Did Jesus break the Sabbath? Jesus and His disciples were traveling about, as they often did in their preaching work. This day was the Sabbath, and they were traveling through grain fields. The disciples were hungry so they plucked grain and ate. This was not stealing but was expressly permitted by the law, as long as one did so only to meet an immediate need, not to carry it home and keep it for future consumption (Deuteronomy 23:24f). The Pharisees criticized the act, not as stealing, but as a violation of the Sabbath. This was the first of a whole series of conflicts between Jesus and the Pharisees about the Sabbath. Two things must be remembered. (1) The Pharisees, as they had done with other things (Matthew 15:1-14), had added a whole complex system of traditions about Sabbath observance Oral law. Much of this was intricate and detailed; but above all it was based on their own ideas, not on what Gods law really said. (2) They were motivated in their criticisms, not by sincere concern for the Sabbath, but by a desire to trap Jesus (v10). Jesus did not disobey Gods Sabbath law: not here or anyplace else, nor did He defend anyone else in violating it. Note V7 -- Jesus expressly stated that the disciples, in what they did here, were guiltless. Jesus did, however, here and elsewhere, resist and oppose the Pharisees traditions which were not taught in Gods law, and which they bound as essential on others. The current situation is an example of this. The Pharisees said Jesus disciples did what was not lawful. Jesus defended the action and showed why the disciples were guiltless. Some people use this passage to try to prove that Jesus did not believe in strict observance of Gods law. Such efforts are false and futile. In many Scriptures, Jesus taught, and inspired His apostles to teach, the need for obedience. Jesus arguments on verses 5-14 clearly show that what He did was permitted by the Sabbath law and was not a violation of it. Jesus lived under the Mosaic written law (Matthew 5:17-20). The Sabbath was part of that law, included even in the 10 Commands (Exodus 20:8-11; 16:22-30; 23:12; 31:12-17; 34:21; 35:2,3; cf. 22:16; Numbers 15:32-36; etc.) Jesus obeyed the law without sin (Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:21ff; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Sin is transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). Jesus sinlessness was essential to His being a sinless sacrifice for us (see previous verses). If Jesus had transgressed or violated the Sabbath law or any other Divine law, He would not have been sinless and could not have been the sacrifice to take away our sins! To claim, as some do, that Jesus violated the Sabbath law, is to spiritually condemn all men to eternal torment, for it leaves us without a sinless sacrifice for our sins! The disciples’ act of pluching grain infringed against the rabbinic halakhah of minute casuistry in which it was forbidden to reap, thresh, winnow, and grind on the sabbath (Sabb. 7.2). here again rabbinic sabbath halakhah is rejected, as in other sabbath conflicts. Jesus reforms the sabbath and restores it to its rightful place as designed in createion, where the sabbath is made for all mankind and not specifically for Israel, as claimed by normative Judaism (cf. Jub. 2:19-20, See D.3). The subsequent logion, “the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath” (Mark 2:28; Matt 12:8; Luke 6:5), indicates that man-made sabbath halakhah does noot rule the sabbath, but that the Son of Man, not man, is Lord of the sabbath. It was God’s will at creation that the sabbath have the purpose of serving mankind for rest and bring blessings. The Son of Man as Lord determines the true meaning of the sabbath. The sabbath activities of Jesus are neither hurtful provocations nor mere protests against rabbinic legal restrictions, but are part of Jesus’ essential proclamation of the inbreaking of the kingdom of God in which man is taught the orignial meaning of the sabbath as the recurring weekly proleptic “day of the Lord” in which God manifests his healing and saving rulership over man. The seven miraculous sabbath healings of Jesus indicate once again that Jesus restores the sabbath to be a benefit for humankind against any distortions of human religious and/or cultic traditions.” So let’s break this down. God had an intention for the Sabbath, to be good for mankind. Man turned God’s Law into a burden that was never intended to be laid upon men by making more strict the requirement of the law through the use of rabbinic tradition. Jesus comes on the scene and we would all admit that if anyone understood God’s original intention for something it was Jesus, not the Pharisees. Jesus brings good to mankind on the Sabbath, which falls in line with the original spirit of the sabbath itself but in violation of the man made requirements later added by men. So ultimately Jesus was not violating the Sabbath by definition of the Torah or by God’s original intention of the Sabbath.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 09:48:10 +0000
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