The first eight verses of Matthew 12 could be an extension of the previous chapter. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus invites His Jewish audience to “come to Him” and enjoy His easy burden and light yoke and to find rest. In the next section beginning Chapter twelve, Jesus and the Pharisees have a disagreement about the Sabbath day.
Jesus and the disciples had a day of travel on the Sabbath day. As they traveled they picked some grain from a farmer’s field to eat as they went. The Pharisees witnessed this and went to accuse Jesus and His disciples of violating the law.
THE SABBATH
It’s helpful to understand the importance of the Sabbath to better understand what is going on in this dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees.
Keeping the Sabbath was one of the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 12:8,9 – Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God, in it you shall not do any work…
The keeping of the Sabbath day was of utmost importance! The Lord gave Moses this law as one of the original ten commandments for the purpose of worship and rest. God Himself even rested on the seventh day after creating everything. God doesn’t get tired nor need rest, but yet he patterned rest for us, even in the creation account.
All work was to subside on the seventh day each week. In Deuteronomy 23:25, God gives more instructions, even a caveat. He gives those in need a provision.
Deuteronomy 23:25- When you enter your neighbors standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbors standing grain.
Farmers would leave grain standing on the edges of their fields for those in need. It was a form of a social safety net to help feed the hungry.
Those in need also included travelers. As they traveled they were permitted to pick only what they needed from these fields. They were not permitted to collect the grain or fruit and store it or harvest it using farming tools. This is exactly what Jesus and His disciples were doing in Matthew 12.
Matthew 12:1- At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain to eat.
Since the law was given to Moses in Exodus twenty, and then the subsequent provision in Deuteronomy twenty-three, a lot had happened to the law. Over the hundreds of years’ prior, Rabbinical Law had been established in the Tradition of the Elders. In fact, some of the new laws even contradicted God’s law. For example, the Rabbinical law had outlawed “travel” but then they had to define travel. So they said you couldn’t move more than three thousand feet from home. But, what is home? So home was defined as a place where a person can sit and eat a meal. So they had “restaurants” set up so you could move 3000 feet, sit and eat, then move another 3000 feet, etc.
None of the travel regulations were in God’s law. As Jesus and the disciples traveled, they did exactly what Deuteronomy 23:25 allowed them to do. They picked grain and ate what they needed as they went. But, yet the Pharisees find them and ask:
Matthew 12:2- But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.”
The Pharisees are directly accusing Jesus and His disciples of sinning against God, and violating one of the Ten Commandments. The Pharisees were already looking for ways to trip Jesus up and expose Him as a fraud. This is the first of several showdowns Jesus has with the Pharisees on His way to the cross.
The Pharisees, by making this accusation, were clearly putting the Rabbinical law on the same level as the Law of Moses given in the Pentateuch.
JESUS RESPONDS
Jesus responds in Matthew by pointing out that King David was permitted to eat consecrated bread in the temple in His time of need (Matt. 12:3). He also reminded them that priests have to carry out work on the Sabbath as part of their job. These situations are permissible out of necessity. Jesus draws on these two situations from scripture to convey that what He and His disciples were doing, did not violate God’s law in any way.
The parallel passage in the Gospel of Mark adds another statement.
Mark 2:27- Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath”.
Jesus tells them that the Sabbath was made for the good and the blessing of mankind. The Sabbath was given as a gift to man for the opportunity to rest and worship God. In this statement, Jesus is accusing them in return of turning the Sabbath into something else that it wasn’t intended to be.
The Sabbath had been turned into an arduous, difficult day of the week. They had so many rules and regulations that they were working hard to satisfy the requirements of the Sabbath. Jesus is pointing out that they had turned the purpose of the day on its head. Just a few verses previous, Jesus had just said that His burden is light, and his yoke was easy. This was a perfect example of what He meant. I don’t think it’s by chance that this interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees is located immediately following that statement by Jesus. The burden of law keeping, even the law designed for their rest was so heavy!
JESUS’ BIG CLAIM
Jesus then says something that sends the Pharisees over the edge. A line in the sand, once and for all.
Matthew 12:6-8: 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.
Jesus drops the big one on these Pharisees. In claiming that He is Lord over the Sabbath He makes it clear to them that He claims to be the Messiah, and that He is God! The Gospel of Matthew was written to proclaim to the Jews that Jesus was the Lord, the Messiah that had been foretold in the Old Testament scriptures! In this argument over the Sabbath, Jesus once again claims to be the one they’ve been looking for.
Jesus and the Pharisees then move to the Synagogue where Jesus works a miracle verifying His claim.
Matthew 12:9-13- Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—So that they might accuse Him. And He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other.
Jesus works this miracle before them, validating His authority with an amazing miracle that only God can do!
CONCLUSION
Ligonier Ministries conducted a survey last year that showed 52 percent of Americans don’t believe Jesus was God, but rather just a historical figure and a good teacher. More concerning, nearly one-third of self proclaimed “evangelical Christians” deny that Jesus Christ is God. What you believe about who Jesus is, is foundational to saving faith. One cannot have an incorrect view of Jesus and be saved from God’s wrath. Sadly, we are told how the Pharisees, who witnessed this amazing work with their own eyes responded.
Matthew 12:14- But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
Knowing the Son of God, Jesus Christ is an absolute for eternal life. May we not have hard hearts, like the Pharisees.