Lord of the Sabbath – Mat 12:1-8

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Before we delve into the passage, let us indeed pause and acknowledge the need for the Holy Spirit’s illumination. We labor in the Word, knowing that without divine light, we grope in darkness. May the Spirit grant us understanding, that we may truly hear the voice of Christ in these Scriptures.

The Freedom of Christian Liberty

It is remarkable to contrast the liberty we enjoy in Christ with the elaborate external religious systems of the world, whether in other faiths or in legalistic forms of Christianity.

We do not have to observe special feasts, wear special garments, light candles, or recite set chants. Our Christian life is not centered on religious performances at set times, but on continual, daily fellowship with Jesus Christ throughout the whole of everyday life. We are called to “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16) and to do “all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). The Father seeks those who worship Him “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23).

This is the rest and light burden Jesus promised to the heavy-laden. The closer one is to a genuine, loving relationship with Christ, the less they are enamored with religious “rules and regulations” as a means of achieving righteousness. As Dr. Billy Graham observed, excessive outward display often compensates for a lack of genuine substance. A shallow connection to Christ leads to legalism, trying to make up for relationship with rules.

Matthew 12: A Turning Point of Rejection

Matthew chapter 12 is a climactic turning point in the Gospel. It marks the full manifestation of the hatred and unbelief of Israel’s religious leaders, leading to their total rejection of the promised Messiah. The evidence for the King has been given (Chapters 1-11), and now the battle lines are drawn.

The catalyst for this open conflict is the Sabbath Day, the absolute epitome of their legalistic system. Christ’s violation of their Sabbath rules became the final blow that led to His total rejection.

I. The Act of Jesus and His Disciples (v. 1)

Verse 1: At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and eat them.

  1. The Setting: This occurred during Jesus’ Galilean ministry, on a Sabbath day, as they were walking on a path through grain fields, likely near the time of harvest.
  2. The Condition: The disciples were hungry. This is a quiet glimpse into the poverty they endured, having given up their livelihood to follow Christ. This suggests the Master was also hungry, which He alludes to later with the example of David.
  3. The Action: They plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them to remove the husk (threshing), blew away the chaff (winnowing), and ate them (reaping).
  4. The Legality (of God’s Law): The action itself was perfectly legitimate according to the Law of Moses: “When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain” (Deuteronomy 23:25). This was a merciful provision for travelers or the hungry to have an immediate snack without stealing.

Jesus pitied them and allowed them to take this humble snack.

II. The Vigorous Objection of the Pharisees (v. 2)

Verse 2: When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

  1. The Fanaticism: The Pharisees were intensely hounding and harassing the Lord. They were constantly watching Him, like “a hundred judges,” trying to catch something wrong. They likely followed Him in secret, hoping to find fault where His high moral teaching failed.
  2. The Accusation: They jumped out of hiding to command Jesus, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” They accused Him because He allowed this “criminal activity” against God’s law to occur, thus failing to uphold the Law He claimed to fulfill.

III. The Mindset Behind the Objection: The Yoke of Tradition

The Pharisees’ accusation was not based on God’s written Law but on their own man-made regulations. To understand this “unlawful” charge, we must understand their legalistic system.

  1. The Burden of Tradition: In their effort to enforce the Sabbath, the Pharisees had received Rabbinic traditions from their elders (Mark 7:3). Jesus condemned this, saying, “In vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7). They had effectively left the commands of God.
  2. The Multiplication of Rules: While the Sabbath Law in the Old Testament was beautiful and brief—a gift of rest and worship—the Rabbis took the simple phrase “Thou shall do no work” and created an exhaustive list of prohibited works, which were then broken down into branches, and then further multiplied.
    • This piled up an unbearable stack of legislative tradition, making the Sabbath a burdensome day rather than a delightful rest. The Talmud had 24 chapters dedicated to the Sabbath, impossible for any man to fully grasp or keep.
  3. The Ridiculous Particulars: They formalized their traditions to ridiculous extremes:
    • Women were forbidden to look in a mirror lest they be tempted to pull out a gray hair (labor).
    • Carrying a burden heavier than a dried fig was forbidden.
    • A tailor couldn’t carry a needle; a scribe couldn’t carry a pen.

This explains what Jesus meant when He said they “bind burdens on people that are impossible for them to bear” (Acts 15:10). The Sabbath had become a joke, utterly devoid of rest.

IV. The Condemnation: Reaping, Threshing, and Winnowing

The Pharisees’ specific accusation here was based on their own man-made branches of the Sabbath law:

  • Plucking the grain was condemned as reaping (harvesting).
  • Rubbing the grains was condemned as threshing (கதிரடிக்கும்).
  • Blowing the husk away was condemned as winnowing.

They had taken one simple command—no reaping—and multiplied it into three distinct Sabbath violations for a simple hungry snack. They had utterly externalized and ridiculously particularized God’s law, focusing only on the minuscule details of their rules while losing the spirit of the Sabbath.

