Lord of the Sabbath

¹ At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. ² But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath." ³ He said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him: ⁴ how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? ⁵ Or have you not read in the law how on the sabbath the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless? ⁶ I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. ⁸ For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath."

Matt. 12:1-8

I love this small obscure passage that shares such an important message. The teachers of the law in his day had determined that these actions by his disciples contravened "their understanding" of what was appropriate on the Lord's day. Today, I hear such talk about what we do or don't do on Sunday mornings during worship. I believe that the point of this story is that God is more concerned about fulfilling a basic human need like hunger than he is about the technicalities of the Sabbath observance.

First, we need to understand that Jesus never broke the laws of God. He makes it very clear that the "Son of man is the lord of the Sabbath" in verse 8. What those who disapproved of his disciple's actions were objecting to was a violation of their interpretations of what they deemed to be the law. In other words, they had "added" to the law. These were man made rules that had become law to the religious establishment of his day. The same thing is true today. There are many things which believers bind upon people to observe in all churches which are not commanded by God, but are the result of customs within our culture which we have grown up with and are interpretations imposed by men. Learning to distinguish the difference is critical. This is the same answer that Peter and the apostles gave to the Sanhedrin in Acts 5:29:

"We must obey God rather than any human authority."

Second, Jesus answered the criticism of the Pharisees by quoting from the prophet Hosea. He told them if they had understood Hosea, they would NOT have objected! Hosea spoke for God when he said, "I desire mercy not sacrifice". The passage in Hosea ends with, "...and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings". The significance of this statement of Jesus is far reaching in its application to our worship services today and to how we live our lives.

Third, what Jesus is proclaiming is that God is more interested in our being aware of and addressing human need than He is in our formal actions which we call worship. He is more interested in our recognition of His presence in our everyday life and interactions with people. This is much more important than anything we do with our hands that we call worship. In simple words, it means that one cannot acceptably worship God with our hands and our mouth if our minds and our hearts are not attuned to Him. We need to be more concerned with the plight of those who suffer in our daily walk. It is the story of the Good Samaritan. When one comes across a basic human need, one needs to act upon it. It is about God and NOT about us! Instead churches are full of self-absorbing people who are more worried about what songs we sing, or what we do between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings. This may appeal to our desires and our feelings; but, we are not the ones to be pleased with worship.

Jesus is giving us a picture of the nature of God. The Bible says that God loved the world. What does this mean? The world in this case means the creatures God made and placed in this world. His love is not something that pleases Him or of which He is the proud possessor. It is the love of compassion and concern. It is the love of the Father who wants the best for his sons and daughters. This is not for the father; but, for His children. This is why mercy and grace, and being concerned for one's neighbor is more important than the naval gazing of the self absorbed. This is the message of Jesus who says "If you have seen me you have seen the Father".

I fear that all the discussions about public worship betrays the way we live our Christian life. We focus on creating services to satisfy our needs to feel religious and pander to our desire to be accepted by Him; but, we often miss the mark of what does God want? I believe the answer to that is that our Lord wants us to be more concerned with human need than pious words and religious pretense. Our daily lives need to be focused on a sincere desire to please Him and Him alone. Whenever we let our time at church become a ritual that represents our "religious life" allowing us to put God in the background in our day to day life, we have lost our way.

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

Psalms 34:18-19

Why is it that good people find themselves struggling with all sorts of heartaches, disease, and the failings of the flesh. The irony of life is that we learn more about the divine when we are in the valley than when we experience the thrill of the mountaintop. Even Jesus had to learn in this manner.

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Hebrews 2:10

I keep wanting to know why God could not have chosen another less hurting manner for us to learn more about him? In the end however, that is like the clay asking the potter "why". It is the same scene of Job before the Lord in the 38th chapter of the book of Job. The answer is found in James 5:13. Is anyone among you suffering? Then let him pray. The answers do not come from the outside. They are revealed internally through the power of the Holy Spirit. We have the promise given to us in the Word of the Lord revealed in his Psalms quoted above. The Lord delivers us all if we seek Him first with all of our heart, soul, strength and might. Let us begin by seeking the truth.

¹⁷ Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles; ¹⁸ lest the LORD see it, and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him. ¹⁹ Fret not yourself because of evildoers, and be not envious of the wicked; ²⁰ for the evil man has no future;

the lamp of the wicked will be put out. Proverbs 24: 17-20

The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome and told them:

^"1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ² Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, ⁴ for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ⁶ For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. "

This would be the same government that would later execute the writer of this passage for his belief in Jesus as Messiah. Governments are ordained by God to punish wrongdoers. But, the passage in Proverbs quoted above warns us about rejoicing over a fallen enemy. I think the reason is straightforward. Vengeance is the prerogative of God and not the individual. Governments hold authority granted by God; but, the children of God are not to partake in the blood lust of vengeance. Or, again as the apostle Paul instructs the church:

¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." ²⁰ No, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head." ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:19-20. Praying for one's enemies is not the way of the world; but, it is the way of the cross. Marantha!