charge made by the Pharisees against the disciples (v.2). Second, Christ called attention to the work of the priests on the sabbath days who had to work in order to prepare the sacrifices (cf. Num. 28: 9, 10). Yet the priests were blameless (v. 5). Then it was that Jesus came forth with His great statement that there was One in the presence of those to whom He was speaking who was “greater than the tem ple” (v. 6). They needed to focus their attention upon Him. He “the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath” (v .8). Every day and ceremony should be in terpreted in the light of His heart and will. We have here one of the stupen dous claims of Christ. He claimed to be God. The Jews knew it and for this they took up stones to kill Him (John 8:59). Should the Christian keep the Sab bath? No; the Christian should observe Sunday, the first day of the week, the day of resurrection. He should observe it as a day of rejoicing, fellowship and worship. There is no law for the Chris tian to keep Sunday as the Lord’s day. It is a privilege and a liberty which Christians enjoy as those who “ have been called unto liberty” (Gal. 5:13). The Sabbath was a commemoration of a finished creation; Sunday, the Lord’s day, commemorates a finished redemp tion and should be observed in such ways as will glorify the Redeemer. The Healing Incident vv. 9-14 Apparently a bit later on the same Sabbath, Jesus went into “ their syna gogue” (v. 9). It is worthy of note that it was the custom of Jesus to attend the synagogue services upon the Sabbath day (Luke 4:16). So every follower of
He; John could not be sure. The Lord Jesus told the two men to return and tell John those things which they saw and heard: how the blind received their sight, the lame walked, lepers were healed, the deaf were made to hear, the dead were raised, and the gospel was preached to the poor. After the disciples left, the Lord told the multitudes how great John was in God’s sight and in His service. How grateful John must have been to know that this truly was the Son of God, the long promised Messiah! As we are thinking of Thanksgiving this week, what are we truly thankful for? Some people are not even thankful at Thanksgiving time. They merely think about being with their friends and fami lies and having much to eat and a good time. Christians will remember to thank God for His unspeakable gift, the Lord Jesus, and for their eternal life because He died and arose again. They will think of the many wonderful things that are theirs because they belong to Him. They will want to share their plenty with those who do not have so much. Gladly they will obey God’s command: “ Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing the Lord thy God hath given unto thee.” Nov. 30, 1952 HUMAN WELFARE It is the subject of the Sabbath day that stands out most prominently in the section chosen for today’s study. Strange opinions prevailed among the Jews in our Lord’s day as to its observance. The Pharisees had added to the teaching of Scripture their own man-made tradi tions. Diverse opinions still exist as to the real meaning of the Sabbath, how it should be observed and what is its rela tion to the Lord’s Day. Certain princi ples may be learned from the verses be fore us that should be of help in deter mining God’s will in these matters. The Com Plucking Incident vv. 1-8 The “ cornfields” mentioned here do not mean our maize or Indian corn, but sim ply fields of grain. It may have been wheat or barley. Hungry, the disciples of Jesus began to pluck the heads of grain which to the Pharisees was reap ing, and were rubbing them with their hands (Luke 6:1) which was threshing. These ideas were man-made and had nothing to do with God’s plan. God’s laws were never meant to work hard ship upon man. He never meant His Word to be covered up with a lot of human traditions. In answering His critics Jesus called forth two Old Testa ment incidents. First, Christ appealed to the conduct of David (1 Sam. 21:6) when fleeing from Saul. Arriving at the house of God at Nob, he asked Ahimelech, the priest, for bread for his followers. David and those with him did “what was not lawful” (v. 4) which was precisely the THE TEST Matt. 12:1-14 Pointers on the Lesson
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