Breaking the Rules
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Date: 2022-05-08
Audience: Grass Valley Corps ONLINE
Title: Breaking the Rules
Text: Matthew 12:1-14
Proposition: God prefers mercy to obedience
Purpose: Show mercy
Grace and peace
My Sabbath journey so far.
Sabbath important! God set up during Creation:
Genesis 2:2-3
2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and he sanctified it, because on it he rested from all his work ⌊of creating that there was to do⌋. [1]
Most detailed of the 10 Commandments:
Exodus 20:8-11
8 “Remember the day of the Sabbath, to consecrate it. 9 Six days you will work, and you will do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath for Yahweh your God; you will not do any work—you or your son or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your animal, or your alien who is in your gates—11 because in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that isin them, and on the seventh day he rested. Therefore Yahweh blessed the seventh day and consecrated it. [2]
How seriously did God take this day of ceasing?
See Exodus 31:12-17
12 And Yahweh spoke to Moses andsaid, 13 “And you, speak to the ⌊Israelites⌋, saying, ‘Surely you must keep my Sabbaths, because it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, in order to know that I am Yahweh, who consecrates you. 14 And you must keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you; defilers of it will surely be put to death, because anyone who does work on it—that person will be cut off from among his people. 15 On six days work can be done, and on the seventh ⌊is a Sabbath of complete rest⌋, ⌊a holy day⌋ for Yahweh; anyone doing work on the Sabbath day will surely be put to death. 16 The ⌊Israelites⌋ will pay attention to the Sabbath in order to fulfill the Sabbath throughout their generations as a lasting covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the ⌊Israelites⌋ forever, because in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh he ceased and recovered.” [3]
Seems pretty important. And the penalty for disobedience?
Death.
Story from Numbers 15:
32 When the ⌊Israelites⌋ were in the desert, they found a man who was gathering wood on the day of the Sabbath. 33 The ones who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and to all the community. 34 And they put him under watch because it was not made clear what should be done to him. 35 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Surely the man must be put to death by stoning him; all the community must stone him with stones from outside the camp.” 36 So the entire community brought him out to a place outside the camp, and ⌊they stoned him to death⌋ just as Yahweh commanded Moses. [4]
Pretty serious stuff, right?
Over time, various groups made rules around Sabbath even STRICTER by interpreting the idea of not working in various ways. For example:
· Had to wear clean clothes
· Couldn’t play games – now that includes like baseball or football
· Even if you were attacked, how far you could defend yourself was limited
· The Pharisees who followed the teachings of Rabbi Shammai didn’t even permit people to pray for the sick on Sabbath, because it was too much like work.
· The Essenes were even stricter than Pharisees.
o Weren’t allowed to speak about work
o Weren’t allowed to speak secular words
o Couldn’t even shift the dust in your house!
God took it seriously – people wanted to make sure everyone else did too.
Brings us to Matthew 12.
12 At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck off heads of grain and eat them.* 2 But when* the Pharisees saw it,* they said to him, “Behold, your disciples are doing what it is not permitted to do on the Sabbath!”[5]
Why not? Because, at least according to this group of Pharisees, they were working by harvesting grain and threshing it. Is that logical when we’re only talking about a few heads of wheat? Maybe not, but then, where do you draw the line? Is it okay to harvest ten but not eleven? Is ten somehow not work, because it’s only a little work? They have a point here, right?
3 So he said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those with him, 4 how he entered into the house of God and ate the bread of the presentation, which it was not permitted for him or for those with him to eat, but only for the priests? [6]
Okay, I need to explain this, because it seems like a leap if you don’t understand what’s happening.
This is a rabbinic teaching style called halakha. It’s when a teacher calls out two apparently contradictory passages in scripture to draw a conclusion about how people should choose to conduct their lives.
Jesus says, “Hey, remember that story where David ate that thing that the Law said he couldn’t, just because he was hungry?”
He’s saying that there are exceptions allowed. More than that, because the story doesn’t condemn David for breaking the law, the rigid, legalistic approach being taking by the Pharisees is out of step with God’s approach.
Which is what Jesus seems to be trying to get across to them. The approach they are taking towards interpreting scripture is, well, to be blunt, wrong.
They might have been about to respond by saying something about David being a special case, but Jesus heads that off.
