Once again, we have a marvelous opportunity to behold the riches of God's grace in Christ Jesus, as it was manifested in His earthly ministry. Which is obviously a foretaste of a much more glorious relationship that we will have some day in heaven. Now we see in a mirror dimlyright? But then face to face. Now we know in part, but we will one day know fully just as we have always been fully known, and I long for that day to come.

So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter two? We will be in verses 23 through 28, under the heading "Sabbath Controversies and the Trifles of Legalism," this is an issue that will continue to manifest itself in this historical narrative in Mark's gospel. And I certainly pray that the driving priority of your life is to know Christ more fully, and to enjoy him, above all else, which by the way, only comes through a personal pursuit of holiness, and a commitment to knowing His Word, meditating on His Word and applying it to our life. So together, let's seek to mine some of the inexhaustible treasures of the Word of God so that we can see even more fully the transcendent glory of our Savior, beginning in verse 23, of Mark to follow along. "And it happened that he was passing through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. The Pharisees were saying to him, 'Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?' And He said to them, 'Have you never read what David did when he was in need, and he and his companions became hungry; how he entered the house of God and the time of Abiathar, the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?' Jesus said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.'"

I remember the first time I went to Israel, and one of the things they warned me about in the hotels that we would go into is what was called the Shabbat elevators. That was a particular elevator that if you got on it would stop at every single floor. It's what they will use on the Sabbath. Because it's unlawful to light a fire. And the spark that you would cause when you hit the button would cause you to break the Sabbath. So all you have to do is get on the elevator and it just stops at every floor. So you'll learn real quickly on the Sabbath, don't get on that elevator or you'll never get to where you're going. I also learned very quickly that they don't mix meat with dairy. By the way, the elevator issue comes out of Exodus 35 Three, "You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day," and I'll explain more of that later. They don't mix meat with dairy Exodus 23:19 "You are not to boil a young goat in the milk of its mother." So if you go to Israel don't ask for lasagna because they just don't serve it. Amazing rules that they come up with beyond what Scripture applies.

And then of course, there is the Mezuzah, which is a little box that they fasten on to the door posts in their homes. You see thim in the motel rooms, you'll see them in a restaurant, and in that they have a small piece of parchment called a cloth, which means scroll. And on it it has this written Deuteronomy six four through nine "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. These words which I'm commanding you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house. And when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead, you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." And so they will have these little misuses. In fact, it's it's rather comical. I've been in restaurants where the waitress will come to you and as she goes back through the kitchen, she'll kiss and touch them. As soon as they're going to get something, come back, kiss them, the mezuzah, come back to you. And they're just doing this constantly. And then, of course, out of that same text is a tefillin, which is the the wrist bands of the law; on the wrist that they will use when they when they pray, or the phylactery, which is a, again, a small leather box, containing Hebrew texts on vellum, worn by Jewish men during their morning prayer as reminder to keep the law.

And one of the most fascinating things that I saw, I remember the first time one of my guides was showing it to me, it's called an eruv, and it's basically a string or a wire that goes around a certain area. And he was pointing them out to me, as we were driving along. And you could see this wire fastened to all of the utility poles, and it just went on for miles. And if you look it up, this is a guide to an urban area that is enclosed by a wire or string boundary, which symbolically extends the private domain of Jewish households into public areas, permitting activities within it that are normally forbidden in public on the Sabbath. And I'll explain that more in a moment. By the way, one of the most expensive eruvs is in Manhattan, pretty much the whole island has this in a I believe they use  a fishing line to go around the whole island. And of course, this practice is rooted primarily in their understanding of Exodus 16:29. The context there, by the way, was God providing manna for only six days, and but not on the seventh day a reminder to them to keep the Sabbath laws and a challenge for them to obey. There we read, "See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day, remain every man in his place and let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." So the Jewish people later on, the rabbi's figured out a way to extend the boundaries of what could be called your dwelling place. And you would do that by using the strings and wires. If you want to read about some of these regulations. It's good to read Alfred Edersheim, conservative Christian scholar converted Jew, I got caught up in it this week as a matter of fact and probably spent two or three hours just reading it. It's rather technical, but I want to give you a little bit of it because it will help you understand what Jesus was dealing with. Okay? It will help you understand the lengths that people will go to impress God to merit salvation.

