For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath

 

 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath.  And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!"  But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:  how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?  Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?  Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.  But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.  For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.  And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand.  And they asked Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" -- that they might accuse Him.  Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it our?  Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?  Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."  Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.

 

- Matthew 12:1-14 

 

 Yesterday we read that, after criticizing those who failed to come to faith after mighty works had been done in their towns, Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.  Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.  All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father.  Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

 

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath.  And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!"   My study Bible comments that the Pharisees are rigid in their legalism.  While the law allowed plucking a few heads of grain in a neighbor's field (Deuteronomy 23:25), they consider this to be "reaping" -- a kind of work -- and therefore unlawful on the Sabbath.

But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:  how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?  Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?"  Jesus gives to the Pharisees Old Testament examples of blameless "violations" of the Sabbath.   In so doing, He demonstrates that the law is not absolute over human need or service to God.  My study Bible cites the partaking of the showbread by David and his men (1 Samuel 21:4-6) as prefiguring the Eucharist.  This showbread was forbidding to anyone except the priests, but in Christ it is given to all the faithful.  

"Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.  But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.  For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."  My study Bible comments that, as the Author of the Law, Jesus is the Lord over all of it.  As Lord, He teaches that it is mercy which take precedence over regulations, ordinances, and ritualistic observances.  Jesus quotes from Hosea 6:6.

Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.  And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand.  And they asked Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" -- that they might accuse Him.  Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it our?  Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?  Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."  Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.  Jesus is tested by those who seek to accuse Him.  They ask, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But He again cites a commonly accepted "blameless" violation of the Sabbath:  an act meant to save an animal's life, or prevent its pain.   This was considered to be in order with the law regarding compassionate treatment of animals: animals, too, were included in the Sabbath rest (see Exodus 20:8-10, 23:12).  Jesus compares this understanding of compassion for an animal, and asks, "Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?"  Therefore, compassion is in order on the Sabbath.  This is also consistent with Hosea 6:6, from which Jesus has just quoted:  "For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."  But this response to their challenge does not sit well with the Pharisees, and they begin to plot how they might destroy Him.

 

 The Old Testament Law is a set of commandments given through Moses to govern and establish the making of community.   For the Pharisees, traditions were developed around the Law that expanded commandments into subsets and categories, and they continued to debate the precise interpretations and enactments under the Law.   For them, a rigid adherence to all of these commandments and the traditions of how to observe them became the primary focus, as we can see from the ways in which they approach Jesus.  But here in Jesus, the Pharisees are faced with this divine paradox of God's work in the world.  A set of laws cannot cover all of what God is, and all the ways God will be at work in the world, no matter how good or how perfect it is.  Even the Mosaic Law remains in human hands, and becomes subject to human interpretation and customs.  But the Incarnation changes all of that, simply by virtue of the fact that in Christ is both human and divine, the Incarnate Logos, the giver of the Law.  This is why He is Lord of the Sabbath.  And in the Incarnation is the essential embodiment of the Law, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17).  The very powerful truth of the Incarnation is simply that all the Law that has been given, and all that the prophets have taught, are meant to lead us to a righteousness of relationship.  That is, we are in communion with a living, loving God, and not a set of rules.  Our God is compassionate and merciful, and our God is love (1 John 4:7-21).  Our God is a Person who asks of us communion, not simply obedience to a set of abstract values or a set of rules to follow.  As human beings, our very nature is one that asks for communion and participation; that is, we cannot even form as whole human beings without relatedness to one another; even our earliest childhood development depends upon that quality of communion and relationship.  Its absence creates terrible outcomes.  And in the person of Jesus Christ, we have God present with us in human form, and His very embodiment teaches us about what it means to be the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets; His ministry, His acts, His way of relating to the world in His healing and teaching and expression of compassion teach us much more about the actual aim of the Law than the Law itself could do.  Compassion becomes the order of the day; and the words from the prophet Hosea become fulfilled and expressed:  "I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."  We are meant to participate in communion with God and neighbor (Matthew 22:34-40), and this communion is to be characterized primarily by love and through that love a knowledge of God.  We participate in the life of God, especially embodied in the Eucharist.  Therefore all the abstractions in the world will not give us full righteousness, for we need a living and dynamic relationship with what is greater than the temple.  We need interaction with our Lord, we need the experience of our faith, and we need the dynamic communion of prayer to guide us in our lives, to embody what is meant in all the teachings we know and whatever commandments we might understand.  The world needed Christ, and we still need Him, in order to more fully live in proper communion with the Lord and so that we might also set our lives in order.  Let us consider what it means that life will put us into all kinds of circumstances for which there is no law to follow, and through which we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in us both to will and do good for God's good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).  St. Paul also tells us of the fruit of the Spirit,  against which "there is no law" -- "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (see Galatians 5:22-23).  This is the gift and power of Christ as fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, and who has given us the fullness of Himself, and continues to give.  When the world seems lost in abstractions and rules, when the letter means more than the spirit, when we see no mercy in its application, let us turn to Him and find our real way to righteousness.  For He desires that we find the wholeness of what it is to be made in His image, and led by Him to that fulfillment in us.