Matthew 12:1-8 – People matters more than things

For sure the Lord is not discouraging the observation of the Sabbath. It was the day God Himself honored and had made it a day of rest. It was the day that God Himself rested from creation and had instituted that six days of work be done, but on the Sabbath, man must take a break and cease from work. The Pharisees had enforced this command made by God so rigidly that they failed to see the compassionate heart of God. Important as keeping the Sabbath is, God has mercifully provided exception for activities on that holy day.

In these verses we see Jesus being challenged by those Pharisees who failed to see the heart of God. In their demands that the Sabbath be kept, they forgot that at the crux of it, this is still God’s law after all. They had failed to see that people matters more than things. Sabbath must be kept but it mustn’t be applied till there is no room for love and mercy to be demonstrated.  

Matthew recounted how Jesus and His disciples were crossing grain-fields when the hungry disciples plucked and ate some of grains on a Sabbath. When the Pharisees saw what they did, they immediately accused the disciples of breaking the Sabbath law. In answering their accusation, Jesus referred them to an incident in the Old Testament. King David and his man ate bread from the altar in the temple that were meant for priests only. His point is this: Yes, no doubt the Sabbath must be kept, but it must not prevent the exercise of love and mercy to meet an overriding need to preserve life.

Jesus also pointed them to the occasions where the priests themselves carried out work in the temple on the Sabbath which had clearly violated the Sabbath rule. What Jesus did was to show them that in their pickiness, they failed to see that people are more important than things. They also failed to see the compassionate heart of God, who desire mercy over sacrifice. The Lord of the Sabbath than rebuked them for their failure to recognize that heart of God and accused the innocents. As the Son of Man, He has authority over the Sabbath. Yes, He is indeed Lord of the Sabbath and has full authority over it.  

What can we learn from this incident? People matters more than things. Do we have a mindset that places things and systems over people? Keeping rule to ensure harmony is expedient. But when a situation where compassion is shown, even to the point of breaking a rule, let us not be quick to point a condemning finger at those who are showing mercy. Remember that compassion is better than sacrifice!