In Edersheim's "The Ordinances and Law of the Sabbath as Laid Down in the Mishnah and the Jerusalem Talmud" he says this, "Eruv converts all those places into a sort of private dwelling. Thus, supposing a number of small private houses to open into a common court, it would have been unlawful on the Sabbath to carry anything from one house from one of these houses into the other. This difficulty was removed if all the families deposit before the Sabbath, some food in the common court when a connection is established between the various houses, which makes them one dwelling." It goes on to say "Similarly an extension of what was allowed on as a Sabbath journey might be secured by another co- mixture, the roof or connection of boundaries, and ordinary Sabbath days journey extended 2000 cubits beyond one's dwelling. But if at the boundary of that journey, a man deposited on the Friday, food for two meals, he thereby constituted it as his dwelling and hence he might go on for another 2000 cubits. Lastly, there was another a roof when narrow streets or blind alleys were connected into a private dwelling by laying a beam over the entrance or extending a wire or rope along such streets and alleys. This by legal fiction,” Edersheim says, made them a private dwelling, so that everything was lawful there which a man might do on the Sabbath in his own house."  

An IDF soldier, Jewish soldier who was one of our guides, some of you remember him. He was telling me about some of this and he doesn't go along with all this, but he was explaining, and he said, a lot of this comes out of Jeremiah 17:21. Let me read that to you. "Thus says the Lord, take heed for yourselves and do not carry any load on the Sabbath day, or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem. You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day or do any work but keep the Sabbath day holy as I commanded your forefathers."

Edersheim comments again on some of the absurdity of what the rabbi's did subsequent tothese to these laws. He says quote, "Concerning a beast of burden, an ass might not be led out on the road with its covering on unless such had been put on the animal previous to the Sabbath. But it was lawful to lead the animal about in this fashion in one's courtyard. The same rule apply to a pack saddle provided it were not fastened on by girth, and backstrap upon this one of the rabbi's has reported his bursting into the declaration that this formed part of those Sabbath laws, which he says were mountain suspended by a hare. And yet he goes on to say in all these wearisome details, there is not a single trace of anything spiritual, not a word even to suggest higher thoughts of God's Holy Day and its observance." There are 24 chapters in the Jewish Talmud, which was the primary source of Jewish law that focus on Sabbath restrictions. Imagine being under that burden. And the Mishnah, which is the main text of the Talmud lists 39 major types of laborers forbidden on the Sabbath day I won't read them all to you but let me go through them some of them quickly. Plowing earth, sowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, selecting, baking, weaving, making two loops, weaving two threads, separating two threads, tying untying sewing stitches, tearing, trapping, writing two or more letters, erasing two or more letters, building, which by the way, included you aren't to open an umbrella which is analogous to erecting a tent, and that would fall under the category of construction. Okay? You can't extinguish a fire, you can't kindle the fire, which was ultimately God's way of saying the ladies weren't to prepare meals, putting the finishing touches on an object, transporting an object between private and public domains, or four cubics within public domain.

All right, so there you have it, rabbis conjured up regulations, impacting virtually every area of life. John McArthur records more of some of Edersheim's commentary. He says, "There were laws about wine, honey, milk, spitting, writing and getting dirt off clothes. To avoid work, scribes could not carry their pins, tailors their needles or students their books, you couldn't carry anything heavier than a dried fig. And if the object in question had been picked up in a public place, it could only be set down in a private place. If the object were tossed into the air and had to be caught with the same hand, to catch it with the other hand would constitute work and therefore be a violation of the Sabbath. No insects could be killed, no candle or flame could be lit or extinguished. Nothing could be bought or sold. No bathing was allowed since water might spill onto the floor and accidentally wash it. No furniture could be moved inside the house since it might create ruts in the dirt floor and thereby constitute plowing. An egg could not be boiled. Even if all one did was placed it in the hot desert sand. A radish could not be left in salt because it would become a pickle and pickling constituted work. Sick people were were only allowed enough treatment to keep them alive. Any medical treatment that improve their condition was considered work and therefore prohibited. It was not even permissible for women to look in a mirror since they might be tempted, catch this ladies, to pull out any gray hairs they spot it.  Yes, some of us would be bald right. Nor were they allowed to wear jewelry since jewelry weighs more than a dried fig.

