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1. What did Jesus’ disciple do and what question did the Pharisees raise? (v1-2) How did Jesus answer them? (3-5) Think about the story of David and that of the priests? (cf. 1Sa 21:6; Num 28:9,10) 2. What did Jesus say about himself? (6-8) Think about the meaning of each. 3. When Jesus went into their synagogue, who was there? What did the Pharisee ask Jesus? (9-10) What did Jesus say to them? (11-12) What did they have to know and learn? 4. What prophecy was fulfilled? (15-17) How is God’s chosen servant described and what does he do? (18-21) What can be the hope of the nations?

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Message

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We thank God for the Father and the Son who have been revealed to us. The Father is our heavenly Father, who forgives all our sins and cares for his children in this world and hears all their prayers. The Son conquered sin and death. In all his authority the Son Jesus invites all the weary and burdened to himself to give each of them rest. He wants us to take his yoke upon us and learn from him. How beautiful this Jesus is! But in today’s passage the Pharisees try to accuse Jesus as a Sabbath law-breaker so as to eliminate him. Yet, Jesus reveals himself as Lord of the Sabbath and as one who truly values one person. Matthew sees in this Jesus God’s chosen servant, who was prophesied to come through the prophet Isaiah. Let’s think about this Jesus. First, Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (1-8). Look at verse 1. “At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.” It is a beautiful scene which we hardly ever see in cities like Toronto. When we are hungry, we want to eat anything and everything seems to be delicious. How happy the disciples must have been looking at the harvest field of God’s creation and trying to fill their hungry stomach with some heads of grain! They were like happy-go-lucky innocent children following Jesus. But surprisingly there were some spies hidden in the grain field. While the disciples began to munch away at the heads of grain, the Pharisees suddenly stood up and caught the scene and said to Jesus, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath. Now what do you say? Ha, ha, ha.” They thought Jesus would have nothing to say. In the Old Testament God was mindful of the poor and allowed them to pick up some grains and eat them. Deuteronomy 23:24-25 says, “If you enter your neighbour’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. If you enter your neighbour’s grainfield, you may pick up kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to his standing grain.” However, the Pharisees pointed out that Jesus’ disciples did it on the Sabbath. They regarded their picking up the grain as reaping, robbing it in their hands as threshing and blowing it as winnowing. So to the Pharisees the disciples worked against the Sabbath law, “On Sabbath you shall not do any work…” (Ex 20:8). They were so meticulous in keeping the Sabbath law that they could not think of basic human needs, not knowing the mindfulness of God. What did Jesus say to them? Look verses 3-4. “He answered, ‘Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 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.” In the Bible David was a shadow of the Messiah. The Messiah Jesus was often called the Son of David by the common Israelites. When we read Kings or Chronicles, kings of Israel were judged by the standard of David with the descriptions, “walked in the ways of his father David,” “just as David had done” or “unlike David” (2 Chor 17:3; 2 Chron 29:2; 2 Kings 18:3; 2 Kings 16:2;). To the Israelites what David did mattered. Jesus answered the Pharisees’ issue by citing the case of David written in 1 Samuel 21. At that time David was running for his life because King Saul tried to kill him out of his jealousy. David entered the house of God and asked Ahimelech the priest, “…Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.” Making sure that David’s men were pure and holy before God, the priest gave David the consecrated bread, because he had no ordinary bread. Jesus understood the incident in this way, “when David and his companions were hungry, 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.” Strictly speaking, David did what was unlawful. But the Scriptures did not condemn him. And Jesus was sure that the Pharisees would not say that what David was unlawful. In this way Jesus taught the Pharisees how they should apply God’s law including Sabbath law to human life. God knows human need and this human need should take precedence before any ritual custom. This is not ignoring God’s law at all but rather, acknowledgement of the spirit of the law, which is God’s mercy. God gave men Sabbath law so that they might rest in God through worshipping God. In the course of keeping the Sabbath law meticulously, the Pharisees lost the point, the spirit of the law and went on their own way. They themselves did not have rest and made others have no rest, although they kept the Sabbath law scrupulously. In order to make sure that the Pharisees understand regarding what is lawful and unlawful, Jesus tells them one more story. Look at verse 5. “Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?” On the Sabbath the priests had to offer Sabbath offering in addition to the regular daily offering. So they had to work double. Yet, the Bible does not condemn them to be guilty of breaking the Sabbath law but consider them to be innocent priests who worked hard for God and his people. Jesus knew that surely the Pharisees did not have even in mind to condemn the priests. When people try to keep God’s law superficially merely on a physical level, there is conflict, not knowing which law they have to keep first, the sacrificing law or the Sabbath law. They need to have the spirit of the law and spiritual understanding. This is Jesus’ conclusion. Look at verses 6-8. “I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Jesus revealed who he is. He is greater than the Temple. The temple in Jerusalem was most important in the lives of the Israelites. In the temple animal sacrifices were made for the forgiveness of their sins. God would hear their prayers when they prayed toward the temple. Jesus came to be the invisible temple of God through his own sacrifice, greater and perfect. We worship God in him and our sins are forgiven through him. The temple in Jerusalem was gone as a temporary one, but Jesus remains forever as our temple. Next, Jesus wanted the Pharisees to know the meaning of the words, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” written in Hosea 6:6. In his mercy God knows our human needs. He does not merely demand sacrifice. He wants us to know his mercy. Mark wrote Jesus’ word in this, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath is the day of rest for man by having fellowship with God. When we worship God wholeheartedly on Sunday, we can have true rest and form a right pattern of life in the following week. Jesus said lastly, “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” In the previous passage God the Father, Lord of heaven and