February 06, 2025 | Be God's Family
The Heart of the Matter
Scripture: Matthew 12:1-14(NIV)
1 At 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.”
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
11 He said to them, “If any 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? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
13 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. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Devotional
How could feeding some friends and healing a man cause the Pharisees to plot how they might kill Jesus? It was a matter of the heart.
Both the feeding and healing incidents took place on the Sabbath. Exodus 20:8-11 lays out the law in the Ten Commandments:
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
To this basic precept, the Pharisees added layers of rules for Sabbath-keeping.
You couldn’t look in a mirror on the Sabbath, because it might tempt you to pluck a gray hair, which would be doing work.
You couldn’t spit on the Sabbath, because it would land on the dirt and you would be plowing.
You couldn’t swat a bug on the Sabbath, lest you be guilty of hunting.
If your house was burning down on the Sabbath, you couldn’t carry out your clothes. However, you could dress in several layers of clothes, then walk out. Hmmm. This sounds like how my daughters fly home without suitcases.
In focusing on their 39 categories of ways to avoid Sabbath-breaking, the Pharisees missed the point. Keeping the Sabbath was about honoring God, the true heart of the matter.
How do you honor the Sabbath? How do you honor God? What changes do you need to make?
Poem
My Shepherd
Psalm 23
My shepherd
My shepherd is working
Providing for my every need
No matter the hour
My shepherd
My shepherd has gone before me
Clearing the path of snares
Finding oasis green pastures
My shepherd
My shepherd calls forth power
Healing me to the depths
Anointing me with the oil of joy
My shepherd
My shepherd is aware
Smelling the scent of danger
Before others can even comprehend the enemy
My shepherd
My shepherd wields might words
Silencing all that would come against me
Even when paths are dark and trials are steep
My shepherd
My shepherd holds me close to His heart
Quelling the trembling of my fear
To comfort me when I am distressed
My shepherd
My shepherd cares not for the mocking of demons
Bidding them “Be gone!”
Returning me to Sabbath’s table
My shepherd
My shepherd has already fashioned my resting fold
Filling with bedding of goodness and mercy
Not just for a moment, but for all my days
