Matthew 12:1-14
Jesus and
Working on the Sabbath
12:1
Sabbath Questions
1 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 But when the Pharisees
saw this, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples
do 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 break the Sabbath and 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, AND NOT A
SACRIFICE,' you would not have condemned the
innocent.
Lord of the
Sabbath
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 accuse Him.
11 And 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 man 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.
This
is the Word of the Lord ... It is meant to change
the way that we think, and the way that we live.
Commentary
by Bob Pardue
39 Things You Can't Do on
the Sabbath
There were ten commandments
but the Pharisees had added 1,521 additions to the
"Sabbath" law and 39 sections of things forbidden
on the Sabbath.
Harvesting wheat is among
these sections and, although the disciples were not
really conducting a harvest, picking the heads off
the stems to eat was a technicality of the law. One
thing the Pharisees lacked was compassion as they
would rather see a person go hungry than to "break"
the laws. Jesus called them on this
point.
Jesus Heals on the
Sabbath
Jesus was bringing people to
God through his teachings and through healing but
the Pharisees viewed this as another law breaking
"technicality".
They were so caught up in
going by the letter of the law that they forgot why
the temple was built to begin with -- to bring
people closer to God.
We are sometimes guilty of
putting more emphasis on how we worship than who we
worship. Churches have split because of
disagreements on the way a service is held, music
is played or even the color of the wall painting
project.
Let's not let ritual prevail
in our house of worship. Let's remember we are
there to worship and praise God; no other
reason.
Love In Christ
- Bob
If you have never made the
commitment to receive the love and life-changing
experience of Jesus Christ, please take a moment to
go
here and take the
first
steps to salvation.
Other
Bible Study Verse For Living ...
Matthew
11:20-30 - Rest for the
Soul -
We all have our
own personal burdens we carry through life. Jesus
promises rest for the soul to make these situations
easier to bear. All we have to do is ask and
believe in Christ.
Verses about working on Sunday are from
New American Standard Bible
Comments are welcome. Please email
me with any questions or comments you
may have.
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