Matthew 12:1-13

Matthew 12:1-13 NIV

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.”
Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.

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These two healing stories in Matthew 12; are they about healing or about the meaning of Sabbath? Considering that there's no mention of the crowd's response to the miracles like in previous healing stories, I think Matthew included these incidents to teach about Jesus' thoughts on keeping the Sabbath. In addition Matthew's narrative is turning up the heat for our hero, Jesus, as His opponents begin to plot His death.

The first story involves work on the Sabbath. The disciples were hungry so they plucked some heads of grain from a farmer's field and ate the raw wheat. You may think it imprudent for them to steal grain from a farmer, but the Law of Moses instructs farmers to leave the edges of their fields unharvested for the sake of the poor, which certainly is true for Jesus and His band.

Leviticus 19:9-10 NIV

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.

But the Law also states to rest on the Sabbath and do no work. The Pharisees belonged to a sect within Judaism that held to a strict code of conduct, to assure they kept the Law perfectly. They wrote more laws to assure the Law of Moses was kept in every conceivable situation. It was their opinion that Jesus and His disciples were breaking the Sabbath law by plucking heads of grain.

Jesus told them of how King David, when he was on the run for His life from Saul who wanted to kill him, took refuge at the tabernacle. The priest there, thinking the David was on a secret mission for King Saul, gave David the show bread off of the holy table that was meant for God alone. The bread was there as an offering. Each week fresh bread was placed on the table. The priests were permitted to eat it after the bread had served it's time in the holy place. (Lev 24:5-9) No one else was allowed. Yet David ate the bread and did not die.

What conclusions can we draw? I think that God had chosen David as His anointed king to replace Saul. Saul was not faithful to God. As such David was under God's protection. David needed to eat. God knew it. Saul was trying to kill David and God was with David providing for his needs.

Now back to Jesus. Jesus is the Lord's anointed King. He is a Son of David. And the ruling class of religious leaders want to kill Him. There's a conflict going on between kingdoms. The advancing reign of Christ is in conflict with the reign of Caesar and His puppets, Herod, Caiphas, Annas and Pilate. The Pharisees are part of the incumbent system, especially the closer they become allied with the temple and the Sanhedrin. The parallels between David and Jesus are apparent. This implies who Jesus is. He is the Son of David, but not just any king. He is the Messiah, the Christ.

If priests serving the Lord on the Sabbath is legal, how much more the Son of God who is called our high priest? (Heb 4:14-15) He tells the Pharisees plainly that something greater than the temple is here, meaning His divine self and the kingdom of heaven. He tells the Pharisees that they do not understand God's mercy, for if they had they wouldn't be harassing Jesus and His disciples. What they do not understand is that Jesus is Lord. He is Lord of all creation and certainly Lord of the Sabbath. He is the Son of Man which is a messianic title derived from the prophet Daniel.

Daniel 7:13-14 NIV

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

The next confrontation occurred in the synagogue. They bait Jesus by pointing out a man with a deformed hand. The Pharisees ask if it's lawful to heal on the Sabbath. They had a law that said it was not lawful. The law came from The Halakah, a rabbinic set of teachings the Pharisees considered to be more authoritative than the scripture itself.

Jesus asks them if they had a sheep fall into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn't they pull it out? The answer is yes because there were specific laws that allowed for just such an occasion. Then He asks, "How much more then should we rescue people who are hurting on the Sabbath?" Jesus' retort surely made them angry, for they began to plot how they might kill Him.

In spite of their oppositional behavior, Jesus turned His attention to the man with the shriveled hand and healed him.

What good news appears in these stories? Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, the One we enjoy as we rest in Him. The Sabbath was set aside as a holy day. For Christians that day is Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the tomb. We are invited to rest from work and delight in God's good creation as we commune with the Lord and one another in the family of God.

And when you are hurting and in need of healing, Jesus sees you and has compassion. No matter what others may say or do in response to your need, the Lord of the Sabbath sees you and has compassion for you.

Rest and renew in His embrace.