CORNERSTONE CHURCH September 22, 2013

RESPONDING TO THE KING 04 AND THE RELIGIOUS Matthew 12:1–14

Illustration: Crazy, Stupid Laws • I’m sure you have heard some of these before, but there are some really crazy, dumb laws still on the books of cities and countries around the world that have never been removed from the books. So for instance . . . o In Samoa, it is illegal to forget your wife’s birthday o In Switzerland, you may not wash your care on a Sunday o In Milan, Italy, it is a legal requirement to smile at all times, except at a funeral or hospital. o In Pennsylvania, it’s against the law to tie a dollar bill on a string on the ground and pull it away when someone tries to pick it up. o In Oklahoma, you can be arrested for making ugly faces at a dog. o In Florida, it is illegal to pass gas in a public place after 6 pm on Thursdays. o Also in Florida, unmarried women who parachute on Sundays can be jailed. o In Blythe, California, a person must own at least two cows before he can be permitted to wear cowboy boots in public. o In Missouri, It is illegal to drive with an uncaged bear (Caged bears are OK) o In Maine, it's illegal to have Christmas decorations up after Jan. 14 o In South Carolina, you must be 18 years of age to play a pinball machine o In Idaho, it is illegal for a man to give his sweetheart a box of candy weighing more than 50 lbs o In North Carolina, bingo games can't last more than 5 hours • How about in the state of Ohio? o It is illegal to get a fish drunk in the city of Cleveland o In Bay Village, it is illegal to walk a cow down Lake Road o In Bexley, Ohio, ordinance #223 prohibits the installation and usage of slot machines in outhouses o In Cleveland, it is illegal to catch a mouse without a hunting license o In Toledo, it is illegal to throw a snake at anyone. o In Youngstown, you may not run out of gas

Why are these so funny? Because they don’t make sense. But here’s the deal, they did make sense to someone at some point in time. They made perfect sense. At some point in time, someone made them; maybe because they were reacting to what someone had done, but certainly because they were trying to affect the behavior of people. That’s what laws do. They are created in order to frame a person’s behavior. 1 This is something that humanity is good at. We are really good at making laws and regulations in order to affect the behaviors of people. And there was nobody better at this than the religious leaders of Israel. They were master lawmakers and law keepers. They were quick to add to the teachings of Scripture with rules and traditions that made them look good.

As we study the book of Matthew, one thing is starting to become apparently clear. The religious leaders did not like Jesus. They were not fans of Jesus, and certainly were not interested in following Him. They were always looking for opportunities to display their goodness before everyone, especially Jesus when He would break one of their man-made rules. They situated themselves as enemies of Jesus and that pattern continues to this day. ONE OF THE GREATEST ENEMIES OF JESUS IS RELIGION!

This might sound strange to you; so let me define what I mean by this. When I say religion I mean outward, external behaviors instead of internal heart desires. The were masterful at performing in order to make themselves look good externally. But Jesus wasn’t interested in that. In fact, this is one of the greatest enemies to what Jesus came here to do. He did not come here to simply clean us up on the outside. He came here to make us new on the inside. Of course that is going to affect the outside, but the only way to do that was to make us new internally.

The problem is that these rules and regulations are still a temptation to many even inside the church that claims Jesus. It is so easy for these rules to become our substitute savior because, well, they are tangible. We can see them. And we feel better about ourselves when we are able to keep these rules. Keeping these rules can become our salvation. That is why we have lots of young children growing up thinking the little stars on their Sunday School chart for perfect attendance makes them more acceptable to God. And maybe that’s not just a kid problem. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

It is easy for us, to be more like the Pharisees than we want to admit we are, when we become a place where keeping rules becomes the goal instead of pursing Jesus. For many, keeping rules eliminates a need for Jesus. And this is so dangerous. Legalism (the view that we are made righteous through our obedience) is one of the greatest enemies of Jesus Christ. If you think you are better or more acceptable to God because you don’t celebrate the pagan holiday of Christmas, you are probably well on your path toward danger. Tullian Tchividjian in his book, Jesus + Nothing = Everything (which I would highly recommend) makes this observation . . .

