GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 6:3-5
3 Jesus answered them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, took the Bread of the Presence, and ate what is lawful only for the priests to eat. He also gave some to his companions.”
Jesus showed the Pharisees that they knew their own regulations better than they knew the word of God. The law of the Pharisees does not supersede the Law of Moses or any other part of the Word of the Lord. The Pharisees had read 1 Samuel 21, but they didn’t understand that they should apply it to their lives.
Briefly, David’s story is this: Running from Saul, David went to the tabernacle of the Lord which was then in the village of Nob. He asked the priest for something to eat for him and his men. There was nothing there except the sacrificial bread, sometimes called the Showbread or the Bread of the Presence. This was baked fresh every week—twelve large loaves—and then removed when new bread was baked. The old bread was food for the priests. The priest gave David some of this bread for him and his men, because they needed something to eat (1 Sam. 21:1-6). The priest did not sin, and David did not sin. The priest had even made sure that none of David’s men were sexually unclean (1 Sam. 21:4; cp. Lev. 15:16-18).
God was the one who made the ceremonial law, not the Pharisees. If someone kept God’s ceremonial law but violated the law of the Pharisees, is he really guilty? No, he is not. This is a subject that would come up again (Luke 14:5) because the Pharisees didn’t understand or accept Jesus’ words.
5 Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
This doesn’t mean that Jesus could do whatever he wanted to do because he is the Lord. It means the opposite. Jesus completely obeyed the Sabbath law as laid out by his Father through Moses. He did this throughout his lifetime and during his ministry in particular. As long as the curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the people of God, the law was still in place, and it was obeyed by Jesus. He kept it absolutely, to the very letter: “Until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law—until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18). And this is what Jesus did. He accomplished everything in the Law. He became the sacrifice to end all the sacrifices. Then, as his blood was shed on the cross and he gave up his life for our sins, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two” (Luke 23:45). So now, “we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body” (Hebrews 10:19-20).
Having obeyed the law thoroughly, he became Lord of the Sabbath and set us free from its regulations. So we must not add anything to the rule of freedom (if we can call it that), or else we imprison ourselves all over again, having rejected Christ—and what hope could there be for anyone who has rejected Christ?
So we must not insist on anything regarding our worship that is not given by the word of God. And we must not forbid anything from worship if it is appropriate for worship and not forbidden by God. For Scripture says, “Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are shadows of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17). So when it comes to worship, we let the first table of the Commandments reign: We worship no other God, we use the name of the Lord to pray, praise and give thanks, and we set aside a sacred day for worship. We apply the law of God and the gospel of Christ. We gather around the sacraments, and we do not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing (Hebrews 10:25). What we do, we do in an orderly and fitting way (1 Cor. 14:40). We baptize using water and the name of our Lord for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 28:19). We also offer the Lord’s Supper to those of our fellowship (Romans 16:17; 2 John 7) who are able to examine themselves (1 Cor. 11:28-29). So this is our worship: To devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer (Acts 2:42).
Jesus Christ is Lord of the Sabbath, and his message for us is simple and clear: Through him, we have the forgiveness of our sins: all of them, forever.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota