Monday
Did Jesus actually break a commandment? Did he break the Sabbath and do work?
Wasn’t that one of the laws that the people were to follow? In the beginning of our reading, Jesus’ disciples are picking some grain (the field owners would always leave some grain unharvested for the widows and the poor) and the Pharisees are calling them out, because according to their laws, this constituted working on the Sabbath. (Matthew 12). The Pharisees had tacked on to the laws, many definitions of what God’s commandment (His laws) meant. But you see the Pharisees were more interested in the letter of the law, then the intent of the law. Jesus is accused of “working on the Sabbath”, but in fact, Jesus tells us that the Sabbath was made for man, not the other way around. In other words, what Jesus did was not a commandment of God, but a rule of the man that was used to control other men.
Jesus’ point is that it is better to do good, this should always be at the forefront of our intentions. The truth behind all of the Pharisees’ attacks on Jesus is about who has the authority. Obviously very early in Jesus’ ministry he is a threat to the leaders and they will continue to use every means available to them to see Jesus destroyed.
So the question we really should be asking is who has authority in your life? Is it you or is it Jesus? When we turn our selfish pride and ambitions over to the Lord of the Sabbath, then the Sabbath should have new meaning for us, and the truth of the law will not live on tablets of stone, but will be written on our hearts.
Blessings
Pastor Kathy