Key Verse: Matthew
12:7
Big Idea: Jesus looks for an obedience that goes
beyond the superficial.
When Jesus and His disciples were walking on the Sabbath
day, the disciples reached out and picked some grain to eat. Although this was permitted
under the Sabbath law (Deuteronomy 23:25), the oral law of Jesus’ day (an
elaborate set of traditions that expanded on the Old Testament) forbade it. The
Pharisees came to Jesus and challenged him about this, and His response is very
interesting.
Rather than challenging the validity of the oral law
directly, Jesus makes three comparisons. (1) King David broke the letter of the
law by taking the shewbread from the Temple when he was on the run from King
Saul, (2) the priests violated the Sabbath because their temple duties outweighed
the prohibition of work on Saturday and (3) he explained that if they
understood that God wanted mercy more than sacrifice, they would have not have
condemned the disciples.
Implicit in these comparisons is Jesus’ superiority to (1)
the temple, (2) the Sabbath and (3) King David. While people could experience
God’s presence serving in the Temple, Jesus’ disciples were serving God come
down in human flesh – the perfect temple, not build by human hands. Although
the Sabbath gave people a kind of rest
from work, Jesus was the one who promised total, perfect rest from work – by being
justified by faith in Christ alone, not in what we do. King David was a good ruler
who united the people, but Jesus is the eternal King who reigns over all the
earth.
The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were obsessed with obedience to the shadows and symbols, while missing the main thing. They were careful in their obedience to the specific instructions of the Bible while missing the nature of the very heart of God. God wants to transform us at the most fundamental level with His love, and seeking to satisfy Him with ritualistic observance misses the point entirely. He wants mercy, not sacrifice.
Discussion idea: Why was it easier for the Pharisees
to keep hundreds of elaborate rules than to embrace the simplicity of a transformed
heart?
Prayer focus: Pray for an awareness of the beauty of worshiping God in the person of Jesus, rather than at any physical building.
Prayer focus: Pray for an awareness of the beauty of worshiping God in the person of Jesus, rather than at any physical building.
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