1 At that time Jesus was walking through some fields of grain on a Sabbath day. His followers were hungry, so they began to pick the grain and eat it. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus, “Look! Your followers are doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath day.”
3 Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and the people with him were hungry? 4 He went into God’s house, and he and those with him ate the holy bread, which was lawful only for priests to eat. 5 And have you not read in the law of Moses that on every Sabbath day the priests in the Temple break this law about the Sabbath day? But the priests are not wrong for doing that. 6 I tell you that there is something here that is greater than the Temple. 7 The Scripture says, ‘I want kindness more than I want animal sacrifices.’ You don’t really know what those words mean. If you understood them, you would not judge those who have done nothing wrong.
8 “So the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day.”
Read Matthew 12:1-8 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
One of the ways that Jesus impresses me is how He is always able to sidestep the challenges that are brought His way. This is especially evident one Sabbath as He is traveling with His followers through a grain field.
These followers are hungry, so they help themselves to a snack of grain. But technically, by picking the grain and rubbing it in their hands, Jesus’ followers were crossing the line of what was acceptable on the Sabbath day – at least according to these Pharisees. What they did was the same action necessary to prepare grain for selling in the market, or even baking a loaf of bread, and because of this, their actions looked like work.
The Pharisees challenge Jesus and His followers on this, and in Jesus’ response, we see something fascinating. Jesus answered the challenge by saying, “Have you not read what David did when he and the people with him were hungry? He went into God’s house, and he and those with him ate the holy bread, which was lawful only for priests to eat. And have you not read in the law of Moses that on every Sabbath day the priests in the Temple break this law about the Sabbath day? But the priests are not wrong for doing that. I tell you that there is something here that is greater than the Temple. The Scripture says, ‘I want kindness more than I want animal sacrifices.’ You don’t really know what those words mean. If you understood them, you would not judge those who have done nothing wrong.” (v. 3-7)
Instead of simply challenging the initial challenge the Pharisees gave, Jesus steps back and shared examples of even worse offenses to God’s law. David and his group of followers ate bread that was only for the priests to eat, and every Sabbath, priests in the temple work and technically broke the law. Jesus draws the focus onto a bigger truth than the legalistic law keeping these Pharisees were emphasizing. Jesus quotes God speaking in the Old Testament saying, “I want kindness more than I want animal sacrifices.” (v. 7)
This tells me that God is more interested in how we act towards others than He is on how closely we follow the rules. God doesn’t excuse the rules, but He does elevate the standard. Above all else, we are to reflect His character, and only after we are accurately reflecting Him will we be able to obey the law through the Holy Spirit living within us.
If the Pharisees present understood this, they would not judge Jesus’ followers who had done nothing wrong.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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