Matthew 12:2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to [Jesus], “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
In examining Matthew 12:1-8 in my last piece, I illuminated the message that Jesus is the Christ, thus He knows what proper Sabbath activity is! Yet there is still the question, “What are we supposed to be doing on the Sabbath?”
The complete Biblical answer is quite radical: “Whatever the Spirit leads you to do.”
Yes, I am serious. That is what you are supposed to do on a Saturday. And to take it further, that is what we followers of Jesus are called to do every day.
Galatians is the Scripture epistle which explains this, and I will start by giving some context. Hebrew people were all in a covenant often called now the Mosaic Covenant, which was between God and the Hebrew people with Moses as the mediator. People who were not Hebrew were not in this covenant. The Mosaic Covenant included the Ten Commandments, which all Hebrews were required to obey. The fourth commandment was to rest from “work” on the seventh day, (now called Saturday).
Jesus furthered the Mosaic Law (in what we call the Sermon on the Mount), and Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic Law by obeying it during His life in this world, and by dying on the cross as the eternal atoning sacrifice. The messages of the epistle of Galatians make it clear that followers of Jesus are no longer under the Mosaic Law, thus we do not have to travel to Jerusalem three times a year, we do not have to have priests make animal sacrifices for us, and on and on.
We followers of Jesus are under the New Covenant. We still have commandments to obey, all based on love, as first written in the Deuteronomy 6:4-5, and as Jesus proclaimed in Mark 12:29-31. We still must obey moral laws, which are all really aspects of loving people, as we are taught by Jesus as is recorded in places like Matthew 7:12 and Matthew 19:18-19. Yet again, though the Mosaic Law was a root for the moral teachings which Jesus furthered, we are not under the Torah. We Christians are under the Spirit! (see Galatians 5:18).
This passage recorded in Matthew 12 took place before Christ completely fulfilled the Mosaic Law on the cross. Soon after the start of Christ’s ministry, there were criticisms of Jesus from the Hebrew religious leaders called Pharisees. But it was the Pharisees who were doing something wrong, and they were rebuked by Jesus in due time (see Matthew 23). Pharisees were supposed to be interpreting the Bible, but they sometimes legislated rules instead. In this case, they took a general statement on the Sabbath and developed rules for what consisted of “work” and what did not consist of “work.” They missed the message of the commandment. The message, in my own words: people were to rest and worship that day.
The Pharisees made all kinds of Sabbath rules, and in retrospect they were way off the mark, considering even the most basic daily acts of us people involve work. Getting out of bed is work. Eating is work. Taking care of babies is work. And life in ancient Israel involved harder work to carry out basic daily necessities, such as getting a cup of water. Such activities are not what God was trying to halt. Daily “work” is a part of living. God was not saying to lie in bed all day. The commandment was calling for a day of rest from wage labor.
I know from experience that taking a day “off” reinvigorates me so I can be fresh for “work” the following week. I might do something which is physical work, like go for a hike. Yet doing so does refreshes my soul and mind. For me, hiking is not a “job.”
Carrying out their control freak enforcement of the Sabbath, the Pharisees kept accusing Jesus of violating the Mosaic Law, and in the case of this verse, they were accusing His disciples. Ironic considering Jesus is the only one who ever perfectly carried out the Mosaic Law.
What about Sunday worship? Sunday is a day which developed in early Church history as a day to worship our triune God, since Sunday was the day Jesus was resurrected. Considering it has been a day of corporate worship for countless Christians for so long, I personally commit to Sunday being a day for corporate worship or extended personal worship. Yet a special Sunday worship is not a Biblical precept. And many churches carry out traditions, weekly or annually, and such traditions can be a blessing. Yet traditions are not the same as Biblical precepts! As followers of Jesus, we need to always work to make sure first and foremost we are listening and being obedient to Jesus.
Hunter Irvine
