(Text and Audio)
Title: Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath (Part One)
First of all, let me say that it is truly good to be back amongst my people. I thank you for the grace in allowing me to travel to my cousin’s wedding two weeks ago, and also to travel to DC with the school trip.
Both were good experiences, but I am truly, truly glad to be back here with you this morning.
Today we are going to venture into chapter 12 of Matthew and look at a passage where Jesus sets a few things straight.
I don’t want to backtrack a great deal, but before we dive it, let me just remind us all of one teaching that we looked at the last time we were in Matthew. If we jump back to the very last verse of chapter 11, verse 30, we see Jesus proclaim that his “yoke is easy and his burden is light.”
At first that seemed like a strange teaching because scripture is abundantly clear that the faithful life is not the easy life. But, if you recall, one of the conclusions that we came to was that one of the things that Jesus was saying was, “Compared to the extra requirements of the Pharisees, those not given in the Law by God, but by those men who thought themselves so holy they could add to God’s commandment, my burden is light.
Essentially, what Jesus is saying is this: “Follow me, and you are following ONLY scripture. Follow the Pharisees and you are following THIER understanding of scripture PLUS all the extra rules they came up with.
(read/pray)
We often talk of the importance of scripture here at HBC. Why? (Take answers)
What was the issue?
So in the opening of our passage we see that the issue arises when the Pharisees observe both Jesus and his disciples pluck the grain heads and begin to eat them to quench their hunger. This is a problem for the Pharisees based on Leviticus 23:3 which states, “You shall do no work on the Sabbath.”
For generations the Jews had gone to great length to observe this commandment. On Friday, before sundown, they would prepare two meals for their families, eat one after sundown on Friday, when the Sabbath began, and then save the second meal and eat it midday on Saturday, before the Sabbath ended at sundown on Saturday. They believed that even cooking a meal was “work” and therefore, a violation of this command.
But how do we see Jesus respond? (Take answers)
With Scripture.
Before we go any further, I think it is worth noting that Jesus is offering a rebuke based on what? The Pharisees ignorance of the full teaching of the scriptures.
Show of hands, how many of you have been rebuked for eating the heads of grain from a stalk on a Saturday? No one? Really?
Well, I think we still run into this same line of questioning, but maybe it doesn’t involve this exact situation.
Let’s demonstrate this in modern terms a bit, so you can see the parallel.
What do you think when someone (Christian OR Non) says:
God helps them who help themselves.
(They are ignorant of scripture. The Bible doesn’t state, or teach, that concept in any way.)
Judge lest not ye be judged.
(They are ignorant of scripture. DeYoung: Making judgements is not the same as judgmentalism. The same Jesus who said “Do not judge in Matthew 7:1 calls people dogs and swine in 7:6)
God loves everybody.
(They are ignorant of scripture. Israel chosen in the OT. The Church chosen in the NT. Psalm 5:5 “(he) hates all the workers of iniquity”. Romans 9:6 “They are not all Israel which are of Israel”)