Lord of the Sabbath

Lord of the Sabbath

Scripture:

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. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 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. Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:1-8

Observation:

In this passage, we see an encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees over the issue of the Sabbath. The Lord’s disciples were hungry and proceeded to pick some heads of grain to eat but the Pharisees quickly condemned them as sinning against the Sabbath.

The Lord proceeds to give them two examples. Firstly, David and his companions entered the house of God and ate consecrated bread, which was unlawful. Secondly, the priests on Sabbath duty work in the temple on the Sabbath yet are innocent. In David’s case, here was a man after God’s own heart. In a time of great need, when he needed food for his men, he did not hesitate to take the consecrated bread. He was God’s anointed. He knew God was with him, and he knew that in that situation, it was necessary to put human needs first. In the second case, it was obvious that the priests on duty on the Sabbath were not sinning as there had to be some people on duty to serve the worshippers. The Pharisees had created a whole network of complicated legal conditions on what constituted work on the Sabbath and what did not. Out of all the legalism, the main principle that the Sabbath was created for man to rest had been forgotten.

Furthermore, when the Lord said something greater than the temple was here, He was implying that He was greater than the temple and when He said the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, the Pharisees must have been furious at what they perceived was clear blasphemy.

The words quoted by Jesus “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”, comes to the very heart of our faith. At the root of all we do is love and mercy. The sacrifice is the outward action which stems from our inward heart. The Pharisees had made sacrifice a ritual in itself without understanding the meaning of it. Therefore they had a form of religion but did not truly know God and His character.

Application:

The general principle of celebrating a day of rest still applies to us this day. It is not good for man to keep working continuously without stopping, and in His wisdom, God gave us the Sabbath for our own good. However, even in observing our rest day, we need to remember that mercy always precedes sacrifice. If we need to work on a rest day to do something good, we should not be so legalistic to restrict ourselves unreasonably. The main crux of the passage though is to understand loving mercy and not sacrifice. Outward forms of religions is useless if our heart is not right, if we have no real relationship with God. Therefore, ask God first for mercy, and a heart of mercy, before outward acts of service.

Prayer:

We praise You, Lord Jesus for You are Lord of the Sabbath. Thank You Lord for this lesson that we must always put mercy before sacrifice, the heart before the action. Show us Your mercy O Lord, and also teach us to be merciful, and compassionate in our meetings with others. May Your name be praised forever O Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.