{"id":693,"date":"2022-09-09T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=693&2022"},"modified":"2022-09-06T18:00:14","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T00:00:14","slug":"reflecting-jesus-standard-matthew-12-1-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/reflecting-jesus-standard-matthew-12-1-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting Jesus’ Standard: Matthew 12:1-8"},"content":{"rendered":"
Focus Passage: Matthew 12:1-8 (NCV)<\/div>
\r\n

1\u00a0<\/sup>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\u00a0<\/sup>When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus, \u201cLook! Your followers are doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath day.\u201d<\/p>

3\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus answered, \u201cHave you not read what David did when he and the people with him were hungry? 4\u00a0<\/sup>He went into God\u2019s house, and he and those with him ate the holy bread, which was lawful only for priests to eat. 5\u00a0<\/sup>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\u00a0<\/sup>I tell you that there is something here that is greater than the Temple. 7\u00a0<\/sup>The Scripture says, \u2018I want kindness more than I want animal sacrifices.\u2019 You don\u2019t really know what those words mean. If you understood them, you would not judge those who have done nothing wrong.<\/p>

8\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cSo the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Read Matthew 12:1-8<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n

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.<\/p>\r\n

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\u2019 followers were crossing the line of what was acceptable on the Sabbath day \u2013 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.<\/p>\r\n

The Pharisees challenge Jesus and His followers on this, and in Jesus\u2019 response, we see something fascinating. Jesus answered the challenge by saying, \u201cHave you not read what David did when he and the people with him were hungry? He went into God\u2019s 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, \u2018I want kindness more than I want animal sacrifices.\u2019 You don\u2019t really know what those words mean. If you understood them, you would not judge those who have done nothing wrong.<\/strong>\u201d (v. 3-7)<\/p>\r\n

Instead of simply challenging the initial challenge the Pharisees gave, Jesus steps back and shared examples of even worse offenses to God\u2019s 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, \u201cI want kindness more than I want animal sacrifices.<\/strong>\u201d (v. 7)<\/p>\r\n

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\u2019t 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.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

If the Pharisees present understood this, they would not judge Jesus\u2019 followers who had done nothing wrong.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p>

Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"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, […]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"\nReflecting Jesus' Standard: Matthew 12:1-8 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/reflecting-jesus-standard-matthew-12-1-8\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reflecting Jesus' Standard: Matthew 12:1-8 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the ways that Jesus impresses me is how He is always able to sidestep the challenges that are brought His way. 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