"At that time Jesus went through the grain fields 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.” Matt:12:1-2
Jesus, and his Disciples were walking in the gain fields on the “Sabbath” day, it is here, that Jesus has a confrontation with the religious leaders over their perception that Jesus' disciples were "violating" the "Sabbath" command. This exchange in the grain fields between Jesus and the Pharisees was one of the many ongoing exchanges that occurred throughout Jesus' ministry for 3 1/2 years
The Pharisees are upset that the
disciples of Jesus were “working” on the
"Sabbath “day, they considered the Disciples picking grain and eating it
as the "work of harvesting" which the Pharisees
deemed this as "unlawful".
"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.” Matt: 12:1-2
The Pharisees had held the Sabbath
as a test commandment of obedience and faithfulness to the Covenant established
by God with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai.
The Pharisees read the command in the Book of Exodus
written by the Great Prophet of the Lord God Moses, stating that the
Sabbath(s) was a sign between God and Israel, that the Lord was their God and
Israel was his people.
"The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
"But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely
observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your
generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. Therefore
you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it
shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person
shall be cut off from among his people" Ex:12-14
The keeping of the Sabbath was their
hallmark of obedience, and it was their own imposed “litmus test” upon others as how they measured obedience
to the Covenant.
But Jesus and his disciples were, in the minds
of the Pharisees, violating this “test” , and
the Pharisees reacted badly, and accused Jesus and the Disciples of
braking the Sabbath. The Sabbath was in the Pharisees' view the focus of the
Covenant that God made with Israel.
Changing Covenants
For us to truly understand this encounter
in the grainfields we need to go back to the calling of the Disciples. That is,
Jesus called his Disciples and sent them forth into the work of
preaching that the Kingdom of God, that God's Kingdom had arrived and that
a relationship was opened for humanity to have with God. We can read about this
in Matt: 10:1-20
In Matthew 11:12 Jesus
issues his great invitation for any and all who will freely receive it to
"Come to me and I will give you rest”. Jesus tells us,
that in him is the true rest of which the Old Covenant Sabbath was only a
shadow of, Jesus is the realty of that rest.
" Therefore no one is to act as your
judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a
Sabbath day things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the
substance belongs to Christ"Col: 2:16-17
The very point that the Pharisees confront
Jesus on, the “Sabbath” is what the Pharisees looked to as their
evidence of piety as the very means by which they measured
righteousness. That means, these Pharisees “rested" in
the Sabbath, looked to the Sabbath, trusted and relied on the
Sabbath, drew their identity from the Sabbath and saw it's
keeping and as the justification of and their validation and as
the expression of the Law and all other attachments of the Old Covenant.
The “Sabbath” is anything that gives you
“rest” in place of Jesus –Any “litmus test” other than Jesus – The Apostles were
sent for to tell others about Jesus- where the true rest is found- nothing
else- but Christ It is the changing of a Covenant-they drew their
identities from it they trusted in it and they "rested in it".
Blameless
Jesus immediately recognized the true
issue that the Pharisees have with his Disciples, and directs the Pharisees to
the word of God in response to the Pharisees accusation.
"Jesus 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
blameless? 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 blameless. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Matt:
12:3-8
David and his men had come to the town of Nob,
where the Tabernacle was erected and asked for bread from the Ahimelek the
Priest for he and his men. There was no bread on hand except the
Shewbread which was in the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle.
The Shewbread which David and his
men took from the Sanctuary of Tabernacle and then ate was
concentrated for only for the Priest only to eat, yet Jesus declared David and
his men "blameless".
Jesus then addresses the arduous work
of Temple Priest in the continuous offering of sacrifices. The animals had
to be bound, slaughtered, dressed and even lifted to the Alter of God. All of
this entailed "work" on the Sabbath Day, yet
Jesus declared that the Priest were doing their " Sabbath duty in the temple and desecrate the Sabbath and yet
are blameless?" before the Lord.