“Legalism preserves our illusion that we can do this. On our own, we can generate the meaning and purpose and protection and significance we crave—a craving which will crush us if it isn’t satisfied. We can do it—all it takes is doing the right things in the right way at the right time. Work hard enough at it, and all we deeply desire will be ours. And we’ll congratulate

2 ourselves, knowing we’ve achieved this without the help of others and without the help of God.”1

This is where we find ourselves at the beginning of Matthew 12 as Jesus confronts the religious leaders of Israel and calls out their religiosity. Their true colors of religion instead of a relationship with God were exposed one average Saturday afternoon as Jesus and the boys go for a little walk.

Vs. 1–2  Jesus and His disciples are walking through some field on the Sabbath and we are told the guys are hungry. So, they pluck some of the heads of grain and eat them. We might not fully get this because we don’t often think like a 1st Century Jew. But let me point out a few things.

It does seem strange to us that they would just walk through a field and pick grain and eat it. But that was a very popular thing to do, as they didn’t have McDonalds or Taco Bell to stop at when they were hungry. And in Deuteronomy 23:25, God says that it was okay for you as you walked through a neighbor’s field, if you were hungry, to pick some grain. God just said you were not allowed to bring a sickle with you and cut it down; i.e., you were not allowed to bring bags with you to fill up on their grain. It wasn’t a time for shopping, but snacking was certainly allowed.

And so the problem is not that they ate grain from someone else’s field. The problem for the Pharisees was that it was the Sabbath. The Sabbath, which was Friday at sundown to Saturday at sundown, was a very big deal for the religious leaders. Keeping the Sabbath was of first importance for them. And it should have been, as it was the 4th Commandment.

 Exodus 20:8–10  “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work.”

As we might well imagine, they wanted to obey this command, but in order to do so, they felt they needed to identify and expand on what God meant by “not do any work.” And in order to define that, they had to make rules and regulations, which became traditions on what was work and what was not work. For instance2—and this is one of the more obscure examples—they said that if you were to spit on the Sabbath and it landed on a rock, you were okay. But if it landed on the dirt and penetrated the dirt, that would be plowing, which is work. And so, in their religion, their relationship with God boiled down to where you spit on the Sabbath.

But there are more examples. For instance, God had told them in Exodus 16:29 to not go out of their place on the Sabbath. But again, what does “not go out of your place” mean? When has a person travelled too far and “gone

1 Tchvidjian, Tullian. Jesus + Nothing = Everything. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011), 49. 2 Many of these examples are found in James Montgomery Boice’s commentary on Matthew. 3 out of their place” and broken this law of God? They felt it was up to them to make laws governing how far was too far to travel. They decided that it would be allowable for someone to walk up to 1,000 yards on the Sabbath; beyond that would be sin.

But even in that, there were exceptions. If a person had left food somewhere across town before the Sabbath, they could travel to that place, eat their food there because that place basically established a temporary residence; and then they could extend 1,000 feet beyond that place. I suppose that if you were smart enough, you might be able to travel anywhere you wanted.

Or another example . . . through the prophet (17:21–27), God told the people not to carry a burden out of their houses on the Sabbath. They took that to mean you were not allowed to carry any load of any kind. But then they sought to figure out what constituted a load. One of their applications of that was that you were not allowed to carry any clothing with you, but you could wear it. So if you wanted to get your laundry done on the Sabbath, you could put it on in one room, walk to the other room, and then take it off. Sort of sounds like some of the rules we began with this morning.

But most among these rules was that you were not allowed to work in the fields on the Sabbath. It was certainly wrong to work in the farm on the day set aside for rest and worship. And this is what the Pharisees accused the disciples of doing on this day as they walked through that field picking grain. They were accused of reaping the grain. But then in order to eat it, they would have had to rub it together in their hand, separating the chaff from the grain. This is called threshing.

