1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” 3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:1-8)
Here we see that on the Sabbath, the Lord Jesus and his disciples passed by the grainfields. The disciples were hungry, so they picked some heads of grain and ate them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to the Lord Jesus: “Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” The Lord Jesus quoted the Old Testament. When David and his followers were hungry, they entered the temple of God, since there was no other bread, the priest gave them consecrated bread to eat.
8 This bread is to be set out before the Lord regularly, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. 9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in the sanctuary area, because it is a most holy part of their perpetual share of the food offerings presented to the Lord.” (Leviticus 24:8-9)
According to the above scriptures, only priests could eat the consecrated bread.
The Lord Jesus continued to talk about the priests serving God in the temple on the Sabbath and not violating the Sabbath.
The Lord Jesus continued: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
God is a merciful God. The Lord Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. He also wants us to be merciful to others. If we show mercy to others, we will receive God’s mercy. The Pharisees only paid attention to the rules of the law and had no mercy on others. They had no relationship with God and treated the innocent as guilty. The Lord Jesus said that He is greater than the temple and He is the Lord of the Sabbath. He established the Sabbath.
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)
The Lord Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man so that he could have rest and have rest in the Lord, man was not made for the Sabbath, man was not bound by the Sabbath so that he cannot do anything. The Pharisees only focused on keeping the Sabbath, but did not know the Lord of the Sabbath, and even wanted to put him to death.
I hope that more people will come to the Lord, know the Lord, and have an intimate relationship with the Lord. 🙏😊
