The Son of Man Asserting His Authority as Lord of the Sabbath
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Psalm 76:4–6 “Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey. The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands. At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.”
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At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
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Warning to unrepentant cities
Come to me and I will give you rest
The Grain Field
The Grain Field
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath
His disciples were hungry
They plucked heads of grain to eat
Deuteronomy 23:25 “If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.”
But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”
Rabbis had drawn up 39 principal works, subdivided into minor categories
Plucking heads of grain was considered “reaping”
Rubbing out the grain was considered “threshing”
Jesus’ reply summerises the true, spiritual interpretation of the 10 commandments ...
1) Necessity knows no law
1) Necessity knows no law
He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
“Have you not read?”
They prided themselves in knowing and teacging the law
Yet Jesus question whether they are aquanted with the facts
Bread of Prescence
12 loaves of brain laid in two rows and displayed on “the table of showbread”
symbolised the fellowship of the people with their God
receiving their bread from him, eating with him and being consecrated to him
Gratefully acknowledging their indebtedness to him by means of this offering
The bread was changed every sabbath
Old loaves eaten by the preiests
Leviticus 24:9 “And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord’s food offerings, a perpetual due.””
Ahimelech relaised that David and his men were hungry
became convinced that the man whom God has annoited to be King over Israel
had undertaken a sacred mission
he gave him the breaded needed by this future king and his attendants
Surely, David had a right to ignore a divinely ordained ceremonial provision when necessity demanded this
for surely God’s annointed had a right tand duty to maintain himself physicallyy and also his hungry attendants
Jesus, God’s Anointed in a far more exalted sense, had the right to set aside a totally unwarranted, man-made sabbath regulation
During the old dispensation ceremonial laws were instituted to be obeyed, yet it would be hard to prove that even then a higher law
in this case the principle that human life and health must be preserved
could under certain circumstances be invalidate or at least modify an ordinance of lesser significance.
All the more was there good reason in the case of Jesus and his disciples to ignore a purely rabbinical regulation regarding sabbath observance
a rule resting upon nothing more solid than a misinterpretation and misapplication of God’s holy law.
2) Every rule has its exception
2) Every rule has its exception
Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.
“Have you not read”
“On the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless”
The priesthod were very busy doing everything to make possible the worship of God by the people
This modifies and restricts the too literal interpretation of the regulation concerning sabbath rest
Today ministers preach and/or administer the sacraments on the Lord’s Day
The pharasees had put rabbinical tradition on par with God’s written law
often in practice elevating it above the written law
Not even the divine law was applied with such rigidity
otherwise how could the priests have performed their work on the sabbath?
“Something greater than the temple is here”
a treasure infinitely more precious
a gift from heaven immeasurably more valuable
an authority endowed with rights far more magisterial ... was speaking to them.
3) Showing mercy is always right
3) Showing mercy is always right
And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?
Matthew 9:13 “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.””
Pharisees lacked pity
They did not love kindness
Instead, they were condemning the disciples
secretly rejoicing in having discovered a reason for causing him to be destroyed
having murder in their heart
Jesus affirms that the disciples were entirely guiltless
In no sense were they transgressing any divine commandment
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
4) The sabbath was made for man
4) The sabbath was made for man
And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
The sabbath was insituted to be a blessing for man
To keep him healthy, happy and render him holy
Man was not created to the the sabbath’s slave
5) Sovereign Ruler over all, including the sabbath, is the Son of Man
5) Sovereign Ruler over all, including the sabbath, is the Son of Man
For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
The disciples recognised Jesus’ lordship rather than the lordsip of the Pharisees and their often foolish traditions
They right in so doing, for “the Sone of Man is indeed Lord of the Sabbath”
Jesus honoured the Sabbath by:
regularly attending services on that day
at times leading the services
performing acts of mercy and healing on that day
resting in the tomb on that day
fulfilling its symbolic significance
God affirms Jesus’ teaching through the subsequent miracle ...
He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.
The pharisees seek to catch Jesus out
Surely a withered hand is not so urgent it could not wait until the next day to be healed?
A rigorous prevailing position existed in Jerusalem, but in more liberal Galilee was held that a man’s life had to be in danger for it to be permissible to heal him on the sabbath
They failed to realise their own wicked motivation is the grossest sabbeth descretation of all
a sin so damning that in the sight of the Almighty it constitues a most grevouscharge against them
But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there.
Luke shares with us that Jesus asked the man to stand and come to tthem
He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Jesus asks his critics a question
Jesus highlights the hyocrisy of the fact that a sheep would be helped out of a pit
A human being of more value, God’s image-bearer
If it is not regard wrong to rescue a sheep, then all the more it is right and proper to show kindess to another human being
Showing mercy is always right
Had the pharisees made a more thorough and unbiased study of the scripture they would have known this!
“It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath”
Mark & Luke share that Jesus used stronger terms ...
And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.
Jesus spoke to the heart of the problem.
They were seeking after Jesus’ own death
And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.
You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife
A blend of uneasiness and expectancy
Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.
Jesus must act
If he delays to the following day it would easily be interpreted as an admission on his part that deeds of healing are after all wrong on the Sabbath
The miracle would be affirmation of God’s approval
The mans hard is restored completely, healed to the same condition as the other hand
Jesus did not touch him or order the hand to be healed
Simply he asked the man to stretch out his hand
But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
The miracle caused no change of heart, nor instigate guilt and repentance
They instead sought to kill him
Two obsticles
Roman Government
Spectator, who would have not tolerated such drastic action against Jesus
Mark confirms they went and plotted with the Herodians (Mark 3:6)
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