And then they would have blown off the chaff, called winnowing. To top it off, I suppose, the Pharisees could have summarized that this whole incident was preparing a meal, which was also against their laws. And this is why they go to Jesus to talk to Him about what they were doing.

But even as they come to Jesus in vs. 2, I have to wonder if they were really interested in defending their man-made laws or justifying themselves for these laws. I say that because they never talk to the ones who committed these “sins.” We are never told that Jesus did it, but the disciples. And they didn’t even address it with them. They were trying to get Jesus.

Which proves another point. I doubt there has ever been anyone who has had more scrutiny in their life than Jesus did from the religious leaders of Israel. Sure, with transportation and technology today, it seems like more. I don’t know if you follow golf at all, but there have been three times this year that Tiger Woods has had a penalty called on him as someone watching on TV has called into the PGA questioning that a ball moved or that he didn’t do something right. That’s scrutiny.

4 But it just doesn’t seem to compare to Jesus. These religious leaders followed Jesus around looking for something to go wrong. Everywhere Jesus went, they were looking to see if they could discredit His life and ministry. Which, if you think about it, makes the point of His righteous life even stand out more. Don’t you think that if Jesus ever became drunk or beat someone or just became ticked off at His disciples, the religious leaders would have made a big deal of it? Certainly, if He had, they would have pointed it out. All of their accusations are ridiculous claims, not of sinful actions against God, but against their man-made rules.

In addition, didn’t they have more important things to do than to watch Jesus? Think about it, it was the Sabbath! It was their day of rest to worship the Lord. And instead of doing that, they were outside watching Jesus like a hall monitor in school looking for someone running in the halls. It just proves again that their concern was not internal, heart worship of God, but they were in it for external outward religion. Instead of worshipping God, they were trying to find fault in Jesus.

When the disciples eat this grain, they go to Jesus and complain that His disciples were doing what was not lawful to do on the Sabbath. Again, nowhere are we ever told in the Scriptures that they were not allowed to do this. They were not breaking the teachings of Scripture, but the rules and traditions of men.

Jesus’ response to them is masterful. It is firm, yet inquisitive. He doesn’t get upset or angry, but He responds by asking them several questions to make them think about their own heart in this matter. Jesus appeals to them on several levels that I want to share with you. HIS FIRST APPEAL IS A BIBLICAL EXAMPLE.

Vs. 3–4  Jesus takes them to an example of someone . . . well, not just someone, it was actually King David . . . who did something that was not particularly encouraged. Jesus asks them, “have you not read?” Of course they had read it. Jesus isn’t questioning their reading skills, but their interpreting skills. He means, “Certainly you know the story of King David in 1 Samuel 21.” Obviously, they had never understood it.

Here’s the story that Jesus shares with them. David had been anointed the King of Israel, but Saul was still on the throne. And Saul hated David and was chasing him all over the countryside trying to kill him. On the run for his life, without food or weapons, David enters the city of Nob and goes to the house of God looking for food. The only food available was the Bread of the Presence, which was prepared by the priest before the Sabbath and placed in the holy place as a reminder of God’s faithfulness to the 12 tribes of Israel in the provision of food (Exodus 25:30).

5 Nowhere in 1 Samuel 21 or Matthew 12 does it say that it was the Sabbath, but we do know that the Bread of the Presence would have been placed there for the Sabbath. And we do know that the Bread was not for the common person, but it was for the priests only, and only after the Sabbath.

But David walks in and talks to the priest who gives him the food that was only to be for the priest. At this point, we have nothing in any text that says David or the priest was wrong. If David was right, then his need at that moment superseded the normal rules that would have restricted the bread to be just for the priest. The law was given to help people, not to make life difficult. Why would Jesus share this example?

Well, I suppose this example is to show us that this law of eating the bread only by the priest was superseded by the needs of His people. And if God makes allowances for His own law to be broken under certain situations for the betterment of His people, then certainly, God would allow these foolish man-made traditions to be broken for the same purpose.

