At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Matthew 12:1-4

One of the most debated issues of Christianity still  today is about “Keeping The Sabbath”, are Chrstians to “Keep The Sabbath”? What does it mean to Keep The Sabbath? What is the Sabbath? The Sabbath was a sign of the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 31:13, 17) It was the sign to set apart Israel from the surrounding Pagan nations, much like Circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant to set them apart

Sabbath simply means “Rest” , as I talked about in my previous post, Jesus Is Our Rest (Matthew 11:28) Keeping The Sabbath as a Christian is to Abide in Jesus Christ, you can’t enter into God’s Rest without Christ (Hebrews 4) Nobody can come to the Father except through Jesus Christ (John 14:6) To “Keep The Sabbath” without Christ , would be pointless and useless. Salvation can only be found in Jesus Christ alone (Acts 4:12)

So as we look at our gospel reading today, we see Jesus and the Apostles “Breaking The Sabbath”, they are traveling on the Sabbath, eating and picking corn on the Sabbath. When the Pharisees called them out on their actions, what they didn’t realize is Jesus Is Lord of The Sabbath, Jesus is Lord of Lords, Jesus is The Sabbath

Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. Matthew 12:5-8

Jesus said “Something greater than the Temple is Here” Christ was talking about himself, remember “Destroy this temple in 3 days I will raise it Up” (John 2:19) Christ is the fulfillment of The Temple, Christ is the fulfillment of The Sabbath, Christ is the fulfillment of The Law. All of the things were shadows to point to Christ, but now the Christ is here! God became Flesh and He lived among us (John 1:14) You kept The Sabbath to learn about Christ, but now the Christ has come!

The Temple was the focal point of the Mosaic Covenant, without the Temple nothing could be accomplished. But now something greater than The Temple is here, the sacrificial system pointed to Christ, the Levitical priest line point to Christ, the show bread pointed to Christ, and Christ raised up His Temple on the 3rd day defeating sin and death forever!

Jesus is Lord of The Sabbath, He didn’t regard Breaking the Sabbath because Christ is The Sabbath. We don’t just worship Christ one day a week, we worship Christ seven days a week, and we only enter into God’s Rest through Christ , Amen!