Matthew 12:1-8
The key words and concepts in this section are: Sabbath, lawful and unlawful, and Lord. Jesus gives two examples of people that do not keep the strict requirement of the law: David and his men who ate bread from the temple that was not lawful to eat but was overlooked because it preserved their life and the priests who work on the Sabbath but are excused because they are looking after the temple.
I'm not sure if "at that time" indicates that this happened immediately after chapter 11 or if it is more along the lines of "at another time" or "another thing that happened while Jesus was here". Whatever the case, Matthew includes this story because it speaks to Jesus' authourity to interpret the Law and his authourity over the Law; he is Lord of the Sabbath. This means that Christ defines the Sabbath, the Sabbath does not define or restrict Christ.
The other key is that Jesus is setting himself up as greater than the temple which was THE symbol and center of the Jewish religion. His argument is this: the priests can profane the Sabbath because they serve the temple which is great. Therefore the disciples can profane the Sabbath because they serve Jesus who is greater. The main point is that Jesus is setting himself up in opposition to or as superior to religion. There is no longer a system needed to approach God - everyone can have access to his holy presence through Christ. The temple was a symbol of the holy presence of God on earth but Jesus was the essential physical manifestation of God's holy presence. Jesus is obviously greater than the temple.
Jesus' main point is that mercy is greater than sacrifice. In other words that there is something more important than a strict observance of the law: honouring God, serving people and preserving life has to take precedence. I wonder what I have set up in my own life as more important than Christ. I wonder if there are rules that I keep to the detriment of honouring God. I wonder if there are legalistic tendencies in my life that rob God of his glory.
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1 comment:
I hear you, man am I grateful though that we can have freedom. That we can access God and nothing needs to hold us back, although like you said we often find things. May we embrace that freedom and grab hold of Jesus, whatever that may look like.
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