Dear friends, there are only two religions in the world. There's the religious religion of works and the religion of grace. There is the religion of human achievement versus the religion of divine accomplishment. Christianity is the only true religion because it is the religion of divine accomplishment. And because of our sinful nature, man has a proclivity to believe he's far better than he is, and God is far less holy than what he is, and therefore whoever or whatever he or she may be as God. This God rewards those who are good and punishes those who aren't. And Satan provides a book of rules for every religious system. The standard of do's and don'ts, whether it's Roman Catholics or Muslims or the quasi Christian cults, like Jehovah's Witnesses, or Mormons or Seventh Day Adventists the lengths people will go to, to impress God, to somehow merit salvation knows no limits, but I have to tell you, apostate Judaism in the first century, made all of the other works righteousness systems look like novices. I mean, there's putt putt golf, and there's the Masters, right? They were the masters. There's flag football, and there's the NFL. They were the NFL, they exaggerated the importance of all these rules, attached to the trifles of legalism. And of course, this is, in many ways, laughably absurd, but also, it's tragically disturbing, isn't it? Beloved, now, you can understand the liberating power of Jesus invitation when he said, "Come to me, all you who are weary, and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and for and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Now, a reminder of what the Sabbath is biblically. And by the way, yes, I will get to the text. But this is very important information. I want you to make sure you understand these things. That is my responsibility to you. The biblical Sabbath was the sign of the Mosaic Covenant. You read about this in Exodus 31, verses 16 through 17. It was the law God gave Israel through Moses to govern the Israelites as they entered into the promised land and it consisted of 613 commandments, and it was summarized by the Decalogue are the 10 commandments. Obedience to the Mosaic Covenant meant that they stayed connected to the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, and it also revealed to the people, their sinfulness and their need for a Savior because there's no way that anybody could keep the law perfectly. And of course, a new covenant was promised in Jeremiah 31:31, through 32, in particular. Now, obedience to the Mosaic Covenant was supposed to have been done out of a love for God, it was to be a desire, not a duty. And as a result, there would be spiritual as well as material blessings, disobedience meant judgment, including removal from the land and dispersion. Throughout all of the nation, you can read about that it was prophesied in Deuteronomy 28, and 29. But it was never to be a means of salvation, but rather a way for Israel to show their love for God and also a way of Israel being protected from being assimilated into the pagan cultures all around them. And unfortunately, many Jews over the years distorted the purpose of the Covenant as a means of works righteousness, salvation, and as a result, there's all kinds of religious hypocrisy, and externalism. And all of that, of course, replaced a genuine love for God. The Mosaic Covenant as a rule of life, ended with the death of Christ because he is the one that fulfilled all of the demands of the covenant, and he is the one that established the new covenant with His blood, Luke 22:20. Romans 10 four says, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." He also said in Ephesians 2:14, that "Christ became our peace by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances."

You see, since the Mosaic Covenant was given to Israel alone, and since Christ brought an end to it, at his death, Christians today are not under obligation to the laws of the Mosaic Covenant, Romans 6:14, what we read earlier, "For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law, but under grace." Galatians 5:18 said the same thing. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Many other passages attest to the same thing.

Now, back to the Sabbath, or the Jews call it Shabbat, which means to rest or to cease, to desist. God established the Sabbath as a day to be set apart to reverence him as a day of rest, as a day of refreshment from work. I might also add as a footnote that nowhere in the Old Testament did God require the Gentile nations to observe the Sabbath? Nor are they ever condemned for not doing so, that was for Israel. God commanded the Sabbath for Israel in the Decalogue, in the 10 commandments. We read about it in Exodus 20, beginning in verse eight, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but to seven day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it, you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant, or your cattle, or your sojourner, who stays with you. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day, therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." So its pattern was established at creation, when God Himself rested on the seventh day. Genesis two two. And that pattern continues to this day. Isn't it fascinating that all of our calendars around the world are based upon those seven days. So it was a perpetual reminder that God made everything in 6, 24 hour days.

