Matthew 12:1-13
Mat 12:1-13 Our KING as Lord of the Sabbath
1,2. AT that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the cars of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
They were probably on their way to the synagogue. They were allowed by law to take ears of corn as they passed along; but the objection of the Pharisees was to their doing so on the Sabbath. Plucking was reaping, rubbing the grain from the husk was threshing, to their hypercritical minds. Their traditions and. fancies they regarded as a code of law, and according to this the disciples were doing "that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day." They came to Jesus himself with their grave complaints: for once they plucked up courage to deal with the Leader; for they felt very strong on the Sabbath question, and they thought it fair to lay the faults of the disciples at the door of their Teacher.
We incidentally learn from this story that our Lord and his disciples were poor, and that he who fed the multitudes did not use his miraculous power to feed his own followers, but left them till they did what poor men are forced to do to supply a little stay for their stomachs. Our Lord bribes none into following him: they may be his apostles, and yet be hungry on a Sabbath.
Why did not these Pharisees give them bread, and so prevent their doing that to which they objected? We might also fairly ask, How came they to see the disciples? Did they not break the Sabbath by setting a watch over them?
3, 4. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
He speaks to his learned opponents as if they had not read the law which they professed to uphold. "Have ye not read?" The instance of David served the Son of David well. It was clear from his example that necessity has no law. The Tabernacle law was broken by David when he and his band were pressed with hunger; and that breach of law touched Jewish ritual in a very special and tender point, and yet he was never rebuked for it. To have eaten the holy bread out of profanity, or bravado, or levity, might have involved the offender in the judgment of death; but to do so in urgent need was not blameworthy in the case of David. As men excuse any breach of manners necessitated by the pressure of hunger, so doth the Lord permit any ceremonial point of law to give way to his mercy, and to man's evident necessity. The law of the Sabbath was never meant to compel starvation to hungry men, any more than the law of "the house of God" and "the shewbread." Works of necessity are lawful on the Sabbath.
5, 6. Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. This instance is absolutely to the point. The priests worked hard on the Sabbath in offering sacrifice, and in other appointed ways; but they were to be honoured rather than censured for so doing, seeing they had the approval of the temple law. But in the case of Christ's disciples, that which they did had the sanction of the temple's Lord, who is far greater than the temple. Work done for God on the Sabbath is no real profanation of the Sabbath, though it may seem to be so to those whose religion lies wholly in external observances. If we work with Jesus, and for Jesus, we care not for the criticisms of formalists. As the substance is greater than the shadow, so is our Lord greater than the temple, or any or all ceremonial laws; and his sanction overrules all the interpretations of the law which asceticism or superstition may thrust upon us.
Works of piety are lawful on the Sabbath,
7. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. Our Lord had galled the Pharisees by saying twice, "Save ye not read? "Did he imagine that they had left any part of the Psalms or Law unread? Now he assails them again with the charge of ignorance of the meaning of a passage from the prophets: "If ye had known what this meaneth." Then he quotes from Hos 6:6, which he had used against them before. (See chapter ix. 13.) "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." There must be very much in this word of the prophet to make it so great a favourite with our Lord. God preferred that his priests should rather give the consecrated shewbread to David as an act of mercy than keep it sacred to its use: he would rather that the disciples should spend a few minutes in plucking ears of corn for their hunger than suffer faintness in order to preserve the sanctity of the day. Having thus the permit of the Lord himself, those who allowed the merciful act of removing hunger were guiltless, and ought not to be condemned. Indeed, they would not have been condemned had their critics been better instructed.
Works of mercy are lawful on the Sabbath.
8. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. This sets the whole matter beyond further question. "The Son of man ", Christ Jesus, being in union with the Godhead, "is Lord" of everything which lies in the range of that law which concerns God and man, seeing he is Mediator; and therefore he may arrange and dispose of Sabbaths as he pleases. He has done so, and has interpreted the Sabbatic law, not with license, but with a sweet reasonableness which the more rigid of religionists do not exhibit. From his example and teaching we learn that the Sabbath is not profaned by works of necessity, piety, or mercy; and that we need not care for the sharp speeches of hypercritical formalists who strain the Sabbatic law, and make a bondage of that which was intended to be a season of holy rest.
9. And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue. The time arrived when the Sabbath question came up again in reference to our Lord's own work among the sick and diseased.
Jesus set the example of attending public worship. The synagogues had no divine appointment to authorize them, but in the nature of things it must be right and good to meet for the worship of God on his own day, and therefore Jesus was there. He had nothing to learn, yet he went up to the assembly on the day which the Lord God had hallowed.
10. And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they ashed him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him. The incident was noteworthy, and therefore it is mentioned with a "behold." It was remarkable that so very soon a case occurred to bring up again the matter in dispute. Did the Pharisees bring the man with the withered hand into the synagogue so as to raise the question in a practical form? They went to the synagogue to indulge their bigotry and not to worship: it is to be feared that many in these days imitate them. Before our Lord made any motion towards a miracle, they were at him with what they hoped would prove an entangling question. "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days?" He had claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath; and now they, with much show of fairness, submit a difficulty to him; but it was with a base purpose. In the moral character of questioning, everything depends upon the motive: they did not ask that they might learn from him, but "that they might accuse him." They were on the catch; yet they took nothing by their malicious craft.
11, 12. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
He answers their question by another. He propounds a case, and makes them to be judges in it. If a poor man, with "one sheep", saw it fall "into a pit", or become cast on its back "on the sabbath", would he not "lay hold on it, and lift it out", and set it on its feet? Of course he would; and he would be right in so doing. How much then is a man better than a sheep? therefore it is and must be right to succour a man. Alas, some act as if a man were not better than an animal; for their dogs and horses are better housed than their labourers, and they are more indignant about the killing of a fox than at the starving of a pauper. Our Lord's argument was overwhelming. One form of human kindness being proved to be right, the whole class of beneficent actions is admitted, and "it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days." One wonders that anybody ever thought otherwise. But zeal for externals, and hatred of spiritual religion, when united, create a narrow bigotry as cruel as it is ridiculous. Our Lord has set us free from the Rabbinical yoke, and wo find rest unto our souls in a true spiritual Sabbath. Let none, however, from this liberty, infer a license, and treat the Lord's-day as if it were their own, and might be spent for their own purposes. They best keep the Sabbath who on the seventh day, and always, rest from their own works, as God did from his; but how can a man rest until he knows the finished work of God in Christ Jesus?
13. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.
Thus our Lord practically carried out his own teaching. He that could work a miracle of this sort was divine, and could rightly interpret his own law. The man was sitting down, and Jesus bade him stand up that all might observe him; and then he further bade him hold up his hand so that all could see its lifeless condition. It does not appear that his arm was withered, as some have supposed; but he was able, by the use of his arm, to hold out his hand to public view. This being done, the Lord restored it at once, before the whole synagogue, and before the captious Pharisees. The man stretched out each finger perfectly restored to its natural vigour. The poor man had hidden his hand when it was dried up; but when restored, it was meet that it should be seen by all in the synagogue. By that restored hand, made whole on the sabbath, all men knew that Jesus would work deeds of mercy on the sabbath. Let us pray him to do the same in our assemblies. Oh, that the hands which have been useless for holy purposes may at his bidding become whole! Oh, that those who are bidden to believe and live would cease from questioning, and obey, as this man did; then would healing surely come to them, as it did to the obedient man!