The Lord of the Sabbath

Matthew 12:1–8 AV

At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Introduction:

The Pharisees and other Jewish leaders were dead serious about Sabbath Day laws.

But the problem was that for the most part, the laws were man made and not as God had commanded.

The Jewish leaders made, serving God burdensome.

Matthew 11:29–30 AV

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Because of the thousands of man made restrictions that were added to it, keeping the Sabbath was harder than the other six days of working your occupation.

It became harder to “rest” than to work.

Jewish tradition had even caused the Sabbath to be dangerous.

Matthew: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Incident

The apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees (2:31–38) tells of an incident during the time of Judas Maccabaeus when a group of Jews refused to defend themselves on the Sabbath against the Greek army led by Antiochus Epiphanes. As the soldiers of Antiochus attacked, the Jews “answered them not, neither cast they a stone at them, nor stopped the places where they lay hid; but said: ‘Let us die in our innocency: heaven and earth shall testify for us, that ye put us to death wrongfully.’ So they rose up against them in battle on the Sabbath, and they slew them with their wives and children and cattle, to the number of a thousand people.”

In his Antiquities, the Jewish historian Josephus reports that because it was on the Sabbath, that the Jews refused to defend themselves that the Roman general Pompey was able to capture Jerusalem.

Let me tell you how ridiculous it became.

One section alone of the Talmud, a compilation of Jewish tradition, has twenty-four chapters on Sabbath laws.

For example:

One could only travel 3,000 feet from your home.

Unless you had planted food at the 3,000 foot point, then that constituted your home and you could walk 3,000 feet from that point.

Certain objects could be lifted up and put down; only to and from certain places.

A Jew could not carry a load any heavier than a dried fig; and if he carried something less than that, he could carry it twice.

You could not eat anything larger than an olive.

You could not throw an object into the air with one have and then catch it with the other.

Tailors were not allowed to carry their needles.

Items could not be bought or sold.

A letter could not be dispatched, not even to a Gentile.

Baths could not be taken for fear than water might fall onto the floor and “wash it”.

A woman could not look in a mirror for fear that she see a grey hair and pull it out.

False teeth could not be worn because they exceeding the weight limit for burdens.

If a person became ill on the sabbath, only enough medicine could be given to keep him alive.

If medicine were given to make him better, that is considered work.

Matthew: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Incident

Among the many other forbidden Sabbath activities were: sewing, plowing, reaping, grinding, baking, threshing, binding sheaves, winnowing, sifting, dying, shearing, spinning, kneading, separating or weaving two threads, tying or untying a knot, and sewing two stitches.

The Sabbath was anything but a time of rest.

Jesus and His disciples find themselves in a situation in our text were Jesus explains to the religious leaders just what is meant by the Sabbath.

I. The Deed on the Sabbath (vs. 1)

Matthew 12:1 AV

At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.

Now, keep in mind that the fact that Jesus and His disciples were walking in this grain field was a violation of Jewish law.

This would have been late March or early April, because that is when grain would have ripened in the Jordan Valley.

Roads in the time ofd Christ were not what they are now and so as people would travel, they would find themselves walking through paths or through people’s grain fields.

Inns and other places to stay were very rare in the small towns and nonexistent between the towns.

And if a person taking a journey found that his trip was taking longer than expected or he did not pack enough food for his journey, he would have to do something in order to gain some nourishment.

The Lord made a wonderful provision in the law for such a time.

Deuteronomy 23:24–25 AV

When thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn.

The Lord provided a wonderful way to gain some nourishment; although, the law did not allow you put a sickle to the corn.

I mean, you cannot go over and harvest the crop.

What you would is, you would get a stalk from off the vegetation, you would rub it in your hands and then you would blow away the chaff.

Then what you had left was grain and you could het some nourishment.

Now, the disciples were not harvesting on the Sabbath; that was forbidden by the law of Moses:

Exodus 34:21 AV

Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.

All they were doing was trying to get some nourishment; according to the permission given in the OT.

Rabbinical tradition had ridiculously interpreted the rubbing of grain together in the hands (Luke’s account in chapter 6 describes that is what the disciples were doing), as a form of threshing.

And blowing away the chaff as a form of winnowing.

The Talmud said:

Matthew: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Incident

“If a person rolls wheat to remove the husks, it is sifting. If he rubs the heads of wheat, it is threshing. If he cleans off the side adherences, it is sifting. If he bruises the ears, it is grinding. And if he throws it up in his hand, it is winnowing”

The disciples had left everything to follow Jesus and had no source of income or any other means to support themselves, except the occasional gift from friends or families.

They did nothing to disobey Mosaic Law, they did exactly what the law had instructed them that they could do.

Jesus did nothing to discourage the disciples from performing the actions that day and; in fact, probably joined them in eating.

II. The Dilemma on the Sabbath (vs. 2)

Matthew 12:2 AV

But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.

What? Where did they come from?

Well, somewhere within 3000 feet......one really has to wonder what the Pharisees where doing hanging around a grain field on the Sabbath.

I am sure that some exception was made to allow these self-appointed guardians truth to dog the steps of Christ.

The statement made by the Pharisees that, “your disciples do that which is unlawful to do on the Sabbath Day” is in itself a sinful statement.

Because it is putting human opinion and tradition on par with God’s command.

The OT law never condemned what Jesus and the disciples were doing.

You see, Rabbinic Tradition was not necessarily Jewish law.

But many years of this observance gave it that place in the eyes of many of the Jews; especially the Scribes and the Pharisees.