What this example does for us is to give us pause when we are making our own rules. Maybe we should be very cautious in justifying ourselves for keeping the law of God while yet ignoring the needs of others. Maybe when we do that, we are no better than these Pharisees. But I do suppose at this point, with this example, the Pharisees could have looked at this as it was inferential, rather than prescriptive.

Yes, okay Jesus, maybe that one example was allowed or not condemned as sinful, but does that mean the Bread of the Presence is allowed to be eaten by anyone at anytime? Certainly not. Certainly this illustration was not meant to say that the law should always be broken. Certainly, this was just a very unique example, right? Maybe that is why Jesus kept going to a second appeal: HIS SECOND APPEAL IS A BIBLICAL TEXT.

Vs. 5–6  I particularly enjoy this one. Again, Jesus wants to point out something to them from the Scriptures that they claimed to be experts in. If they believe that working on the Sabbath is the ultimate evil, then why would God command that priests work on the Sabbath? He takes them back to Numbers 28:9–10 and asks them to think logically about this issue. The right worship of God demanded that the Levitical priests do some work. They were to teach and pray. They were to slaughter animals and drag them to the altar for sacrifice. There was physical and mental work required.

Jesus’ point is that it is wrong to say exclusively that there is never to be any work on the Sabbath. Yes, God said that the Sabbath was a day of rest, and that they were not to work, but that doesn’t mean no work happens on the Sabbath. Some work even takes precedence over the Sabbath rest. The place where they worked, the temple of God, trumped the act of their work. The temple was more important than whether or not they did no work.

6 I believe what Jesus means by this is that the law knows priorities. The purpose of the Sabbath rest was because we need it. What we learned in David’s case is that human needs supersede Sabbath regulations. What we learn here is that so do worship and service. For those priests that worked really hard on the Sabbath, they were not breaking the 4th Commandment; they were worshipping their God.

But then Jesus applies it to His disciples situation in vs. 6 when He says that there is something greater than the Temple there. This would have probably been the most infuriating statement Jesus made at this time to these religious leaders. What in the world could be more important than the temple—the place where God came to dwell? This is blasphemous.

Of course, what is Jesus talking about? He is referring to Himself—He is greater than the temple. The work of Jesus is greater than the Temple because instead of a singular place where God came to dwell, in Jesus, we actually have God. He is greater than the temple because He is God!

Listen, if the priests may work to serve God in the temple, the space that represents God; how much more so should the disciples be allowed to work to assist Jesus, for He IS the presence of God. And if the place of their work (the temple) trumps the act of their work, and if the temple trumps the Sabbath, then something greater than the temple can certainly allow things to take place on the Sabbath.

As Jesus is asking them questions and pointing out their hypocrisy, He comes rd to the main point of His argument, which is His 3 appeal. HIS THIRD APPEAL IS BIBLICAL MERCY.

Vs. 7–8  This is a quote from Hosea 6:6, that Jesus said they should have understood. They should have noticed that the purpose of the Law was not their performance, but mercy and love. But frankly, they didn’t want to see it. They were blinded by their own pride and thought that everything they did was right because they wanted to be the ones recognized by people. They wanted human applause for their good works.

In one sweeping motion, Jesus says His disciples were guiltless. He takes the bible to the Bible people and reminds them that the point of the Law was to move people to love God and love others. Isn’t that how Jesus even summarized the law later to these religious guys? Jesus would say that it can all be broken down into two commands: Love God and love others. Mercy. The purpose of the law is not to make yourself look better in an act of self- sacrifice. Yes, self-sacrifice is good, but not when it is used for performance instead of moving you to love God and others.

And instead of teaching people about love and mercy, we have a tendency to teach them that it is about morality. This is what we are really good at in the

7 Church. We are really good at teaching people that moralism is what the is all about. Even today, those outside the church probably get the impression that Christianity is all about observing certain standards of behavior or abstaining from others. People get the idea that we believe God will be proud of you if you clean your act up.

