Be Practical, Not Legalistic Series

In our message today, we will see how Jesus taught the Pharisees that forgiveness and grace toward others is a necessity before worship. The capacity to extend love and mercy is something that must be present in a person’s heart before he or she is able to worship the Lord in spirit and truth, as the Father is seeking (John 4:23). According to Sinclair B. Ferguson, the ability to share grace is only obtained as we consider the grace that was extended to us. He stated,

The way to open our hearts to others is by receiving afresh the grace of God and appreciating what it means: seeing our own need of Christ; coming to receive His mercy; [and] sensing how undeserved His love for us is . . . Then we will see that the heart which is too narrow to receive a fellow Christian is too narrow to enthrone the Lord Jesus Christ. But the heart that is opened to receive the grace of Christ will learn to welcome all those whom Christ Himself has welcomed.(1)

In our passage, Jesus taught the Pharisees how He desires sincere love for people over meaningless ritual, and how He desires grace over legalism. He also taught, as Sinclair emphasized, that those who place ritual and tradition above worship will fail to “receive a fellow Christian,” and therefore be “too narrow to enthrone the Lord Jesus Christ” in worship.

Jesus Understood Practical Human Needs (vv. 1-2)

1 At that time Jesus went through the grain fields 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!”

Jesus had just commissioned His disciples to preach the gospel (Matthew 10:1, 5-8); and as they were departing for their evangelistic efforts, two of John’s disciples approached Him asking, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3). Jesus, therefore, slowed His momentum, paused for a moment, and began to share with them how He (Himself) had fulfilled numerous messianic prophecies (Matthew 11:1 ff.); and as He was teaching, some of the Pharisees were standing by listening, hoping to find a reason to accuse Him.

Matthew 12:1 states, “At that time Jesus went,” meaning that He had concluded His discourse, and had resumed in departing with His disciples. Where He went was into the grain fields. The Pharisees could not find any fault in His words; therefore, they jumped at the opportunity to criticize His behavior. We read how “His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat” (v. 1). They were fueling up for the long journey ahead; but when the Pharisees observed their action, they had a problem with it, because it was the Sabbath day. They considered picking grain as labor, and Old Testament law forbade working on the Sabbath.

Exodus 20:8-11 states, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates."

It is unclear whether or not what the disciples were doing could be considered work. In the Old Testament, the Israelites had been commanded to prepare their food well in advance, so that no one would have to do any cooking on the Sabbath day (Exodus 16:23). The disciples, however, were not gathering this grain in order to take it back and grind it into meal, and then prepare it and bake it into bread. They were eating straight from the actual stalk, and no preparation was required.

The Pharisees spoke up and said, “Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath” (v. 2). If they had truly been working, then this was indeed correct. When the Sabbath was first instituted under Moses, a violation was punishable by death (Exodus 31:14). There is an account found in Numbers 15:32-35 that serves as a prime example. This passage says, "Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, 'The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp'.”

The line between working and basic living was hard to define. In the account from Numbers chapter fifteen, the man was “gathering,” just as the disciples were gathering. However, one could point out that sticks were heavy and would require straining and hard effort in order to carry them. The disciples, on the other hand, were gathering grain only in small handful portions, which was probably light-weight and required no straining or hard effort.