He uses this phrase, and the context, when talking about priests, that something greater is not an institution but rather a person. Jesus is making it clear that He is greater than these priests because He is God Himself. This is why He reiterates this idea in verse 8 incase people don’t understand what He was saying. He was making it clear that there was no confusion.

ii. So what is the will of God that enables Jesus to be above the Law? Just as David in his mission allowed him due to his position and his mission to override the law, what was Jesus’s mission? Verse 7 tells us. I love this phrase because Jesus said this prior in Matthew 9:13. Jesus was teaching the Pharisees if they know God and love God, they are to show compassion. In this context, Jesus says that if they knew what it meant to show compassion, they would not have condemned the innocent.

iii. What we see from the Pharisees are they misunderstand two major points that Jesus is making. The first is, they don’t understand and don’t interpret the Law as Jesus does, and secondly, they don’t recognize His authority as Lord. This statement here in verse 7 proves that the Pharisees had a strict, rigid understanding of God’s Law and this contradicted God’s compassionate purposes for His people.

iv. The Pharisees begin with God’s Law and the Sabbath as their priority and utmost importance. Jesus on the other hand, point to God, to Himself, as the utmost importance. Just like David, Jesus’s authority gives Him the authority to override the law. Why? Because Jesus is God. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus was not breaking the Sabbath but rather, He was fulfilling what God had called Him to do. This is why He was correcting the Pharisees.

v. What does this mean for us? It’s easy for us to look at our accomplishments or even our inability to fulfill God’s requirements and think we are Christian or even at times, think we aren’t Christian. But what Jesus helps us understand through this is, our priority is to look to Jesus. Again, the context of 11:28-30 is to look to Him. It’s not to look at the Law and think if we keep the Law, we will be justified, but rather, look to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why this statement here in verse 8 completes this statement. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is the means we find our rest. He is the means in which we keep the Law. The Sabbath was given to benefit people, not people to benefit the Sabbath. Coming to church on the Sabbath was to bless us, not something that we do to earn God’s merit.

3. CONCLUSION