earth, committed all things to the Son. Now the Son declares that he is Lord of the Sabbath, in Mark, “Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mk 2:28). On the Sabbath his disciples were walking with Jesus and eating beside him with the dedication of their whole life to him. Who could keep the Sabbath law more than they in the world? May we not be legalistic or habitual in keeping the laws but know the spirit law and most importantly follow Jesus, having him in the centre of our lives. Second, Jesus truly values one soul (9-15). Look at verses 9-10. “Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’” According to Matthew’s description, the Pharisees seemed to be contacted with “lawful” disease, which was awful. According to their Sabbath law, they were not to heal the sick on the Sabbath, regarding that healing was working. In an emergency case they would prevent a patient from becoming worse in the illness, but not heal the patient. They could put a bandage on a wound but not to cure it. They were to heal the sick on other days, not Sabbath (Lk 13:14). What did Jesus say to their question? Look at verses 11,12. “He said to them, ‘If anyone of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Here Jesus taught them the value of a man before telling them what is lawful on the Sabbath. In the first part, the Pharisees’ heart attitude toward God was wrong. Then everything went wrong, even keeping the laws. Here when they did not know the value of a person, their keeping the Sabbath law would be pointless. So Jesus was trying to teach them the value of a man. Jesus is really scintillating in wisdom. He always questions back when attacked with a tricky question. He said to them, “If anyone of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?” Jesus knew that their answer would be certainly, “yes.” It was their usual practice that on the Sabbath they untied their ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water (Lk 13:15). Jesus added, “How much more valuable is a man than a sheep!” Selfish human beings still can question, “Which is more valuable to me, my dog or my neighbor?” I heard about some people who cried with tears many days when their dogs died, but not over their neighbour’s death. Yet, Jesus wants us to know the value of a human being, not intending to devaluate an animal. Jesus said, “Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Now Jesus shows how to value a man and do good in order to be lawful on the Sabbath. Look at verses 13,14. “Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.” To Jesus, the man was still valuable even though his one hand was shriveled. In his right value system, Jesus had a shepherd heart for the man. Jesus knew that due to his shriveled hand, he had many disadvantages and handicaps in life. This was his fatal weakness in making friends or applying jobs, and definitely in his marriage. Jesus knew all his life agonies. To Jesus he had to be healed as quickly as possible, no matter what, whether it was Sabbath. Jesus did not care what his own future would be by healing this man. He only cared to heal the man with a shriveled hand. In healing the man Jesus did not heal him gently by touching his shriveled hand. Rather, Jesus commanded him, “Stretch out your hand.” It must have been very difficult for the man to stretch out his schriveled hand before the Pharisees, Jesus’ enemies. They were watching closely whether Jesus would heal him. He could obey Jesus courageously or remain as he was in the fear of the Pharisees. Jesus helped him in this way, not healing him secretly so that his heart might not be schriveled. Jesus wanted to give him a wholesome healing. Wonderfully the man stretched out his hand and it was completely restored. And it was just as sound as the others. His whole body became sound and surely his heart as well. At this the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. This showed that Jesus valued this one man and made him whole risking his own life. It is the excellent preview of Jesus’ death on cross for you and me. 1 Peter 2:24 says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” In his grace may we stand on Jesus and his truth in this world and really learn to value one soul and care for one person no matter what the cost may be. Third, Jesus is God’s chosen servant (15-21). When the enemies plotted how they might kill Jesus, what did he do? Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, warning them not to tell who he was. His shepherd heart had no limitation, valuing one person and healing one after another reaching to all those who followed him. In the series of these events Matthew could go deeper into the meaning of all these work of Jesus. Look at verse 17. “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah.” This prophecy shows who Jesus is, what he does, and what the hope of the nations will be. Look at verse 18. “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him…” Jesus is first of all God’s chosen servant. He is the one God loves and in whom he delights. At the time of Jesus’ baptism, a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17). God’s choice, God’s love and God’s delight, these three things are important about the person Jesus. God would put his Spirit on him. The source of his power and wisdom was the Spirit of God (Acts 10:38). Then what would he do? Look at verse 18b. “…he will proclaim justice to the nations.” What an amazing work! In the unjust world he would proclaim justice to the nations. How would he do it? Look at verse 19. “He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.” In Isaiah 42:2, “He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.” He would speak the truth to the heart personally. There would be no need of quarrelling, shouting or crying out in the streets. One who opens his or her heart to him would hear his voice. Look at verse 22. “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory.” This was exactly what Jesus did in the healing of a man with a shriveled hand and defending his disciples. The man was just like a bruised reed and a smoldering wick and each of his disciples also before the Pharisees. The people of the world were ready to break the reed-like man and snuff out the smoldering wick-like person. But Jesus protected him and fought for him and healed him and made him whole. The man stood up with his feeble legs and stretched out his heart and arm and hand. Jesus’ justice won a victory in him against the unjust and evil world. What could be more beautiful than this in the nations? Jesus’ justice is to make a person whole in this world full of injustice and evil. This is truly the hope of each nation. So verse 21 says, “In his name the nations will put their hope.” We thank Jesus who is Lord of all, even of the Sabbath, and who valued and healed a man with a shriveled hand even risking his own life. Thus he showed that God’s chosen servant does not break a bruised reed and snuff out a smoldering wick till he leads justice to victory. His justice will have victory in each of us and in God’s flock of sheep. He is the hope of all nations. May God help us to follow Jesus personally in this world.

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