
December 24, 2024
" The Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath day."
- Matthew 12:8 (ERV)
The previous devotional taught us that God created the Sabbath and instituted it as a law, the violation of which was punishable by death. No one was to do any work on the Sabbath. “Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant” - Exodus 31:15-16.
As was with many of the laws of Moses, not doing any work on the Sabbath was part of the lifestyle of the Jews for many years. They were enforced by the teachers of the law of the day, the Pharisees. One of Jesus’ assignments is to give clarity to the law. The Easy-to-Read Version of Matthew 5:17 explains, “Don’t think that I have come to destroy the Law of Moses or the teaching of the prophets. I have come not to destroy their teachings but to give full meaning to them”. The Sabbath was one law that needed its full meaning.
Jesus Christ, God the Son, introduced Himself as the Lord of the Sabbath in Matthew 12:8 - “The Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath day”. He did this in response to the Pharisees who had come to him to argue the legality of working on the Sabbath as it was contrary to the law Moses had given them. They had just seen Jesus’ disciples pluck heads of grain to eat in Matthew 12:1-2 and would later attempt to entrap Jesus on whether it was lawful or not to heal on the Sabbath in Matthew 12:9-14.
God is more interested in showing us mercy than He is in upholding the law.
As the Lord of the Sabbath and the Author of the law in flesh, Jesus was not about that. He is about grace triumphing over the law. “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” - Romans 6:14. From His responses, He showed the Pharisees that there is a transition from law to grace. He asked them point blankly in Matthew 12:11, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?”. Will they, because it is Sabbath leave the sheep till after the Sabbath is over? To that same point, God is more interested in showing us mercy than He is in upholding the law.
Showing mercy is God’s nature. Jesus made reference to this by quoting Hosea 6:6, “I desire Mercy and not sacrifice”. He let them know that God (and Him) have been in the business of working, showing mercy even on the Sabbath – John 5:16-17.
Song of Worship
Everywhere He went
He was doing good
Almighty Healer
He healed the lepers
When the cripples saw Him
they started walking
Everywhere He went my God
was doing good
Prayer - Dear Lord, irrespective of any law, please show me mercy in my time of need in Jesus name, Amen.