Matthew: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Indictment

The Pharisees indicted the Lord and His disciples for disobeying their distorted, man-made traditions, thus perverting God’s intention for the Sabbath, which was to provide man with a special day of rest, not a painful day of burdens.

III. The Declaration on the Sabbath (vs. 3-8)

Matthew 12:3–8 AV

But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

When Jesus said, “Have you not read?” that was deep cutting sarcasm.

These Pharisees, who were the self-appointed experts, thought themselves to be brilliant when it came to the OT.

And here is Jesus asking them, “Well, don’t you know what the OT says”.

Certainly they would winced in anger as Jesus said this.

In responding to the Pharisees false charge, Jesus instructed the Pharisees about God’s purpose of the Sabbath.

Especially about what the Sabbath was intended not to do.

Matthew: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Instruction

Like the other nine Commandments, the one to observe the Sabbath was given to promote love toward God and love toward one’s fellow man.

Matthew: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Instruction

The first three pertain to showing love of God through reverence, faithfulness, and holiness. The other seven pertain to love of other people through personal purity, unselfishness, truthfulness, and contentment and through respect for their possessions, rights, and well-being.

But the Pharisees knew nothing about love for God and man.

They were functionaries trapped in their own legalistic system of futile, meaningless tradition.

Instead of fulfilling the law by loving their neighbor as themselves (), they attempted to fulfil it through loveless and lifeless traditions.

Matthew: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Instruction

Jesus here reaffirms that the Sabbath was given for God’s glory and for man’s welfare. It was never intended to restrict the expression of love through deeds of necessity, service to God, or acts of mercy.

The Sabbath Does Not Restrict Needs of Necessity (vs. 3-4)

Matthew 12:3–4 AV

But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?

Matthew 12:

David was a hero of Judaism.

He was a king, poet, songwriter and warrior.

Jesus reminds the Pharisees of an occasion with David and his men and they were fleeing for their lives from the vengeful Saul out of .

When they came to Nob,. where the tabernacle was located, they asked for some food.

Ahimelech, the Priest, gave them of the consecrated bread that David and his men were not allowed to eat.

Because, Ahimelech said that there was no ordinary bread, “this isn’t a bakery”.

The bread of the presence was was twelve loaves of bread that represented the twelve tribes of Israel.

Each sabbath twelve fresh loaves replaced the previous ones.

The previous loaves could be eaten by the priest only.

On that occasion; however, an exception was made for David and his men who were weak from hunger.

God was not offended by that act.

He never judged Ahimelech, David or his men.

The Lord was willingly to have a ceremonial law violated when doing so was necessary to meet the needs of His beloved people.

If God will allow His own law to be broken, under certain conditions, for the welfare of His people.

Then how much more will He allow the man made traditions and laws to be broken for the betterment of others.

The Sabbath Does Not Restrict Service To God (vs. 5-6)

Matthew 12:5–6 AV

Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.

Jesus did not have to explain Himself when He spoke about the Priests violating the Sabbath.

There were many jobs that the priests did and were required to do on the Sabbath that would have violated God’s law of rest; not to mention rabbinical tradition.

These legalistic Pharisees thought the Priest doing his work in Tabernacle and then later the in the Temple were completely innocent of breaking God’s law of rest on the Sabbath.

Even though they had to light the fires, kill the sacrifical animal, life up the carcass and place it on the altar.

Sacrifices on the Sabbath, were in fact, double the work.

But even the most legalistic Pharisee thought the Priest to be innocent.

Just like even the most legalistic Christian does not consider teaching Sunday School or Preaching or leading a youth group to be profaning the Lord’s Day; even though that work takes a great deal of effort.

Jesus embarrassed and angered the Pharisees by pointing out their inconsistency.

But there anger boiled when he said, “that there is one greater than the temple”.

Even if the Pharisees did not recognize at first that Jesus was referring to Himself, they would have still been horrified.

Because nothing, but God Himself, is greater than the temple.

Now, because if His earlier claims of Deity, the Pharisees probably knew that He was referring to Himself as being greater than the temple and thus claiming to be God.

Matthew: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Sabbath Does Not Restrict Service to God

The Lord’s immediate purpose, however, was not to prove His deity but to point out that, in light of that deity, He had the right to abrogate Sabbath regulations as He saw fit-immeasurably more than David had the right to violate the Tabernacle laws or the priests had to violate the Sabbath laws in serving in the Temple.

The Sabbath Does Not Restrict Acts of Mercy (vs. 7-8)

Matthew 12:7–8 AV

But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Hosea 6:6 AV

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Sacrifice signifies the entire Mosaic system, which was always secondary in God’s plan.

Even under the Old Covenant that required it, Sabbath observance was not a substitute for a heart righteousness and compassion that characterize God’s faithful children.

God is merciful, and He commands His people to be merciful.

God sometimes sets aside His own laws for the sake of mercy.

If He did not then none of us would be here because Adam and Eve would have been destroyed as soon as they sinned.

God has always shown mercy for enforcing temporal penalties for breaking His laws.

And if holy, righteous God is supremely characterized by love and mercy even to the point of graciously setting aside the penalty for breaking some of His own laws for mans benefit.

How much more are His still-sinful children required to show compassion.

Then to substantiate His authority Jesus said, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath”.

That must have rendered the Pharisees absolutely speechless.

What He had implied by saying, “something greater than the Temple”, now was unambiguous.

Jesus stood right before them and claimed to be greater than God’s Temple and God’s Sabbath.

But all of this to show the Pharisees, and us, that compassion and love do not take a back seat to temporal ceremony.