5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple violate the sanctity of the Sabbath and are guiltless?[7]
Which is completely correct. The priests in the Temple changed over loaves of consecrated show bread on the table in the Holy place. They offered not just the daily sacrifice, but a double sacrifice to God because it was Sabbath day. In order for the people of God to properly worship God in the Temple, this group of people broke God’s law every Sabbath day. To which Jesus says,
6 But I tell you that somethinggreater than the temple is here![8]
So if the authority of the Temple shields the priests from guilt, then the authority of Jesus shields his disciples the same way, because Jesus is greater than the Temple.
This is a big claim, and those who didn’t believe him would probably consider it to be skating on the edge of blasphemy. But Jesus isn’t done yet. Then he added this:
7 And if you had known what ⌊it means⌋, ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” [9]
He’s ripping the scripture experts for not knowing the scriptures well enough. This quote is from Hosea, where it was a statement condemning the hypocrisy of people going through the motions of worshipping God, but not actually understanding or doing what he said. Jesus is saying that that’s what these Pharisees are like. Their interpretation of scripture is ignoring God’s point.
The Pharisees are focusing on the letter of the Law. Jesus is saying they need to look at the intent instead.
Or, more pointedly, he’s saying that their use of the Law to skewer and condemn others is WRONG. It is contrary to the intent of God.
Jesus declares the accused to be innocent and the accusers to stand condemned. Then Matthew, God bless him, tells us this partner story.
9 And going on from there he came into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand, and they asked him, saying, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath?” in order that they could accuse him.[10]
Remember, Pharisees who followed the teachings of the Rabbi Shammai wouldn’t even pray for the sick on the Sabbath! They said that was work. There was an instruction that one who encountered someone who was sick on the Sabbath was to say, “It is forbidden to cry out on Shabbat but may you have a speedy recovery.” So, you can see how they are trying to set up Jesus to be able to accuse him here.
11 But he said to them, “What man will there be among you who will have one sheep and if this one fell into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it* out? 12 Then to what degree is a man worth more than a sheep? So then, it is permitted to do good on the Sabbath.” [11]
Jesus is using that “this is more important than that” argument again.
If an exception is permitted to save livestock, then isn’t it MORE important to do all we can to help a human being?
So, yes, it’s perfectly legal to do a good thing on the Sabbath, even if that thing involves work.
Which they might have argued against but check out what happens then.
13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand,” and he stretched it* out, and it was restored as healthy as the other one.[12]
What did Jesus actually DO?
He told the guy to stretch out his hand.
That’s not work, not even to the strictest interpretation.
Jesus didn’t touch him. Didn’t declare him to be healed or in the process of being healed. Didn’t give him instructions to DO anything to become well.
Just said, “Stretch out your hand.”
So who healed the man?
God.
That’s the only explanation!
But if God was willing to heal someone on the Sabbath, then what does that do to the Pharisee’s interpretation of the Law?
It makes it invalid, doesn’t it?
Do you think they got the point and turned themselves around and said, “You’re right, Jesus! We’ve been fools, following the letter of the Law and ignoring the intent behind it. We realize now that it’s better to show mercy and bring people closer to God than it is to tell them that God’s Law says they are beyond help and we will throw shade at anyone who tries to do otherwise.” Do you think?
Yeah, no.
14 But the Pharisees went out ⌊and plotted⌋ against him in order that they could destroy him. [13]
So angry that he has advocated for mercy over Law that they want to see him DEAD rather than change their mind.
We see a lot of this even now, don’t we?
But I think that the message to those who claim to follow Jesus is clear: God prefers mercy to obedience. We are to show mercy and let him work on the rest.
How different would the world be if we all believed and followed that principle?
If we interpreted scripture like Jesus, following the rule that the letter of the law doesn’t matter, but the intent does?
What if we chose to error on the side of mercy instead of condemnation?
What would Christians be known for then?
Love, maybe?
Do you think Jesus would prefer that or do you thing he prefers to hear his children are declaring others to be condemned, unsavable as they are, in need of changing who or what they are to be worthy?
Would he prefer we bring healing to people on the Sabbath or that we tell them to remain in their suffering until a later day?
Hmm.
Let’s pray.
[1] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Ge 2:2–3.
[2] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Ex 20:8–11.
[3] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Ex 31:12–17.
[4] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Nu 15:32–36.
[5] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Mt 12:1–2.
[6] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Mt 12:3–4.
[7] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Mt 12:5.
[8] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Mt 12:6.
[9] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Mt 12:7–8.
[10] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Mt 12:9–10.
[11] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Mt 12:11–12.
[12] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Mt 12:13.
[13] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Mt 12:14.