Sermon Tone Analysis

*Read Luke 1:1-5.*

A mother told her 7-year old son to get ready for church.

The boy said, “But Daddy doesn’t go.

Why should I?” Mom quickly replied, “Well, when Daddy was your age, he went every Sunday.”

The boy asked his father, “Is that true?” Dad replied, “That’s right, so go get ready.”

The boy replied, “Well, all right, but I don’t think it’ll do me any good either.”

So, what does Sunday mean to you?

Does it do you any good?

To the Pharisees, the Sabbath meant keeping a burdensome set of rules they had made up to prevent the idolatry that had led to the 70-year Babylonian captivity of 606 BC.

But in their enthusiasm to please, they made idols out of their own rules and completely missed God’s grace in the true intent of the Sabbath.

How can church do us some good?

*I.

The Questionable Action*

V. 1, “On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.”

Jesus and His disciples are ministering on the Sabbath.

In going from one place to another, hunger strikes.

The Golden Arches are nowhere to be seen.

But they are walking through a field of grain so they improvise.

They pick grain, rub it in their hands to release the kernel and they eat.

Not great, but adequate for the need.

*II.

The Accusatory Question*

V. 2, “But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”

So, what is it that they consider unlawful about the disciples’ actions?

Are they stealing?

No. Deut 23:25, “If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.”

They’re not stealing.

The issue is not what they were doing but when they were doing it.

Had it been Sunday through Friday, no problem.

But it’s Saturday – the Sabbath, and therein lies the problem.

Why? Did the law prohibit picking grain and eating it on the Sabbath?

No.

But the traditions of the Pharisees did.

The disciples were violating their religion!

The Pharisees, (literally “separatists”) were devoted to keeping God’s law to prevent future judgment, like Babylon.

Unfortunately, they went to seed in their efforts.

By the 1st century BC, they had begun to interpret God’s law by adding to the Commandments, creating a nightmare of rules that gave weight to rules over grace.

For example, they took the instruction of Lev 23:3, “You shall do no work” on the Sabbath and defined work using 39 prohibitions called Abhoth, which means fathers.

They were called fathers because each of the 39 abhoth had further restrictions called toldoth, descendants.

You can see how complicated this is going to get, right?

One abhoth said it would be work to carry a burden on the Sabbath.

But what is a burden?

They had hundreds of answers – like a burden is any “food equal in weight to a dried fig, enough wine for filling a goblet, milk enough for one swallow, water enough to moisten an eye salve, ink enough to write two letters, etc.” Any questions?

The laws were endless.

God help you if you were a tailor and accidently left a pin in your toga.

You’d have violated the Sabbath.

You get the picture.

So relative to our passage, one abhoth said that reaping is work; another threshing is work.

Not permitted on the Sabbath.

Then a toldoth defined reaping as plucking ears of corn; rubbing the hands is threshing; blowing husks away is winnowing, and the whole thing was preparing food.

Just like that the disciples were four-time violators, not of God’s law, but of tradition.

So, when the Pharisees say, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” they weren’t talking God’s law.

The disciples weren’t breaking God’s law; they were violating the man-made abhoth and toldoth.

And the Pharisees were livid.

They cared nothing about people; nothing about need; nothing about the spirit of the law.

They had defined God out of existence and worshiped their traditions.

Their God was not Yahweh, it was abhoth and toldoth!

They were still idolatrous, just in a different way!

*III.

The Illustrated Answer*

V. 3, “And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him.”

They make a veiled accusation; He comes back with His own.

Can’t you feel the air crackling?! “Have you not read?”

“So, you boys want to talk about lawful?

Okay – ever read about David in I Sam 21?” Of course they had.

He’s tweaking them.

They knew Scripture.

But they missed the meaning!

They are prime examples that it is possible to know the Bible inside out, and cover to cover -- yet completely miss the meaning.

They did not bring an open mind nor a needy heart.

They were interpreting it for God (badly as it turned out), rather than letting Him interpret it for them.

Legalism closed their heart to truth.

Legalism makes the Bible a closed book.

Neediness opens it up.

The story is told of a certain Bishop Butler who was dying with a troubled heart.

“Have you forgotten, my lord,” said his chaplain, “that Jesus Christ is a Savior?”

The bishop answered, “No.

I know He is a Savior.

But how can I know He is a Savior for me?”

The chaplain answered, “It is written, ‘whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37).

Butler answered, ‘I have read these words a thousand times and I never saw their meaning until now.

Now I die in peace.’

A sense of need unlocked the treasure.

The Pharisees knew the Word, but missed the message!

It is interesting that Jesus does not enter into an argument about what really constitutes work.

He goes right to the heart of the matter -- the big picture – the meaning of the Sabbath.

Jesus’ answer comes in two parts: “It’s not about rules; it’s about relationship.”

The Pharisees didn’t get that at all.

*A.

It’s Not About Rules*

Vv. 3-4, “And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?”

Jesus’ reference is from I Samuel 21. Background: David has served Saul faithfully, but out of jealousy, Saul is out to kill him.

David flees, but he arrives famished at Nob, the home of the priest Ahimelech.

He asks for food, but none is available except the Bread of the Presence used in temple worship.

This bread was 12 loaves of bread (symbolizing the 12 tribes) which were placed in two rows on a gold covered table 3 feet long x 18 inches wide.

The table was located in the Holy Place, in the presence of God.

The loaves were changed each Sabbath day; only priests were allowed to eat it.

This bread symbolized the constant fellowship of the people with their God.

It emphasizes God’s provision.

The Israelites were, so to speak, guests at His table, and grateful to Him.