When you were a kid, didn’t you hate it when your parents said "no" to something – and when you asked "why?" they just replied: "because I said so." "Well, who died and made you God?" you thought, but never dared utter.
As a parent I have tried to always give a reason – however lame it might be – when I have said "no".
But that experience doesn’t leave us at home. We get it at school: "why do I have to do this assignment?" "Because I’m the teacher and I said so." At work: "This task makes no sense." "No, but you’ll do it because I’m the boss who signs your paycheck, and I say so."
So today we find Jesus, you know, the guy by whom all things were made – being told the very same thing by the bosses of his day – the Pharisees.
The Pharisees loved to tell people what to do based on their authority to do it. What they said didn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially if you read the heart of God’s law, instead of the outward literal fulfillment of what they thought God was saying that left little internal obedience to the actual character of the Lord.
The trouble is, we can end up in the same situation if we don’t listen to what Jesus is telling us and not just react without thinking.
12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
So what’s happening here? Jesus and his men didn’t break into a field and start robbing the owner of his grain.
First – fields were not fenced like we know today – roads could go right through a field of grain. Second – it was acceptable practice for people to pick a little bit of grain when they were hungry.
What they would do is pick some heads of grain, then rub it in their hands to remove the grain from the chaff, then eat it raw.
It wasn’t that they were doing it that the Pharisee’s got upset about, it was that they were doing it on the Sabbath.
The Sabbath – God commanded the children of Israel:
Ex 34:21 "Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.
This was good – but something happened between when Moses wrote these words, and when Jesus walked the earth – that something was TRADITION.
The Pharisees took the simple idea of resting one day a week and, trying to be perfect, figured they had to help God out to tell people what resting really was. So they came up with 39 different things that were prohibited on the Sabbath:
Talmudic rabbis developed a list of 39 categories of work that a Jew should not do on the Sabbath. They are as follows: sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, cleansing crops, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, washing wool, beating wool, dyeing wool, spinning, weaving, making two loops, weaving two threads, separating two threads, tying a knot, loosening a knot, sewing two stitches, ripping out to sew two stitches, hunting a gazelle, slaughtering, flaying, salting a hide, curing a skin, scraping a skin, cutting up a skin, writing two letters, erasing to write two letters, building, pulling down, putting out a fire, lighting a fire, striking with a hammer, and carrying objects from one domain into another (Sabbath 7:2).
(The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 10, "Work, Sabbath," KTAV Publishing House Inc., New York, 1969)
This stuff is incredible – making two loops? Tying a knot? I guess they had a lot of people who tripped themselves on the Sabbath due to untied shoes!
The Pharisees apparently felt that Jesus and His disciples were "reaping" and "threshing" because they picked heads of grain then separated the grain from the chaff.
Well, what they did was actually okay – they weren’t picking for profit which is what the Sabbath is supposed to be about – don’t do your "regular" work one day a week. But even though the disciples were picking for food, the Pharisees were picking a fight – and listen to Jesus’ response.
3 He answered, "Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread-which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, ’I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
Jesus gives 4 reasons why the Pharisees are wrong
David’s example
First, Jesus reminded the Pharisees of an example from the life of David. This story is recorded in 1 Sam 21:1-6. Each week twelve consecrated loaves of bread, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, were placed on a table in the house of God, here meaning the tabernacle. (This bread was called the bread of the Presence or showbread.) After its use in the temple, it was to be eaten only by priests. On one occasion, when fleeing from Saul, David and his men had been given this consecrated bread to eat by Abiathar, the high priest. The loaves given to David were the old loaves that had just been replaced with fresh ones. Although the priests were the only ones allowed to eat this bread, God did not punish David because his need for food was more important than the priestly regulations.
(from The Life Application Commentary Series copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 by the Livingstone Corporation. Produced with permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.)
The priest’s example
Even though you weren’t supposed to "work" on the Sabbath, you were supposed to worship – and that meant the priests had to offer sacrifices – it was their regular work, but because it involved the intent of the law, rather than the letter of the law, it was okay. And that’s Jesus’ point – the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6) Jesus’ disciples were doing God’s "work" as they spread the good news.
The prophets
The phrase: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" is found in at least four places in the Old Testament. God made it clear that compassion should be what guides our behavior, not legalistic restrictive obedience. Now we’re not talking about sin here – when it comes to following the heart of God’s character – yes, He does want us to obey. But this involves an intricate, hair-splitting interpretation, not sin.
Who Jesus is
Finally, Jesus tells them that He Himself has authority over the Sabbath – and if He says this is okay, then it is indeed okay. Now, this would have tweaked the beaks of the Pharisees – claiming to be greater than the Sabbath was akin to blaspheme. The Pharisees don’t do anything about it here, but we’ll see that Jesus isn’t finished with the tweaking, and the Pharisees haven’t really begun in their opposition to Jesus.