Listen, Christian, this is not our message. Our message is that we are a mess and hopeless without the , without Jesus. Our message is that we can never do anything that will earn His favor. No amount of church attendance, memorization, giving, sexual purity, wearing certain clothes, having certain haircuts, or isolating ourselves from the world will EVER earn us favor with God. In fact, we can NEVER earn favor. Favor is only given as a special gift through Jesus. It is only found because He pursued a relationship with us. And that’s where all our actions should exist—in a relationship.

For Jesus, He wraps up His discussion with them by informing them He is the Lord of the Sabbath! And if the purpose of the Sabbath was for rest and worship of God, then it is for Him . . . He is God. This is all about being in a relationship with Him.

And so, as we evaluate our hearts, let me ask you this question: Do you think people you interact with outside of Christianity believe you are better than them because you do or don’t do certain things? Or do they believe you are different because you have come to bow at the feet of the only One who was perfect? There’s a big difference between those two questions. Or maybe I should not ask you what they think . . . what do you believe? Are you quick to point out their faults or to invite them to the cross that you bow?

Jesus’ first appeal to their objection was to use a biblical example. The second was to use a biblical text to show that reasoning and common sense was needed to understand the law. The third was that the purpose of the law was love and mercy. At this time, Jesus actually moves on from that conversation.

But Matthew, our writer, taken an account that happened on a different Sabbath day to provide an illustration of what this sort of mercy looks like in th our 4 appeal by Jesus. HIS FOURTH APPEAL IS A BIBLICAL MIRACLE.

Vs. 9–13  Jesus enters the synagogue, the place of worship and center of community life in smaller towns, and the religious leaders approach Him with a question: “Do you see that man with a withered hand, is it lawful to heal him on the Sabbath?” As if we couldn’t see it, Matthew informs us they asked Jesus this question in order to trap them. They were not inquisitive, seeking to learn, they were cynical and trying to provoke Jesus.

This was a good question. You see, according to Jewish tradition, it was okay to heal or treat someone medically on the Sabbath, but only in life-threatening situations. And a guy with a withered hand was not life-threatening. I suppose

8 Jesus could have said to the man, “come to my house tomorrow and I will take care of your hand.” But that’s not what Jesus does. That’s ridiculous to Jesus. I can just well imagine that Jesus became righteously angered and sad at the same time.

“For Jesus here, the supreme affront is that God is used as a pretext for this parading—as if the saving God who gave the Sabbath commandment wanted to be placed on hold for several hours while human beings hurt.”3

In response, Jesus uses an everyday example for them to point out to them their hypocrisy. He tries to imagine a situation in which they have a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath. Certainly, they would not think twice about lifting the sheep out of the pit. And the sheep, like the man, was not in grave danger and could have waited for a few hours. I can picture them shrinking back or thinking of a way to justify their position in this.

Jesus turns on them and tells them, “how much more value is a man than a sheep!” Of course, no matter what PETA says. The man is created in the image of God; the sheep is not. Because of that, Jesus instructs them that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

I also wonder if there is a little jab here. In answering in this way, I wonder if Jesus is subtly asking them if the Sabbath was for evil activities like questioning Him with these mischievous intents—or for good things, like healing this man.

Jesus doesn’t even wait for them to answer. He looks at the man and heals him. And this obviously didn’t go well with the Pharisees, for their response was to go out and conspire how they were going to destroy Him. It takes us back to what we said at the beginning. ONE OF THE GREATEST ENEMIES OF JESUS IS RELIGION! Religious people hated Jesus because He exposed their sin and they didn’t want to think of themselves as sinful.

Friends, are you a sinner? Then you need a savior. And your way to salvation is not found in your performance, but in the gospel of the Lord of the Sabbath. He came, lived the perfect life that we could never live, but then died the death that we deserved to die. And the great news of the gospel is that through trust in Jesus alone, we can have His righteousness applied to our case and our sin applied to His. That’s the gospel.

It is not about being righteous; it is about being broken. It is not about telling people how good you are; it is about telling them how needy you are. It is not about working to earn your standing with God; it is about recognizing your best works are yet filthy rags to God.

May God help us stop our religiosity for His glory and our good!

3 Bruner, Frederick Dale. The Christbook, –12. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), 553. 9