However, there is no evidence of anyone keeping the Sabbath prior to the time of Moses, nor are there any commands to keep the Sabbath before the giving of the Law at Sinai. The Sabbath was also linked with Israel's exodus from Egypt and specified that this was why Israel was to keep it. Let me read this to you in Exodus 31, beginning in verse 12, "The Lord spoke to Moses saying, 'But as for you speak to the sons of Israel,' saying, 'You shall surely observe my Sabbath's; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Therefore you are to observe the Sabbath where it is holy to you, everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death. For whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. For six days work may be done. But on the Sabbath day, there is a sabbath of complete rest holy to the Lord, whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is assigned between me and the sons of Israel forever. For in six days the LORD made heaven in the earth, but on the seventh day, he ceased from labor and was refreshed." Now, again, remember the New Testament totally abrogates the Sabbath, completely. Believers are not required to observe the Sabbath and the church age. It is never one time commanded in the New Testament. Instead, we see other passages like Colossians 2:16, or Romans 14 four through sixth, Galatians four nine through 10, refuting the idea that we are somehow obligated to keep the Sabbath. In fact, Paul rebuked the Galatians, you will recall, for thinking that God expected the Gentiles to observe special days including the Sabbath, you read a bit about that in Galatians, 4:10 and 11. There was never a warning in the New Testament to believers about breaking the Sabbath. You just won't find that, in fact the Jerusalem Council you will recall in Acts 15 did not impose Sabbath keeping on the Gentile believers. It was purely a matter of Christian liberty, Romans 14, five, the New Testament church met on the first day of the week. You can read about that in Acts 20 and verse seven.

Now, some argue that Sunday worship was not instituted until the fourth century, but I would humbly argue that that is patently false, demonstrably false. From Ignatius of Antioch to Agustin of Hippo, the early church fathers taught that the Old Testament Sabbath had been abolished and that your church now met on the first day of the week, which was Sunday. And Paul says this in Colossians, two, verse 16. "No one his to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come. But the substance belongs to Christ." Now think about this, a shadow has no reality, right? The reality is what makes the shadow, the reality is Christ. He is the substance to the shadow of Jewish food and laws and festivals. He is the reality that casts its shadow, shall we say, backward in history. The Shadow pointed to the substance. So why preoccupy yourself with a shadow? I mean, that's to insult the substance, right? I mean, can you imagine seeing a friend come up to you, and you talk to its shadow? Hey, I would like for you to meet my friend, and then you introduce your friend, to your friends shadow, its absurd. So too, is worshiping the shadow rather than the substance? I've always liked to ask people like Seventh Day Adventists and some other sabbatarians, "Do you keep all 613 commandments of the law?" "I didn't know there were that many." That's usually the answer. Yeah. So which ones do you decide to keep or not to keep? You know, what criteria do you use? And I'd like to show them Colossians two, verses 16 and 17 that I read and ask them, why on earth would you be preoccupied with the shadow rather than Christ Himself?

Well enough background, I wish to examine this text under the same two headings that I used last week, because you're going to see these types of things play out, over and over again, we're going to look at the Pharisaical protest. And secondly, the divine response. Now with all his background, you're going to have a clearer understanding of what Jesus was up against. Verse 23, "And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath." And let me pause here from for a moment. In those days, as today, and many third world countries, you will find there are paths that just cross through grain fields, and all the time, that's how people would travel, especially in rural areas, then that's what was going on. Then we read, "and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain." This would have been wheat or barley, it'd be ready to harvest and ready to eat sometime between April and August. So this was sometime in the spring or summer. In Luke's account in Luke six one as they were "rubbing them in their hands and eating the grain," so they were removing the husks. I've done this before, maybe you have and nibbling on the grain to get some nourishment. Now remember, there's no quick stops and no convenience stores, right? There's no Big Macs, certainly no Whitts barbecue. You just don't have any of that type of thing. And soGod allowed travelers to pick grain, we read about that in Deuteronomy 23 Five, he says, "When you enter your neighbors standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand. But you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor standing grain." So you can have a little bit of it. But let's don't get out the sickle and start harvesting your friends crop, alright? Isn't it a shame that you have to tell people that?

