September 28
Matthew 12.1-14
1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread — which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
God gave a gift to his people, the gift of Sabbath. Yet they turned it into a legalistic nightmare. Rules about how far one could walk on the Sabbath, so we see several places a distance noted as a Sabbath Day’s journey. Rules about what constituted allowable work and what would have to wait. Jesus even points out the ridiculous nature of it. Save your animals, but don’t help the people around you.
We can see their legalistic approach and wonder. And we can look at our own approach and wonder as well. We can think we didn’t have a distance of a Sabbath Day journey, but I think many of us can remember that it was as far as you can go on one tank of gas and not have to stop for a public restroom or food. We did get the idea that work is necessary for farmers with animals, and then also for those working in health care. Jesus heals on the Sabbath, we can do the same.
I am reminded of what Jesus says in Mark 2, in response to this same incident of the grainfields: 27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Sabbath is a gift for us to experience rest and to be with God. How and when will we each take that Sabbath rest each week? What will bring us renewal in faith and in our physical life for the week ahead? Receive God’s gift of rest, of renewal, of restoration.
Song – Be Still My Soul
Prayer
O Lord our God, you are always more ready to bestow your good gifts upon us that we are to seek them. You are more willing to give that we desire or deserve. Help us to seek you, that we may truly receive your gift of Sabbath rest. In Christ our Lord we pray, Amen.