Lord of the Sabbath.

Matthew 12:1-21 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. ² Now when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath!” ³ But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions— ⁴ how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? ⁵ Or have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath, and yet are innocent? ⁶ But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ But if you had known what this means: ‘I desire compassion, rather than sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

⁹ Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. ¹⁰ 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 bring charges against Him. ¹¹ But 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? ¹² How much more valuable then is a person than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” ¹³ Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. ¹⁴ But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

¹⁵ But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all, ¹⁶ and warned them not to tell who He was. ¹⁷ This happened so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled:

¹⁸ “Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen;
My Beloved in whom My soul delights;
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
¹⁹ He will not quarrel, nor cry out;
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.
²⁰ A bent reed He will not break off,
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish,
Until He leads justice to victory.
²¹ And in His name the Gentiles will hope.”

In today’s text it says: “…have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath, and yet are innocent? But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means: ‘I desire compassion, rather than sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” 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 bring charges against Him. But 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 person 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. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there.

The first thing that we need to understand from this is that not only is it true that: Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, even more, Jesus is our Sabbath. Our rest is in Him. In Matthew 11:28-29 Jesus says: “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” In John 16:33 He says: “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”  In the difficult and trying times that we are in we could all use a Sabbath rest. In the world stress and anxiety are at all time highs. To have peace and know peace, the world needs to know the Prince of Peace. The tribulation of the world is only overcome by the Overcoming One. If we are yoked to Christ, we have rest and peace in tribulation. If we are yoked to Christ, we have rest even as we walk and work with Him.

The second thing I see in this is that even as we show the compassion that Jesus desires above sacrifice, is that even as we do good, it does not mean that the world will respond to our love with love. In John 15:18-25 Jesus says: “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also. But all these things they will do to you on account of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. The one who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But this has happened so that the word that is written in their Law will be fulfilled: ‘They hated Me for no reason.’”   Like Jesus, we may be hated by the world in response to the love and the good that we do and in response to the compassion that we show. In John 3:17-21 Jesus says: “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God.”  Those who love darkness hate the light because it reveals and dispels the darkness.

Sometimes it may be necessary for us to withdraw as Jesus did, but most often we need to respond as Jesus says we should in Matthew 5:14-16: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  If we would be hated by the world, may it be because we are like Christ, may it be for our light, our love and our compassion.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. You are my Sabbath rest. You are my peace. As the psalmist says: The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom should I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom should I dread?I choose to be yoked to You and to shine Your light in the darkness of the world.  Amen.