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1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" 3 But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which 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 that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple." ~ Matthew 12:1-6
Today, we transition into Matthew 12 where we will see the growth of the rejection of the Lord Jesus from the religious leaders of Israel. We will see that their rejection of God was a slow hardening of their hearts toward Him down through the ages. One of the ways, as we will see in today's passage is that they went from placing most emphasis on the God of the Sabbath to making most emphasis on the Sabbath of God. Such subtle emphasis is that which lures our hearts away from God in an ever so slow manner. Today's chapter, more than any other in this gospel account, focuses on the rejection and the blasphemy of the Messiah. In it we will see the growth to the unbelief of the people of Israel regarding the identity of the Lord Jesus. The first half of this chapter is about the people's rejection of the Lord Jesus, while the second is about their blasphemy of the Lord Jesus. Left unchecked unbelief will inevitably invite the profane.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat."
The convergence of the hunger of the disciples and the passing through a mature grain field led to the disciples "working" on the Sabbath in the eyes of the religious. The Sabbath to the Jews was most sacred. Everything in their legalistic system ultimately focused in on that one day, and they believed when it is violated it was one of the highest expressions of blasphemy toward God. So, when the Lord Jesus allowed His disciples to eat the grain in the grain fields, it was like a striking blow to the heart of their religious system. This was the beginning of the religious leaders plan to put the Lord Jesus on the cross.
As with many things in our everyday lives, the events of this chapter seem random but we mustn't lose sight of the fact that we serve a very big God and the events of our lives fit into His will perfectly. We miss the bigness of God so often because we have such a large view of ourselves. When our view of ourselves is lessened, we will find that we are positioned best for our vision of God to grow. No human has a high enough view of God. Our God, the God who spoke into existence time and space, matter and energy, things seen and unseen, is more awesome than our earthly minds can comprehend. A God who is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and holy is a God we can unswervingly trust. The God of the Bible is unimaginably complex and He is able to do all things. He is the only One worthy of our worship.
It just so happened that day that the Lord Jesus and His disciples were going through that particular grain field, a field that had grain that had ripened. And, since they were there in the Jordan Valley, these events happened near the Passover season. It is hard for us to rectify in our minds but even our mistakes and even our sin factors into what we ultimately see as the will of God for our lives. I don't say this because the disciples sinned that day, they didn't sin, but their actions fit perfectly into God's ultimate purpose for all involved, even the religious. Having said that, we can trust God to render good for us, even when we have missed the mark and have failed miserably. Our God is truly sovereign above all and is deserving of our homage!
In v.2 of today's passage we read, "And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, 'Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!'"
The Sabbath commandment is one of the Ten Commandments and it is the only commandment that is non-moral. In fact, it is the one of the Ten Commandments that uniquely was between God and Israel as a ceremonial rule. It facilitated the peoples worship of God. All the other nine commandments are moral absolutes while the fourth commandment is about worship. And, when we come into the New Testament, every other command is repeated but the fourth, the Sabbath command. It is not repeated because it was a unique covenantal sign between God and Israel.
The problem with the Sabbath was created by the religious who had added so many ridiculous rules to the Sabbath command. God had given this command to aid Israel in their worship of Him, however, over time it did the opposite due to the additional rules that the religious leaders had paced on it. The additional rules were not given by God. Again, since they missed the heart of the teaching they made it about stupid stuff. Instead of being a day of rest which aided their worship of God, it had become a day of incredible burden. All of this resulted in the Sabbath being a big pain in the rear end for the people of Israel. It was impossible for them to rest. This is why the Lord Jesus had previously said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
In v.3-6 of today's passage we read, "3 But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which 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 that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple."
As the disciples walked along with the Lord Jesus, they became hungry. So, they ate some of the grain that was all around them. In Deuteronomy 23:25 we read, "When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain." The disciples had the right that day to eat the grain even though it was the Sabbath. Again, if we do not know what it is all about, we will make it about something stupid. And, this is what the religious leaders of Israel did. They lost sight of the fact that the Sabbath was to be a day of rest which would aid their worship of God. They failed to follow God's example when after He creating the world, He looked around and saw that "It was very good." That day God ceased from His labor and He enjoyed what He had made. The enduring principle garnered from the Sabbath is the joy that we experience with God who created us.
In response to the question of the religious leaders, the Lord Jesus cited the time when King David and his men ate the bread that was in the house of God. Obviously, God made an exception in this case as David and his men were running away from the angry King Saul and they were hungry. Then, the Lord Jesus cited the fact that the priests functioning on the Sabbath profaned the Sabbath every Sabbath. They profaned the Sabbath because they worked. They lit fires, they killed animals and they lifted those animals up onto the altar. They profaned the Sabbath all the time, but that was not the point.
The ultimate happened when the Lord Jesus told the religious leaders of Israel that He was greater than the temple. This disturbed them greatly because they knew this was a claim of deity. In the Old Testament God dwelt in the tabernacle and in the temple. But now, the Lord Jesus said, standing before them was One greater than the temple. In saying these words the Lord Jesus said He was more sacred than any dwelling place that God had occupied during the Old Testament days.
The Sabbath law was never intended to restrict anyone to the point that they could not live their lives. It was designed by God to bring rest, not hardship. The Sabbath was to reflect what the other nine commandments reflected: Love for God and love for our fellow man. The first four of the ten commandments are about our love toward God and the last six are about our love toward our fellow man. Again, the religious folk made it about that which God didn't and they took the heart out of it all. In fact, the heart of the matter has always been about the matter of the heart. Thus, the Sabbath is about more than the external rest of the body; it is about the inner rest of the soul. As the last three verses of our previous chapter points out mankind needs rest from himself, rest from trying to run our lives ourselves.
