2022-11-07 08:32:43 -05:00
|
|
|
|
+++
|
|
|
|
|
|
title = "Luke 6:1–5"
|
|
|
|
|
|
date = "2022-11-07"
|
|
|
|
|
|
+++
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk6.1-5)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Now we get to the heart of what was wrong with the Pharisees' way of thinking.
|
|
|
|
|
|
They had read the Prophets and the Histories and saw that God had brought
|
|
|
|
|
|
judgement on their people because they did not follow God's commands (which is
|
|
|
|
|
|
true). So they decided that in order to get God's blessing they needed to
|
|
|
|
|
|
follow the Law perfectly. But there are over 600 commands in the Torah, and
|
|
|
|
|
|
some of them are fairly obscure and subtle. They memorized them anyway. And for
|
|
|
|
|
|
some, they put up fences around what God had said: the Sabbath is a day of rest
|
|
|
|
|
|
and you are not to do any work ([_Ex.
|
2022-11-07 08:47:23 -05:00
|
|
|
|
20:8–11_](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ex20.8-11)). But what is "work"? How are
|
2022-11-07 08:32:43 -05:00
|
|
|
|
you going to obey the command if you don't know? The extra rules that the
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pharisees created were intended to help people obey the Law, but in reality
|
|
|
|
|
|
just made life harder. (E.g.: Cover your mirrors on the Sabbath, because if
|
|
|
|
|
|
your wife looks and sees a gray hair she might pull it out, which would be
|
|
|
|
|
|
work.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Back to our passage. Jesus and His disciples were going through a field, and
|
|
|
|
|
|
somebody got peckish and started eating the grain. This is allowed in the Law
|
|
|
|
|
|
of Moses ([_Deut. 23:25_](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Dt23.25)). However the
|
|
|
|
|
|
way this works is to take the ear off the stalk, then rub it between your hands
|
|
|
|
|
|
so that the seeds separate from the chaff so that you can blow it away.
|
|
|
|
|
|
According to the Pharisees, you can pick up food to eat it, but that is like
|
|
|
|
|
|
threshing, which is clearly work.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Some Pharisees see what Jesus's disciples have done. (How, I wonder? Why were
|
|
|
|
|
|
they out in the fields on the Sabbath?) When they confront Jesus about it, He
|
|
|
|
|
|
reminds them of the time David and his men ate the bread that had been
|
|
|
|
|
|
dedicated to God. According to the Law, only priests and their families should
|
|
|
|
|
|
have been allowed to eat this bread ([_Lev
|
|
|
|
|
|
24:5–9_](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Le24.5-9)) but the priest there gave it
|
|
|
|
|
|
to David for he and his men were on the run from King Saul and had no
|
|
|
|
|
|
provisions ([_1 Sam 21:3–6_](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/1Sa21.3-6)).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jesus then says something extraordinary. "The Son of Man is lord of the
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sabbath." (_v. 5_) "Son of Man" is how Jesus most often refers to Himself, and
|
|
|
|
|
|
it is how Daniel describes the Messiah when He is given dominion and authority
|
|
|
|
|
|
over the nations in Daniel 7. The Sabbath was created by God when He rested on
|
|
|
|
|
|
the seventh day of Creation, but Jesus is claiming authority over it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Effectively, He says it's not up to the Pharisees to decide what's lawful to do
|
|
|
|
|
|
on the Sabbath, but Him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* * *
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Let us read Your Word with clarity, so that we may do precisely what is says,
|
|
|
|
|
|
and not cling to our traditions which were created by fallible men.
|
