Luke 6:1-5

content/bible_journal/luke_6:1-5.md

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+title = "Luke 6:1–5"
+date = "2022-11-07"
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+
+### [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.
+20:8–11_](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ex20.8-11). But what is "work"? How are
+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.