The
Pharisees were quick to find fault and criticize Jesus and His disciples as
they minister to both the physical and spiritual needs of the people. First, they
couldn’t believe that Jesus and His disciples would hang out with sinners. Next,
they questioned their spirituality because instead of fasting like John’s
disciples, they were feasting. Now in Luke 6, they are accusing Jesus and His
disciples for breaking their man-made Sabbath Day laws on two occasions.
On
this first occasion, their criticism had to do with the disciples “plucking heads
of grain and eating them after they had rubbed them in their hands.” In the
field (vv. 1-5). It was lawful for a Jew to eat from a neighbor's vineyard,
orchard, or field, provided he did not fill a container or use a harvesting
implement (Deut. 23:24-25). The disciples were hungry, so they picked the heads
of wheat, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. But in so doing, according
to the rabbis, they broke the Sabbath law, because they were harvesting,
winnowing, and preparing food!
Always
alert for something to criticize, some of the Pharisees asked Jesus why He
permitted His disciples to violate the Sabbath laws. This was His second
offense, and they were sure they had a case against Him. How tragic that their
slavish devotion to religious rules blinded them to the true ministry of the
Law as well as the very presence of the Lord who gave them the Law.
The
accusation of the Pharisees had no support from Scripture. The Scriptures did
not prohibit this eating of grain on the Sabbath. The support came only from
the man-made rules of the religious leaders, not the law of Moses. The
religious leaders had made a host of rules, which were not in Scripture either
by principle or precept; but they liked these rules for these religious rulers
made their piety based on outward conduct rather than the condition of the
heart. Not focusing on the heart, their rules emphasized the trivial and
neglected the important. Jesus addressed this specifically in Matthew 23:24.
Jesus
did not argue with them; instead, He took them right to the Word of God (1 Sam.
21:1-6). The "showbread" was comprised of twelve loaves, one for each
tribe in Israel; and it stood on the table in the holy place in the tabernacle
and then in the temple (Ex. 25:23-30; Lev. 24:5-9). Fresh bread was put on the
table each Sabbath, and only the priests were allowed to eat the loaves.
But
David and his men ate the loaves, and what Jew would condemn Israel's great
king? "He was God's anointed!" they might argue, but that was exactly
what Jesus claimed for Himself (Luke 4:18). Not only was He God's Anointed, but
He was also the Lord of the Sabbath! When Jesus made that statement, He was
claiming to be Jehovah God, because it was the Lord who established the
Sabbath. If Jesus Christ is indeed Lord of the Sabbath, then He is free to do
on it and with it whatever He pleases. The Pharisees did not miss His meaning,
you can be sure.
God
is more concerned about meeting human needs than He is about protecting
religious rules. Better that David and his men receive strength to serve God
than that they perish only for the sake of a temporary law. God desires
compassion, not sacrifice (Matt. 12:7, quoting Hosea 6:6). The Pharisees, of
course, had a different view of the Law (Matt. 23:23).
The
Apostle Paul would later write in 2 Corinthians 3:6, that “as a minister of the
new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but
the Spirit gives life.” This reminds us that God is more concerned about us
keeping the Spirit of the Word with to please the Lord from our hearts and not
the rules and regulation to outwardly make ourselves look spiritual before
others!
May
the Lord help us not to become like the Pharisees, outwardly religious but
inwardly full of corruption!
God
bless!
