Week of April 26

Sabbath performance was one of the three “most important badges of Jewish life” (NAC). Jesus shows in this passage that He was going to challenge any other oral tradition that had grown up like weeds and choked God’s intent with the giving of the law (12:3-6; “have you not read?”). We currently practice a laissez faire approach to our worship, but there remain unspoken customs in many of our churches that hinder folks from gaining access to God. Our Bible text for today challenges us to discover and remove any hindrance to an open approach to the Heavenly Father.

The disciples had “broken a Sabbath law” by committing one of thirty-nine kinds of work forbidden on that day (12:2; EBC; cf. M Shabbath 7:2). Their failure? They had “rubbed heads of grain between their palms to separate the kernels from the hulls” (12:1; EBC). This level of legalism may seem silly to us, but the Jewish leadership at that time took the violation seriously. The disciples’ behavior was considered reaping and was therefore considered unlawful on the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11). Since teachers were responsible for their students, Jesus was confronted about this Sabbath violation on the part of His disciples. 

Jesus replied, using two illustrations to build His argument against these accusers. First, He reminded His challengers of David, when he fled from King Saul to Nob. He and his men ate the consecrated bread that was set apart for the priests (cf. 1 Samuel 21:1-9; Leviticus 24:8-9). Secondly, He called to the attention of His detractors the priests who worked on the Sabbath as prescribed by the Old Testament law (Numbers 28:9-10). The priests had never been declared culpable for doing these things. Here’s the real point of the confrontation: These Jewish leaders were looking for a way to accuse Jesus. And He knew it.

Jesus opens the way to the Heavenly Father. Jesus simply took the circumstances about Sabbath observance and turned the focus to Himself. He was not taking a defensive stance; instead, it was an authoritative one (HNTC). He was the architect of the Temple and the one to whom worship was offered (12:6; “greater than”). He claimed to be the fulfillment of the Fourth Commandment and that it no longer needed to be fulfilled literally (NAC; cf. Colossians 2:16-17; Romans 14:5-6). The Pharisees had robbed the Sabbath of its “rest” by weighing it down with burdensome requirements. On top of that, they had imposed their requirements on everyone else, too. Jesus’ challenge showed the value He placed upon human lives and their access to the Father. We worship properly when we follow His example by valuing human lives.

Jesus sets the example of showing mercy. The account where Jesus heals a man with a withered hand maintains the same theme as the previous section (12:1-8). Jesus moves from the outside to inside the synagogue. It was likely that the man with a withered hand was being used by the Pharisees to entrap Jesus (12:9). Their hatred for Jesus had blinded them from seeing the worth of the disabled man. Healing the man would be work, and work was not permitted on the Sabbath. Jesus uses a variation of Hosea 6:6 with His response that called for a common-sense approach to Sabbath observance. Since everyone accepted the practice of showing mercy to animals on the Sabbath, He extended that mercy to people, so it must be “lawful” to do good on the Sabbath. Mercy toward a human life on the Sabbath—or any day of the week—took priority over mercy toward an animal.

We once lived in a rent house that sat across a vacant lot from the small rural church where I served as the pastor. The lot was overgrown with weeds, but there was a “dog trail” that allowed us to walk directly to the church. The knee-high weeds and thorns would blow in the breeze and stick to our clothes as we made our way to the church. Silly me, but I do not ever recall mowing the lot so that we would have easier access to the church. It sure would have made getting there much easier. 

This begs a key question for me. What “weeds” (i.e. behaviors or customs) have we allowed to grow that hinder the direct access of people to the Lord? We may not have thirty-nine rules about work on the Lord’s Day, but we very often have more than enough “don’ts” to frustrate people as they are trying to make their way to Jesus. A simple way to eliminate these hindrances would be to look through the eyes of Jesus toward broken lives and see what you need to remove to clear a path to Him.

1. The “weeds” often grow first at home and at family gatherings. Be on the lookout for attitudes and actions that hinder your little ones from gaining access to Jesus. I often asked my children if what they heard me preach from the pulpit was evident in my life inside the home. Remove anything that hinders access to Jesus.

2. We all should know by now how difficult our churches often make it for broken lives to come to Jesus. Maintaining “worship order” overrides ministry to folks who desperately need it. Ask the Lord of the Sabbath if there is anything that hinders people from gaining access to Him in your church fellowship. His Spirit will make visible to you the obstacles in the pathway to Him. Make changes accordingly.

3. For Families: Sometimes our own family schedules crowd out opportunities for our children to come to Jesus and learn of Him. With sports practices and games happening more on Wednesday and Sunday evenings, and traveling to and from school-related events on these days, our kids are often not afforded opportunities to become more involved in the life of their church fellowship. 

If your kids are not regularly attending to the things of God along with their own church family, they may miss hearing God speak to them and growing in discipleship. Take a moment to check your family’s calendar and ask yourself if it shows Christ to be in first place – both for yourselves and for your children.

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock