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