Verse 24, "The Pharisees were saying to Him, 'Look, why are they doing what it is not what is not lawful on the Sabbath?'" So here we come, first of all, to the Pharisaical protests. Now you have to laugh because think about it, they were breaking the Sabbath rules themselves by traveling beyond the 3000 feet that boundary of their dwelling right? Because they're not going to deal with that. I mean, legalism is always hyper vigilant to find the speck in your neighborseye rather than the log in your own. And so you're going to see this play out constantly. And, again, what they were doing was not illegal, according to God's law. It was according to their law, but not God's law. As I just read in Deuteronomy, 23, five, but of course, legalists are always the keeper of the gate. Hypocrites are always selfish. They're self- centered, self-promoting. Little demagogues like I think of…remember in Third John, Diotrephes, who loved to have the preeminence? These are people who love to have the authority, they love to tell other people what to do to find fault. Probably age myself a bit here, but it reminds me of Barney Fife. I use that analogy. Barney had a bullet and a badge and a little black book and everybody goes to jail. I mean, that's what you have with these kinds of people. And they are to the church, what weed killer is to your garden, by the way, when they surface in a church, they have to be confronted. Titus 3:10 says to reject a factious man after a first and second warning.

So the Pharisees now are dogging Jesus and the disciples. And you know, if they were in our day, they'd have their cell phones out, you know, and they're videoing everything, to catch them in something and to put it all over social media, and to expose them. And so what they see here, if you think about it, according to their rabbinic traditions, and their laws, they violated at least five laws. First of all, aha, no reaping you are guilty of picking grain that's really being number one. Number two, no sifting. You remove the husks, and the shell. Number three, no threshing and you rub the grain together in your hands, so that you could eat it. Number four, no winnowing, which means you threw the chaff in the air to let the wind blow it away. And number five, no preparing a meal. You ate what you prepared. So you're in trouble. And of course, punishment for violating the Sabbath was to be stoned to death. I mean, it's crazy, isn't it? But this is what Jesus is dealing with. Now Jesus, of course, could see right through these clowns.

And we move from the Pharasaical protest to the divine response in verse 25. "And He said to them, Have you never read what David did when he was in need, and he and his companions became hungry;" That little phrase, "Have you never read" is tantamount to saying, Look, you guys are supposed to be the scholars of Israel, but you're obviously ignorant of a similar scenario that is recorded in First Samuel 24 or 21, verses four through six. A text that utterly refutes your accusations right now, have you not read? Then he goes on to, to say in verse 26, how David "entered the house of God and the time of Abiathar, the high priest and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat, except the priests. And he also gave it to those who were with him?'" And let me give you the context here, we need to understand what Jesus is talking about the context there is First Samuel 21, David is, is fleeing from the jealous rage of King Saul who wanted to kill him. And we read how that they traveled from Gibeah, which was Saul's hometown, Gibeah, means "hill." They traveled from there to Nob, which means the "city of the priests", which is on top of Mount Scopus, about one mile northeast of Jerusalem. They didn't have any food, they were hungry, who knows what all they have endured. David then comes to the priest, and he actually lies to the priest Ahimelech, who I might also add, without getting into the technicalities of it all, was a disqualified priest.

So we pick it up then in First Samuel 21, beginning in verse one. "Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, 'Why are you alone and no one with you?' David said to Ahimelech the priest, 'The King has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me,' 'Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the young man to a certain place.'" And I'm sure he had both fingers crossed behind his back, as he told that little lie right? "'Now therefore, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever you can be, whatever can be found.' The priest answered David and said, 'There is no ordinary bread on hand, but there is consecrated bread. If only the young men have kept themselves from women.' David answered the priest and said to him, 'Surely women have been kept from us. As previously, when I set out the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey, how much more than today will their vessels be holy?' So the priests gave him consecrated bread, for there was no bread there, but the bread of the Presence, which was removed from before the Lord in order to put hot bread in its place, when it was taken away."

Now, first of all, a footnote because I know somebody's going to ask here in Mark 2:26, Jesus said He “entered the house of God and the time of Abiathar the high priest." Well, First Samuel says that it's Ahimelech that was the high priest at that time. Well, there is no contradiction here. Let me explain. Ahimelech was the father of Abiathar and as such was indeed, the high priest in the time of Abiathar. The phrase can also be translated in the lifetime of Abiathar. And Abiathar was David's trusted companion and friend and later became high priest in David's reign. But his father Ahimelech, who by the way, again, was the great grandson of Eli, was killed with the other priests shortly after the incident here recorded, so Jesus’ statement recorded in Mark is not in conflict with the unknown inspired author of First Samuel 21.