Therefore, when the Pharisees said, “Your disciples are doing what is not lawful (செய்யத்தகாததை),” the word lawful had nothing whatsoever to do with God’s law, but with their own silly, ridiculous, “gnat straining and camel swallowing” regulation.

Jesus, like a good doctor, doesn’t just treat the symptom (the disciples plucking grain) but addresses the root cause of the Pharisees’ error: their ignorance of the true meaning of the Sabbath. He uses a rhetorical question full of sarcasm (கிண்டல்): “Have you not read?” The implication is that despite their expertise, they don’t truly understand the Scriptures.

Jesus demonstrates that the Sabbath was intended to reflect the Ten Commandments’ core: Love toward God and love toward your fellow man. Its observance must include worship service, duties of necessity, and duties of mercy.

I. Argument from History: Necessity (Matthew 12:3-4)

Jesus points them to the history of David, God’s anointed King (1 Samuel 21).

  • The Incident: David and his men, being desperately hungry, ate the showbread (the Bread of Presence), which was not lawful for anyone but the priests (Leviticus 24:9) to eat.
  • The Lesson: This incident, uncensored by God, shows that essential human need (necessity) takes precedence over ritual (ceremonial law). God allowed the suspension of one of His own holy ceremonial laws to meet the deep, basic need of His people.
  • The Contrast: If God’s own rule could be suspended for man’s well-being, how much more should they set aside their “silly stupid man-made rules” to meet the need of the disciples, who were engaged in the “greatest holiest ministry” with the Messiah.
  • The Primary Purpose: The Sabbath was made for man—to meet his physical and spiritual needs—not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27, மனுஷன் ஓய்வுநாளுக்காக உண்டாக்கப்படவில்லை, ஓய்வுநாள் மனுஷனுக்காக உண்டாக்கப்பட்டது). The original design was a boon, a blessing, not an unbearable burden.

II. Argument from the Law: Divine Service (Matthew 12:5-6)

Jesus next points to the Law to show that the Sabbath was never meant to hinder the service of God.

  • The Incident: He asks if they’ve not read that the priests in the Temple “profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?” Priests were required to perform immense work on the Sabbath (lighting fires, offering double sacrifices, Numbers 28:9-10). This work was not Sabbath desecration because the sanctity of the Temple and the consequent sanctity of the service exempted it from the labor law.
  • The Staggering Claim: “One greater than the temple” (v. 6, தேவாலயத்திலும் பெரியவர் இங்கே இருக்கிறார்): Jesus makes a tremendous claim to deity (deity). The Temple was everything to the Jew, the dwelling place of God. Jesus declares that He is the true antitype of the Temple; God dwells in Him (John 1:14). If the Temple service made the priests blameless, then the followers of the One greater than the Temple, who are engaged in His ultimate divine mission, are certainly guiltless.

III. Argument from the Prophets: Mercy (Matthew 12:7)

Jesus then uses the Prophets to unmask the Pharisees’ real motive: less love.

  • The Quotation: “If you had known what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless” (Hosea 6:6, பலியையல்ல இரக்கத்தையே விரும்புகிறேன்).
  • The Lesson: God is not interested in heartless ritual (“sacrifice”) but in genuine mercy (இரக்கம்). Their condemnation of the hungry disciples proved their heart was wrong. They should have had eyes for men’s necessities and a heart of mercy, and offered the disciples food, instead of finding fault.

IV. The Ultimate Claim: Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8)

Finally, Jesus delivers the definitive statement, which must have driven the Pharisees to madness and a cry for His blood.

Verse 8: For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day. (மனுஷகுமாரன் ஓய்வுநாளுக்கும் ஆண்டவராய் இருக்கிறார்.)

  • The Title: “Son of Man” (Daniel 7:13-14) is a title of the divine-human Messiah, to whom everlasting dominion and a universal kingdom are given.
  • The Authority: Jesus is the rightful Legislator (சட்டம் இயற்றுபவர்). He initiates and interprets the Sabbath. By claiming this Lordship, He tears away all the legalistic trappings, declaring His right to abolish the shadowy, typical aspects of the day, fulfill them in Himself, and elevate it—changing the focus from creation to redemption by shifting the day of celebration from the 7th to the 1st day of the week (the Lord’s Day) and surrounding it with the glory of His resurrection.

Application: What is the Sabbath to You?

Your attitude toward the appointed day of rest shows the condition of your heart.

The Sabbath is a wonderful gift from a gracious God for man’s greatest good. It is designed for physical and spiritual rest and refreshment and worship—a day to ignore work responsibilities and seek God’s face.

Do you see the Sabbath as:

  1. A burden, a “spiritual tyranny” dictated by legalistic rules? (The Pharisee’s view).
  2. A blessing, a necessary gift that prevents mental and spiritual breakdown, given to promote worship, service, and acts of mercy? (The Lord’s view).

Do you welcome this gift, knowing that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, who, far from abolishing it, purified and elevated it by His resurrection?

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