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
11 He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
13 Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Its likely that the Pharisees followed Jesus from the field to the synagogue where it would have been customary to attend Sabbath services.
They ask Him "is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" but they don’t information, they want accusation. The Pharisees, you see, had a rule that you could only heal on the Sabbath if it was a matter of life and death because healing was practicing medicine and you couldn’t perform your profession on the Sabbath.
The Pharisees put the need to obey their rules above the need that this man had of healing. Jesus could have waited another day and been seen as submitting to their rules – but to show how ridiculous they really were, He healed the man.
In doing so, Jesus points out the hypocrisy of the Pharisaical rule – their Sabbath rules allowed a man to "lay hold of and lift out" a lamb that had fallen into a pit, even though that was "work."
So, in response to all of this – instead of softening their hearts, the Pharisees plot to kill Him – odd, since the Ten Commandments say "thou shalt not murder."
And that’s what happens when we put ourselves, our own authority or power, and our own interpretations in front of what God is shouting in our face.
Lessons:
I want us to take several lessons away from this short section of Matthew.
Who are you?
One way that people in authority keep that authority is by putting into place a bewildering set of commands that cannot be understood without the authority figure’s interpretation. We need to make sure that in everything we do when we are over others – we are fair, logical, and loving.
If you are a parent, how do you treat your kids? Do you explain why you say and do the things you tell them? Are you consistent in your behavior as you are in your words to them?
How about with employees? Or even friends? Sometimes we keep control by keeping everyone guessing. Be transparent and open, not obscure and evasive.
Who is your focus?
The Pharisees put their own ideals in front of the heart of God. We always get in trouble when we begin putting more stock in what we think God should think, instead of knowing God’s heart.
Always put your focus on Jesus – learning of Him, being like Him, focusing on worshiping Him. Once you find yourself focusing on the perceived misbehaviors of others you lose that focus. Again, I’m not talking about sin. If you see your brother sinning, of not being like Jesus, then you should lovingly approach them to help them, not accuse them. And watch out, because it may be that you are tempted in the same way.
But we need to major on the majors. And that leads to the next point:
Is law or love more important?
This is an honest question. For many people are more comfortable obeying a set of rules than they are serving a ruler who says "give up yourself and give to others." We’d rather say, "You should love me because I’ve obeyed You."
What are your "sacred cows?"
Ahh yes, the sacred cow. We get that expression because the Hindus believe that the cow is sacred – oddly because cows bring butter, which every Hindu knows, is a necessity for every sacrifice. So a "sacred cow" is something that cannot be touched. I’ve heard that Hindus won’t eat cows because they are sacred – my research tells me that’s not exactly true – they eat beef as a part of religious ceremonies each year – but none-the-less, we have that expression.
Sacred cows are traditions that are unassailable – untouchable – "we do this because we’ve always done it this way!"
The U.S. standard railroad gauge is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That’s a very odd number, don’t you think? Why are they that width? Because English expatriates designed our railways, and that’s the way they did it in England. Why did they do it in England? Because the people who built the tramways built the railroads, and that’s the width they used. Why did the tramway builders use that width? Because the people who built the wagons built the tramways and that’s the width they used. And why did the wagon builders use this width? Because that was the width of the wagon ruts. And why were the wagon ruts that width? Because those ruts were first made by Roman chariots, when Rome ruled England. So – blame it on Rome, I guess.
The "we’ve always done it mentality" means you don’t have to think – you don’t have to consider the plight of the other person – all you have to do is blindly obey a rule because it’s a rule.
But Jesus challenges us to think broader than that – what is the need here, who is God here, what is our focus here?
One way to identify your "sacred cows" or "rail road gauges" is to note the things that anger you. When someone questions you on why you do something – if your response is to get upset in defending the practice – you may have found a "sacred cow."
It’s time to slaughter them.
So let’s leave off with some principals to keep us from falling prey to the "sacred cow" syndrome the Pharisees relished in.
God is not arbitrary
Have you noticed that? Jesus said Mark 2:27 "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." God will sometimes ask us to do things which seem odd – like stop in the middle of a service and pray – or maybe not buy something so we can in turn give that money away. God’s heart is ruled by love, not law.
Look to the whole, not just the parts
You can get just about anything out of the Scriptures you want, if you take it out of context. We need to take the whole of God’s Word and the whole of God’s heart into account before we decide something is or isn’t right.
Don’t let your "Sacred Cows" keep you from experiencing all God has for you
Sometimes our minds are so focused on the "cow" or the tradition, that we miss what God is doing – feeding, leading, healing, changing our perspective – taking on our preconceptions, taking us onward to better things.
