Disciples Plucking Grain on the SabbathBible World
12:6Matthew 12:6
But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
The saying was spoken in the Sabbath controversy when the disciples were accused of breaking the Sabbath for plucking grain and rubbing the wheat in their hands to eat the kernels and satisfy their hunger as they passed through a field. Their act was in accordance with the law of God that gives a hungry person liberty to enter a neighbor's field, orchard, or vineyard and eat grain or fruit to satisfy hunger, with the gleanings of harvest-field, orchard, and vineyard belonging by right to the poor. In defense He pointed to David eating the shewbread when hungry and to the priests who work in the temple on Sabbath days and are blameless.
By one greater than the temple is meant Christ Himself, who is greater than the temple and has authority above its sacred institutions, taking its place so that the Jewish ceremonies and services find their fulfillment in Him and the church's offices center in Him. He is greater than the temple because He is one with the Father, possessing all the attributes of the Godhead under the garb of humanity, having laid off His royal robe and crown and hidden His glory in a body God prepared. He came into the world as a Teacher sent from God to be a living personation of God whom humanity could touch, unveiling in humanity the perfection of Jehovah and revealing His paternal character as a God of infinite love, sympathy, and compassion.
He stands on the highest elevated platform holding the salvation of the lost world in His hands, with all things delivered to Him by the Father and with sole authority to reveal the Father, with truth as the law of His lips and love revealed in all His works. In asserting His divine prerogatives in defense of His disciples, though divine and human were united in Him, He was God in the flesh with the fullness of the Godhead, speaking and acting with authority given by the Father. The verse declares the disciples guiltless: satisfying hunger did not break the Sabbath but was in harmony with the Sabbath commandment and God's law, upholding the Sabbath according to God's law rather than the rabbis' distorted requirements and showing its true character reflects God rather than human rules.
The priests' Sabbath work served God and pointed to Christ's redeeming work, and now that Christ had come the disciples served God by doing His work, so what was necessary for that work was lawful on the Sabbath because the Sabbath serves God's purpose of redeeming people, with mercy required rather than sacrifice and with His authority standing as Lord even of the Sabbath day. The setting shows scribes, Pharisees, and Jewish rulers condemning Christ, the greatest Teacher sent by God and the Lord and maker who made the Sabbath, as a Sabbath-breaker, which shows how blindly they misunderstood the Sabbath and its Lord and shows the folly and weakness of human judgment in condemning Christ despite clear evidence of His divine authority. His prediction of the temple's destruction teaches that religion is purified when forms and ceremonies give way to Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. The vindication of guiltlessness in harmony with the Sabbath commandment stands secure even where greatness above the temple receives no further exposition.
The saying was spoken in the Sabbath controversy when the disciples were accused of breaking the Sabbath for plucking grain and rubbing the wheat in their hands to eat the kernels and satisfy their hunger as they passed through a field. Their act was in accordance with the law of God that gives a hungry person liberty to enter a neighbor's field, orchard, or vineyard and eat grain or fruit to satisfy hunger, with the gleanings of harvest-field, orchard, and vineyard belonging by right to the poor. In defense He pointed to David eating the shewbread when hungry and to the priests who work in the temple on Sabbath days and are blameless.
By one greater than the temple is meant Christ Himself, who is greater than the temple and has authority above its sacred institutions, taking its place so that the Jewish ceremonies and services find their fulfillment in Him and the church's offices center in Him. He is greater than the temple because He is one with the Father, possessing all the attributes of the Godhead under the garb of humanity, having laid off His royal robe and crown and hidden His glory in a body God prepared. He came into the world as a Teacher sent from God to be a living personation of God whom humanity could touch, unveiling in humanity the perfection of Jehovah and revealing His paternal character as a God of infinite love, sympathy, and compassion.
He stands on the highest elevated platform holding the salvation of the lost world in His hands, with all things delivered to Him by the Father and with sole authority to reveal the Father, with truth as the law of His lips and love revealed in all His works. In asserting His divine prerogatives in defense of His disciples, though divine and human were united in Him, He was God in the flesh with the fullness of the Godhead, speaking and acting with authority given by the Father. The verse declares the disciples guiltless: satisfying hunger did not break the Sabbath but was in harmony with the Sabbath commandment and God's law, upholding the Sabbath according to God's law rather than the rabbis' distorted requirements and showing its true character reflects God rather than human rules.
The priests' Sabbath work served God and pointed to Christ's redeeming work, and now that Christ had come the disciples served God by doing His work, so what was necessary for that work was lawful on the Sabbath because the Sabbath serves God's purpose of redeeming people, with mercy required rather than sacrifice and with His authority standing as Lord even of the Sabbath day. The setting shows scribes, Pharisees, and Jewish rulers condemning Christ, the greatest Teacher sent by God and the Lord and maker who made the Sabbath, as a Sabbath-breaker, which shows how blindly they misunderstood the Sabbath and its Lord and shows the folly and weakness of human judgment in condemning Christ despite clear evidence of His divine authority. His prediction of the temple's destruction teaches that religion is purified when forms and ceremonies give way to Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. The vindication of guiltlessness in harmony with the Sabbath commandment stands secure even where greatness above the temple receives no further exposition.