Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3 And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” 5 And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees in these verses is astonishing. Jesus is a commoner, the son of a common woman married to a common man, a carpenter. Jesus himself has no formal education and appears to have been schooled by his father as a carpenter, rather than as an academic. Yet, when the Pharisees (keepers of the religious text, knowers of God’s word,
and steeped in religious learning) seek to catch Jesus in error, He is able to point the rebuke in the other direction by referring to their learning. Jesus says, “have you not read…”. There are two important issues here. Firstly, in Jesus day only the religious elite could read, it wasn’t a common skill. By using this phrase Jesus is showing his learned opponents that He,
a commoner, can read. Secondly, Jesus shows off His ability to recall what he has read and then apply it to the point that he left the Pharisees speechless. So what has this got to do with the importance of reading?
In Jesus’ day, reading was a sign of privilege and prestige. The privileged could read, a reality that put them into a different social and economic bracket to the rest of society. And these elite members of society lorded this power and privilege over the common folk. So much so that Jesus delivers a fearful rebuke of them in Matthew 23:1 – 26 (I encourage you to read it). Initially, Jesus’ begins to expose the foolhardiness of the Pharisees indirectly. He addresses the crowd and His disciples, publicly renouncing the hypocrisy of the learned elite. He then goes on to address the Pharisees directly and judges them for their abuse. So what can we learn from this? We are responsible before God for how we use this gift. Four thoughts:
1) Reading is about learning
This may seem obvious. An exchange of information and ideas occurs when we read and write. The person who writes, as one who is teaching. The one who reads, as one who is learning. Before we can write or teach, we must have learned something, we must have read. There is a good reason why Europeans say that they are “reading” for their degree, instead of “studying” as we South Africans say. Reading requires submission to the ideas of another. You intentionally expose yourself to someone else’s ideas when you read, and then take those ideas on board and remember them, or cast them aside and forget them. The point is though, that you have had to think, you have had to reason, you have had to place yourself in the vulnerable position of student. Reading is about learning.
2) Reading is about teaching
A sound education is a wonderful gift. A gift that can be used for personal enrichment and self-glorification, as in the case of the Pharisees. Or our education can be used for the benefit of those around us, as in the case of Jesus Christ. When you consider that Jesus Christ, “… is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, upholding the universe by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3), yet He did nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit but, in Humility counted others as more significant than Himself (Philippians 2:3). Jesus, the most educated and intelligent man the world has ever known did not lord His prestige or power over those around Him. Instead, He used it to serve those around Him. He did this by teaching. Jesus taught tirelessly. He taught massive crowds, as at the sermon on the mount, and he taught small groups, as with Peter, James and John. Jesus taught those who were wise, as with the Nicodemus in John 3 and He taught commoners, as with the disciples and the crowds in Luke 9:10 – 17. Jesus taught woman, as with Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38 – 42 and he taught small children, as in Matthew 19. Jesus taught.
Similarly, those of us who can read ought to be willing to teach. Teaching has no real benefit (other than the development of patience) for the one who teaches. But is of great benefit to the one who learns. Teaching is about the growth and development of the student, it ought to be others-focused. Not everyone is able to teach large groups of people or lead them systematically through the bible. But, the responsibility to teach remains. Older ladies teaching younger ladies, older men teaching younger men, fathers and mothers teaching their children (Titus 2). Reading promotes teaching.
3) Reading is about leading
Harry Truman, 33rd President of the United States of America, once said, “not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers”. While this rule is not absolute (there are exceptions) the principle is important; that to lead well, one ought to read. The reason is that reading broadens our perspective, exposes us to new ideas and experiences and develops critical thinking skills. George Martin once wrote, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only once”. Our life experience is enhanced by reading and in turn, provides perspective, new ideas, strategies and problem-solving skills. All of which can be used to lead others (families, churches, businesses, governments) as we all navigate our way through life. Reading promotes leading.
4) Reading is about protecting the ignorant.
Ignorance is bliss, someone once said. The opposite, however, is true. Those who are ignorant are most likely to be abused. There is nothing blissful about that. Jesus’ example of courageous leadership stands out against a background of self-seeking religious and government leaders who sought self-indulgence and self-enrichment at the expense of the common person (not much has changed since then). Jesus stood in the gap between the ignorant and the religious elite. Jesus taught the ignorant the truth, reducing their ignorance and exposing the arrogance of the religious elite. Jesus protected the vulnerable from those who would seek to abuse them. In the same way, we ought to seek the well-fare of others through our education. The world is still full of those who would use the ignorance of others for their own self-enrichment. We ought to stand in the gap for them and protect them.
Further to this, Jesus sought to protect the ignorant from the wrath of God. Jesus’ death was propitiatory to the extent that it pleased the Father to visit His wrathful indignation, meant for sinners, upon His own Son. Jesus’ message wasn’t meant to protect you and me in life only, but in death also. To this end, all of us were ignorant, all of us had gone astray, each of us to our own way. None of us sought the truth or cared about reading truth or were even open to the truth (Romans 3:9 – 11). But God! He displayed his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8), He (God) made Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21). How do we know this, we read about it in God’s word. We read about it!
So, what is the point of all this? Read! Learn! Study! Do it for the glory of God. Education is not salvation. It doesn’t necessarily change people, it may just make smarter criminals. The gospel saves people. The gospel as recorded in God’s word. The world is full of people who have not heard God’s word, people who are ignorant of his ways, unaware of his truth, who have no idea of who Jesus is. We who know, who can read and study, have the responsibility to learn about the gospel, to teach the gospel, to lead others in the gospel and so protect those who are ignorant of the gospel. Let us read!