A New Priesthood for a New Covenant
Why did Jesus bring up the example of David
doing what was "unlawful" and the Temple
Priest "desecrating" the Sabbath, and then Jesus
declared both as being "blameless”? What was
Jesus telling the Pharisees in response to their charges that Jesus' Disciples
were "doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath "
Jesus then faults the understanding of the
Pharisees, that they have misunderstood the true intent of the word of
Scriptures.
"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.” Matt: 12:7-8
Jesus not only address the Pharisees' lack of
understanding of the Scriptures, but Jesus then pronounces that his Disciples
are "blameless" as well.
Jesus tells the angry Pharisees that if they,
truly understood the word of God they "would not have condemned the
blameless", meaning that his very Disciples are "blameless".
What is Jesus telling the Pharisees about his
Disciples who were with him in the grainfields, and throughout the ages?
Jesus is stating that his Disciples are "blameless" as was David who ate the Shewbread
which belong only to the Priest, and the Priest in their service
at the Temple, who Jesus said was "blameless" even
as they "desecrated the Sabbath”.
By Jesus declaring his Disciples
"blameless" Jesus is declaring his Disciples Priest.
But Jesus' Disciples are not a Priesthood of
the Covenant of Sacrifice made with Israel at Mount Sinai, of which the Sabbath
was the sign of that Covenant but rather Jesus' Disciples are a Priesthood of a
New Covenant of Mercy which had been, and is, God's intent all along.
"If you had known what these words mean,
‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice," (8)
Mercy Not Sacrifice
The Old Covenant would have those who broke
the Sabbath to die for "desecrating"
the Sabbath as we read in the Sabbath command in Exodus:12.
But this is not what God's intent ever was.
God's desire is for mercy, not sacrifice. This means that forgiveness is
extended to us, we are "blameless", as was David
and the Temple Priest, there are no more sacrifices to be offered as we read in
the Epistle to the Hebrew Christians.
"AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I
WILL REMEMBER NO MORE." Now where there is forgiveness of these things,
there is no longer any offering for sin." Heb: 10:17-18
Disciples Are Priest
Jesus is declaring that those called to himself,
his Disciples, those who find rest only in
Jesus, and are sent into the harvest are a New Priesthood of a New
Covenant of Mercy which supersedes the Old Covenant of Sacrifice.
The Pharisees understood what Jesus was telling them, that the Priesthood and Covenant which they served was passing away. All that the Pharisees "rested" in was passing away and with it the very Sabbath and their position of power and prominence.
St. Paul takes up the theme of
non-condemnation, that is "blameless" in
his Epistle to the Roman Christians.
"there is now no more condemnation to
those who are in Christ." Rm: 8:1
In the eyes of God, we, Jesus'
Disciples, are "blameless",
therefore we are Priest.
St. Paul uses the description of a "priestly duty" as applying to himself
in his ministry of proclaiming the Gospel to the Gentiles which brings people
to enter and experience that New Covenant of Mercy.
"Yet I have written you quite boldly on
some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be
a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of
proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering
acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit." Rm: 15:15-16
St. Peter declares all Disciples as being a Priesthood,
1Peter:2:5-9.
Jesus: Lord of the Sabbath
Jesus then angers the Pharisees even more,
when he declares himself "the Lord of the
Sabbath".
Jesus by using the title Lord, he is
equating himself and identifying himself as the very Lord who made the Covenant
with Israel. Jesus is reveling his deity to the Pharisees, showing that he has
authority to pronounce the Disciples as "blameless"
Our Rest Only in Jesus.
If anything else gives us "rest”, aside from Jesus, as the Sabbath did the
Pharisees then we are creating a test commandment that will be uses
to measure by, and if we do this , we like the Pharisees will build a
hedge around that self-created Sabbath which will then impose requirement
and bring unnecessary condemnation upon others and ourselves.
Only Jesus is our "rest" our
"Sabbath”, that we might walk in the grain fields of this world as a
Priesthood of the New Covenant of Mercy.
Benediction: May we each and all, be that "blameless" Priesthood of a Covenant of Mercy sent
forth with the Gospel message in the grainfields of this world, today,
tomorrow and forevermore.
Rev.Todd Crouch, Norman, Oklahoma
"If It Is Not About Jesus, It Is Not About Anything "
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