NOTES for Mat 12:1-8
Disputes about the Sabbath between Jesus and the Pharisees were constant. Accusations of breaking the Sabbath accompanied Jesus throughout His earthly ministry. It might seem that observing the Sabbath prohibitions presented no particular difficulty. Why, then, does Jesus constantly, and often demonstratively, ignore them? One could, of course, explain everything by saying that Jesus Himself, like His followers, adhered to a particular understanding of the norms and rules for observing Sabbath rest. But was that the only issue? If we recall the original meaning of the Sabbath, it becomes clear that this is a special, sacred time given to God and intended exclusively for communion with Him. All the rules and prohibitions are secondary; they are only means to the chief purpose. What matters is that every seventh day should be spent not on ordinary daily affairs but in communion with God and in His presence. Severity towards those who violated Sabbath rest was connected mainly with the fact that an offender could easily disturb those around them, those who wanted to spend the day in quiet and rest but could be deprived of the opportunity by overly noisy or active neighbours. Yet as the Yahwistic, and later Jewish, religious tradition developed, the prohibitions became ends in themselves. They lost their subordinate role and became almost a goal of their own. For many members of the Pharisaic brotherhood, the chief meaning of the Sabbath became not communion with God but observance of numerous prohibitions. Jesus restores the Sabbath to its original meaning and supplements it with the new revelation He brought into the world. It is no accident that, in response to the Pharisees’ accusations, He recalls the story of the consecrated bread that the high priest gave David, although he had no right to do so. There are situations in which the established order is broken. If the One who bears within Himself the entire fullness of the Kingdom has come into the world, then the Sabbath without Him loses all meaning. The situation has changed radically: it is now possible to spend the day not simply in communion with God but in communion with the Messiah in His Kingdom. To ignore this and behave as though nothing in the world had changed is to empty the Sabbath of its substance, leaving only its outward legalistic form. Jesus never tires of reminding His interlocutors of this, so that for them the Sabbath might become not the observance of religious formalities but the beginning of the path into the Kingdom.