Matthew 12: 1- 8 At that particular time Jesus went through the fields of standing grain on the Sabbath; and His disciples were hungry, and they began to pick off the spikes of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, See there! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful and not permitted on the Sabbath.”
There was nothing wrong with picking standing grain; in fact, this practice was allowed according to Deuteronomy 23:25; however, the disciples were doing this on the Sabbath! Over the years, the Pharisees had made lots of rules to supplement those given to Moses, and there was a long list of things one could and could not do on the Sabbath. As the years went on and technology developed, the lists of acts forbidden on the Sabbath became longer and longer. One Jewish American who grew up in New York City 100 years ago described the employment of the “Shabbas Goy” – the Sabbath Gentile, who went throughout the apartment building turning on lights, lighting cook stoves, and doing other small acts that the ultra – orthodox considered work and therefore something that could not be done on the Sabbath.
But were the disciples wrong in feeding themselves? No. And Jesus goes on to point out that when David was fleeing from Saul and he and his men were hungry, they at the loaves of the showbread that were supposed to be reserved for the priests. (Matthew 12:3-4) Jesus also pointed out out that “in the Law on the Sabbath the priests in the temple violate the sanctity of the Sabbath and yet are guiltless.” (Matthew 12: 5)
The Pharisees were obsessed with rules! They were certain that if they just followed enough rules, they would surely make it into heaven. But they were absolutely wrong! In the beginning, God instituted certain rules so that people would pay attention to Him, so that people would stay healthy, and so that people would get enough rest. Recently there has been an upsurge in the number of books and articles on the benefits of taking regular Sabbaths once a week. Hmm! Who knew that God was so smart?
But the Pharisees had totally lost sight of the reason for the rules in the first place. The rules were not a ladder by means of which people could earn their way to heaven. The rules were to help point people back to a God who loved them so much that He wanted them to stay healthy, to live long and productive lives, and to love Him for Who He was. And that’s where things went wrong.
When I was taking piano lessons as a kid, periodically, we would have recitals. These recitals would start with the little kids hacking their way through beginning compositions, frequently with no sense of rhythm or anything else. Those kids were playing notes all right, but to call it music was a stretch. The same kind of thing can be heard on Karaoke nights at restaurants. Some people who get up to sing should have remained in the audience; their sense of pitch is terrible, their timing is worse, and the tunes get lost from the time they open their mouths! And this is what had happened to the Pharisees.
Now, were all the Pharisees wrong? No! Certainly, among the Pharisees, there were men who truly longed for God and were seeking Him. Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night (John 3:1-21) was not just a Pharisee, but a leader of the Pharisees. It was to Nicodemus that Jesus disclosed some of the most precious truths about His mission, about the Holy Spirit, and about the love of God for the world. Did Jesus make a mistake? Certainly not! Jesus knew Nicodemus better than Nicodemus knew himself. Jesus knew that Nicodemus had an incredible hunger for God and that he had spent his whole life searching for God and trying to please God. Jesus imparted some of the greatest truths of the kingdom to Nicodemus in the most loving fashion possible.
While all the Pharisees could do was to criticize, Jesus was trying to remind them that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath was God’s way of giving people a chance to step back, to reflect, and to rest. Today many families are sheltering due to COVID – 19. Why not look on this as an opportunity to celebrate a Sabbath, to be quiet, to rest, and to reflect. Certainly, there is a lot of stress, but if we allow it, there can also be a lot of peace as well.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for giving us the Sabbath and for reminding us that this is one of Your good gifts to us. Help us to be quiet and to allow your Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts. In the matchless Name of Jesus. Amen.
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