When The Spirit Breaks The Letter Series

Did the disciples break the law at times? Can we sometimes break the letter of the law while keeping the spirit or intent of the law?

Let’s look at an example using the law of the road? Imagine I come to a cross-road stop-sign way out in the country, and I can see a long way down the road to the left and right, so as I slow down before crossing the road, I don’t come to a complete wheel-lock stop, but more of a slow roll. Have I obeyed the letter of the law? No, and a young, overzealous police officer would probably give me a ticket and I would have no excuse. However, an older, wiser officer might see how slowly I rolled, showing due caution and let me go, knowing that I obeyed the spirit and intent of the law, which is to prevent accidents, not create motorists who ignore the purpose of the law only to focus on pedantic behavior while ignoring the spirit of the law which in this case is road safety.

Jesus explained this using an example of David eating the sacred bread from the Temple. The law applied in the letter would have allowed these men to starve, but the greater law of love overrules the lesser law and makes a merciful exception. Jesus taught that this is similar to the exception He made for the disciples picking grain on the Sabbath. Where the letter of a lesser statute breaks a greater commandment, a judgment using the spirit of the law shows the way.

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:1-8 NASB see also Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5)

The disciples were not actually harvesting a crop, but eating a meal, yet those who love the letter of any law often fail to understand human needs and can lack a love for people.

By way of housekeeping we need to discuss a side issue. Were the disciples stealing from a farmer’s field? No, the law had a merciful rule for the needy and strangers, whereby farmers were to leave corners for them to eat.

“’When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the LORD your God.’” (Leviticus 23:22 NIV)

“When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop.” (Leviticus 19:9 NLT)

This was a wonderful law which can even be applied in spirit today. It’s a forerunner of the idea of workfare. The poor and foreigners were not getting a free handout, they had to work to get a meal. Those who were too lazy simply missed out. Of course, the law did not discriminate against those incapable of working. Other laws applied to their situations, like the third year tithe (Deuteronomy 14:28).

A wonderful example in the spirit of this Old Testament law existed in the United States during the Great Depression. It was called the Civil Conservation Corps. It was a public work relief program and lasted for nine years working on roads and bridges, providing shelter, clothing, food and a small wage for workers. It was a very popular program and helped many young men through the Great Depression.

Human laws are often contradictory. Even the laws of God can seem that way if applied in the letter. However, Jesus gave us the principle that solves all seeming conflicts, all the laws of the Old Covenant hang on one overriding principle which would solve any supposed contradiction or misapplied interpretation, the spirit of love.