I might also add, it's worth noting here, Jesus is going to describe himself as a successor, another successor of David, who possesses authority similar to David. So his reference to Abiathar is going to reinforce that idea. And I also want to add, bear in mind, and you want to look at these things in the overall context of everything that you're reading, not just one discrete section of scripture. Bear in mind, the bridegroom imagery that was introduced in chapter two and verse 19. And who was the precursor of the Messiah, the bridegroom? David, Israel's greatest king. And so, here Jesus is comparing himself with Israel's royal messianic prototype King David, this would have been taken out of Jeremiah 23, beginning in verse five, "Behold, the days are coming declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign his king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. This is his name, by which he will be called the Lord our Righteousness." And again, bear in mind that the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, is the dominant theme throughout Mark's gospel, as we see here in this historical narrative.

Now back to the consecrated bread. What is that? The "bread of Presence" that, as it says, "was removed from before the Lord?" Well, this refers to 12 loaves of bread that were placed on the altar Sabbath, by Sabbath as food for the priests. You read about it and Exodus 40 and Leviticus 24. And what would happen is after seven days, the old bread would be removed,and 12 fresh loaves would be put in their place, and only the priests were allowed to eat the week old bread, Leviticus 24, nine. So what happens here is Ahimelech now recognized their need, he agreed to help them as long as the young men were ceremonially clean, like the priests had to be; David assured him that they were so that's why he asked if only the young men have kept themselves from women. So as a vested ironic priest, Ahimelech looks at the situation and he has the authority to make a judgment call regarding specific interpretations and applications of the Torah. And since the preservation of life was at stake, he agreed to David's requests and thus violated the ceremonial law.

It's important also to note in this illustration, that it is consistent with a common rabbinic method of argumentation. I know this is a bit technical, but I just find it fascinating to see how the Spirit of God works in His Word, and that common method of argumentation that the rabbi's would use is to argue from the lesser to the greater. And that's what you see happening here. In other words, Jesus is saying, if a human priest, like Ahimelech could show compassion by violating God's ceremonial law to save the life of David and his men, surely the Son of God could disregard some ridiculous man-made restrictions that you guys have conjured up to save his men. That's where Jesus is going with all of this. In fact, Matthew’s account says this in chapter 12, beginning in verse five, Jesus says, "Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath, the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?" Oh, that's an interesting statement. You see, Jesus is there highlighting the inconsistency of the Pharisees in their administration of their own manmade laws. And in that illustration, Jesus saying is saying, look, it's obvious that those ancient priests lit fires for the altar, to slaughter and sacrifice the animals. And that's clearly a violation of the Sabbath restrictions. You see, ultimately, what we're seeing here is the hypocrisy associated with legalism and authoritarianism and how it's fraught with all kinds of double standards. You know, what's good for me is not for thee, right? Well, we're used to seeing that with our politicians right? All the time. They can do things that we're not supposed to do. Do as I say, not as I do, the rules don't apply to me because I'm special. And so Jesus is pointing all this out.

Back to Matthew 12, verse six, Jesus also said to them, "But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here." Oh, my goodness. That is a clear reference to His deity. I have to smile. This declaration has been sequentially building up. In every episode of Mark's gospel, let me remind you of the flow once again in Mark two in the first 13 verses, remember, Jesus returns to Capernaum, he heals a paralytic man, man and then he amazes the crowds by claiming that he has the authority to forgive sins. And the Pharisees are Whoa, did you hear what he just said? Next, he demonstrates his great love for sinners by calling Matthew the tax collector to follow him. And if that's not bad enough, he goes to Matthew's house to meet with all of his conspirators, right? All of the rest of the Galilean mafia, who Mark two 15 says, "were also following Jesus." Then he compares himself to a bridegroom, which is a veiled reference to his Messiahship it and therefore that no one fast while the bridegroom is present. So Jesus is just building all of these things with all of these narratives, all of these, all of these situations, and Mark is recording them in a way that is building up to where we're at today. And then he uses two more comparisons, remember, to indict apostate Judaism as a system that is contrary to God's saving grace. Therefore, the singularity of the Christian gospel, one illustration or comparison with the patching of a garment, the other putting new wine in wine skins, and so forth. And all of this is to demonstrate the utter incompatibility of the rabbinic stipulations and traditions and extra biblical prescriptions. And their whole works righteous system, to show that, that is absolutely incompatible with the new covenant of salvation by grace. And now, to put a capstone on it, he tells them that he has greater authority than the priests. I mean, they're apoplectic by now, right? They're speechless, it's like they're pulling their hair out. Matthew 12 Six, "But I say to you, something greater than the temple is here." Then he says this, "But if you had known what this means," and then he quotes, a passage or part of a passage out of Hosea six, six 'I desire, compassion and not a sacrifice.' If you'd have known what that meant, "you would have not condemned the innocent." Here, Jesus demonstrates again how these guys have no compassion in their heart.

