Day 12 – What Jesus taught – Master of the Sabbath

“𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘩!” 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬 2:28 𝘕𝘓𝘛

While we are standing in the grainfield with Jesus and the disciples, listening to the Pharisees’ accusations, it is important to see that they were also deeply offended by Jesus because the disciples had broken their rules. Beneath their offense lay a dangerous, but incorrect, assumption: that their man-made rules were equivalent to God’s laws. The Pharisees did not distinguish between their rules and God’s Law. In doing so, they had perilously placed themselves in the position of God.

Jesus makes a third and important statement in verse 28 that was even more dramatic to the Pharisees. Jesus declared that He was the 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗯𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗵. If He, the very Lord of the Sabbath, was not offended by His disciple’s actions, then these sideline critics should not have been offended either.

God established the Sabbath, and because of this, only God has authority over the Sabbath – not the Pharisees and not any man. Son of Man was Jesus’ most frequent term to describe Himself as the Messiah (the Christ). The LORD had promised to send the Messiah to redeem Israel and grant Him special authority and power to accomplish the LORD’s will. This was why 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘩 -because God granted Him this authority. This was not the authority to break God’s commandments concerning the Sabbath. Rather, it was the authority to interpret the Sabbath commandment and follow it perfectly.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for being the Son of Man – the promised Messiah – and that You showed authority over the Sabbath and all the rules connected to it. Thank you for interpreting the Sabbath as it is meant to be and following it perfectly according to God’s law, giving us Your footsteps to follow. Amen.