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Luke 6:1-5

Devotions for Tuesday 9th March

At the beginning of Luke 6, Jesus’ mission gathers pace. In this story, Jesus confronted the Pharisees over some important social and religious laws, the laws of the Sabbath day. After challenging them, Jesus did not allow the Pharisees any time to respond and swept aside any potential criticism with an authoritative statement; ‘the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath’ (6:5). In this way, Jesus took control of an issue that would soon prove to be very contentious for Him, that of the interpretation of Old Testament Law. As we read this, however, we must be careful. Jesus did not say that the Sabbath or other laws of the Old Testament were unimportant; rather, He said that the way they were practiced and imposed by the Pharisees was wrong. They had stamped their authority on the Jews and controlled their lives through their own interpretations of the law, especially those of the Sabbath, so Jesus acted unilaterally to claim back that authority Himself (6:5).

Luke tells us that Jesus and the disciples were walking through grain fields on the Sabbath day, and the disciples were taking heads of grain and rubbing them in their hands to release the edible grain from the chaff (6:1). Deuteronomy 23:25 states that travellers are permitted to do just this; ‘if you go into your neighbour’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbour’s standing grain.’ According to the Pharisees, however, any gathering of food on the Sabbath was regarded as work that was forbidden. Of course, there is no such law within the Old Testament, but this was how the Pharisees interpreted the Sabbath rules about work and rest.

So when Jesus was challenged by the Pharisees (6:2), he was quick to counter (6:3,4) by going back to Scripture; He referred to a story from the Old Testament to prove them wrong. The story Jesus quoted is that of David’s flight from Saul, when the young David had been banished from court because of the jealousy of King Saul. With only a few unnamed friends, David escaped from the place where Saul held court (not Jerusalem, because it had not yet been captured), and came to the city of Nob. In considerable need, the young David argued with the priest Ahimelech who was guarding the tent of the Tabernacle there, urging him to hand over the ‘Bread of the Presence’, for him and his friends to eat. The law speaks of a general principle that bread presented in the sanctuary should normally be eaten only by priests (e.g. Lev 7:13,14 etc.) because they were ‘holy’. However, there was no specific law about who should or should not eat the Bread of the Presence apart from this requirement of holiness (see 1 Sam 21:1-6), so Ahimelech handed over the bread. David then survived a critical period of his life to become the greatest king of Israel.

All of this sounds very detailed, but it is important. We should know exactly what Jesus was saying here, which is that those who try to make up rules that are not in the ‘Law of God’, are wrong to do so. In truth, the Sabbath laws did not forbid someone from eating on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees knew this. They were picking a fight with Jesus by making a complaint about what the disciples were doing; they had been grumbling about Him since he forgave the sin of the paralysed man (5:20). By telling the story of David, Jesus took the argument back to the details of the truth of God’s Law, and the Pharisees could not defeat Him in such an argument! He knew God’s Word too well!

Perhaps the message of this passage is that we need to know God’s Word well enough to defeat the enemies of God! Certainly, we should know clearly what God’s Law says about the Sabbath, and everything mentioned in this story. Jesus is now the standard by which we assess God’s laws, and He seems to have disliked the making up of religious rules out of what God said. We should look to Him for guidance.

Going Deeper

The Bible study goes deeper to look at these issues:

What does the phrase ‘on the second Sabbath of the Passover’ mean (6:1)?
What does the Old Testament say about the Sabbath, and what did the Pharisees say about it?
Why does Jesus say ‘the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath’ (6:5), and what does this mean?

1 On the second Sabbath of the Passover, when Jesus was going through the grain fields, His disciples plucked some heads of grain and ate them, after rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, ‘Why are you doing what is not allowed on the Sabbath?’ 3 Jesus said to them in reply, ‘Have you not read what David did when he and those with him were hungry? 4 How he went into the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence and gave it to those with him, bread that should not be eaten by anyone except priests alone?’ 5 Then He said to them, ‘The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.’

Lord Jesus, come and reveal Your vision for the future. We know that You alone can appreciate and understand the world’s future, but You have often revealed some of this to Your prophets to both warn and help Your people as they face the future. Tell us what we need to know so that we can be true witnesses to You, the God of all truth, in the changeable and broken world in which we live. We ask this in Your name, Lord Jesus: AMEN

Time is a precious commodity;

Built into creation for us by our Creator and God:

We give our time to You, Lord God;

Time to think, to pray, to read and to do Your will:

We give our time to those we love;

Time to share the precious gifts of love and commitment:

We give our time to neighbours and friends;

Time to give and receive in care and friendship:

We give our time to daily work;

Time to witness to our saviour in everything we do:

We give our time to our personal needs;

Time to take Sabbath rest, according to Your Word:

Time is a precious gift of God;

So let us use it to its fullest; it will not go on forever!

Prayer ideas

Think about all the money you receive, and how you use it. Ask the Lord to show you how to use it for the best.

On-going prayers

Pray for the people you know Pray for those on the edge of your family life, people you do not often see. Offer them to God and bless them
Pray for Afghanistan and the people of that war-torn country
Praise God for the way he has guided his people in past times

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