Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19960630.htm

MATTHEW: JESUS AS ISRAEL'S MESSIAH AND HIS MESSIANIC KINGDOM
Part IX: Christ's Messianic Kingdom Certified
E. Messiah's Certification By His Sovereignty Over Technical Conflicts In Scripture Commands
(Matthew 12:1-8)
  1. Introduction
    1. When the Bible clearly draws a line in the sand on what is right and wrong, it is easy for all believers to be united on what it means to obey it.
    2. However, at times when the Scripture's commands can conflict technically with one another due to the tangled webs of modern life, knowing what is right is hard even with an open Bible in front of us.
    3. Jesus gave instructions on what to do in such situations, revealing in the process His Lordship over them.
  2. Messiah's Certification By His Sovereignty Over Technical Conflicts In Scripture Commands.
    1. When Jesus and His disciples went through some grain fields on a Sabbath day, the Pharisees noticed and objected to the disciples picking the ears of grain and eating them, Mtt. 12:1-2.
    2. In reality, this was not a violation of the Law:
      1. Deuteronomy 23:25 allowed one to pick grain and to eat it from another person's field if he was hungry.
      2. What the Pharisees objected against was not the picking of the grain, but the picking of it on the Sabbath day which they thought violated the Sabbath law against doing work, cf. Ex. 20:10, Mtt. 12:2.
      3. Yet, this criticism was invalid, for picking grain for one's food where no money changed hands was not servile work. It was the legalistic view of the Pharisees that made the practice look wrong to them.
    3. Jesus chose not to argue if the Pharisees were legalistic or not, for that would have created an argument that got nowhere. Rather, He showed precedents and an argument from the vantage point that the Pharise es were assumed to be technically right. This way, if He could defend the technical disobedience of the Law, Jesus would be all the more persuasive to the Pharisees. He did so as follows:
      1. Assuming that it was a technical violation of the Sabbath law for the disciples to pick and eat the grain, Jesus told the Pharisees that He had two Old Testament precedents for violating the Sabbath Law:
        1. First, Jesus noted that David ate the shewbread when fleeing from Saul, a bread that was clearly designated only for the priests, Lev. 24:9, cf. 1 Sam. 21:1-6. David felt preserving life this way was superior to technically obeying the Law when there was a difference between the two!
        2. Second, Jesus reminded the Pharisees that God built into the Law a technical violation requirement of the Sabbath Law, anyway: (a) Jesus revealed that the Law showed the temple priests profaning the Sabbath, and yet are considered blam eless by God, Mtt. 12:5. (b) Specifically, the priests whose servile, daily work involved performing the temple sacrifices, were to offer burnt offerings every Sabbath, and on the holy convocation Sabbath of the Passover, the sacrifices included over ten different animals plus associated meal offerings, cf. Num. 28:9-10, 16-23. (c) However, violations of the Sabbath law were technically punishable by death, cf. Ex. 31:14. (d) God however noted that it was more important for the worship of God to proceed properly with the inclusion of the Sabbath day sacrifices than for worship to cease simply to heed these technical restrictions!
      2. Going beyond these technical considerations, Jesus pointed out that He was greater than both the temple and the Sabbath Day, and that He was the Lord of the Sabbath. Thus, whatever He dictated could be performed on the Sabbath in technical violation of the Law was certified just as God certified David's eating the technically forbidden shewbread and just as God also certified the technically forbidden work of the priests on the Sabbath, Mtt. 12:6,8. This way, Jesus claimed He was that God who let David eat the shewbread and who commanded the original Sabbath day sacrifices!
      3. As the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus revealed that Scripture itself put a higher priority on inner spiritual vitality that permitted such technical overrides of Scripture rather than external formality that was a slave to technicalities a t the cost of showing real divine mercy, Matthew 12:7 as quoting Hosea 6:6.
Lesson: The technicalities of Scripture were not given as an end in themselves, but to reveal GOD! Therefore, God expects us to treat technical contradictions in such a way that we honor His character!

Application: If facing technical contradictions in Scripture, God sovereignly expects us to reveal the spirit of God's mercy in what direction we choose to take so that we correctly represent His character!