But the real emphasis that Jesus is underscoring is His deity. You see friends whenever the true Christ is revealed unregenerate hypocrites will be enraged. Moreover, they have no true humility. They have no true compassion for those in need. Luke six, let me give you an example. Jesus heals a man with a withered right hand on the Sabbath. We read in the texts, how Jesus knew the scribes and the Pharisees were watching him closely. He's setting them up here to see, you know, whether or not he's going to heal this guy on the Sabbath, so that they could find an accusation. And we read in verse eight, "But He knew what they were thinking. And He said to the man with the withered hand, 'Get up and come forward!' And he got up and came forward. And Jesus said to them," to the Pharisees, "Now I ask you, Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it? After looking around at them all," I love that, can't you imagine Jesus doing that? He's looking at each of their eyes, asking though, and by the way, there could be other things that he's saying here. They don't record everything that went on. "After looking around at them, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he did so. And his hand was restored." And the Pharisees celebrated over the man's healing right? Isn't that what it says. "But they themselves were filled with rage, and discussed together what they might do to Jesus."

Back to Mark's account, another parallel here in Jesus’ illustration of David in the consecrated bread, is that of the wicked pursuing the innocent. Isn't it fascinating. You see the hypocritical, merciless, jealous, Pharisees are pursuing Jesus and his disciples. Just like the hypocritical, merciless, jealous, King Saul pursued David and his men. The Pharisees were far more concerned about safeguarding their own power, their own authority, than they were showing compassion to those in need. Back to Mark 2:27, "Jesus said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.'" Again, a reminder that God established the Sabbath day, to be set apart, as a day of reverence to him a day of rest and refreshment from work. Man is not made for Sabbath rule keeping. That's not the point here. It was never intended to be a yoke of bondage; you Pharisees have turned it into something that is weighing the people down. It's hypocritical.

Again, folks imagine living under those rules. And if any of you who are living under them that within the sound of my voice, all I can do is plead to you to look to Christ. And see what grace is all about. And finally, as if to draw a line in the sand, I can almost see him, granted this is not in the text, but I can almost see Jesus, you know, they're standing around and they're all upset, and I can almost see Jesus taking a step or two forward. Then he leans forward and starts looking at them in the eye. Matthew 12 six, he says, "But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here." And he pauses and looks at them. And then what's recorded here in Mark 2:27, "Jesus said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.'"  Then he says this, and this is driving a stake right through their heart. He says, "So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.'" In essence, what he's saying is you are looking at the Creator. You are looking at the Most High God, the One who has supreme authority over the Sabbath, because I created it. Don't lecture me about the Sabbath. He says, I am the Son of Man, which is clearly a messianic title that they would have understood, recorded in Daniel 7:13 through 14. You want to know why my disciples are doing what you think is unlawful, first of all, because it's not unlawful. And secondly, because I gave them permission. I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. Next question. That's what's going on here. Oh dear friend, the trifles of legalism and the glories of God's grace right now, we all need to celebrate God's grace. My it's not a license to sin. But it is a motivation to humble obedience, is it not? Because of our union with Christ because we have been forgiven, because he's given us a radically new disposition. He's made us new creatures in Christ, we long to be obedient. We are no longer slave to sin, we are dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Sin no longer has dominion and control over us. And therefore we can live out the Gospel, and we can celebrate God's grace. Oh, what a wonderful Savior. Amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank You for the glories of Your grace, may we see it even yet again in a new light. As we reflect upon the ways that sinful man will come up with to somehow impress you, the Father, there is nothing that we can do to merit our salvation. All we can do is cry out to the one who paid the penalty that was ours. All we can do is cry out for the mercy that you give through Christ. And because of our faith in Him, our sins are forgiven. And we have been given eternal life. Lord, thank You for the gospel of saving grace. In Christ's name I pray. Amen.