Daily Dose of Hope
June 13, 2025
Scripture - Matthew 12:1-37
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are Lord of all. How often we forget that. There are times we even put ourselves in your place. Forgive us, Lord. Help us to remember that you are God and we are not. Help us simply live the way you have called us, serve the way you have called us, and love the way you have called us. We know that we fall short over and over again. We need you. All the time, we need you. In Your Name, Amen.
Welcome back, everyone, to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional that complements the New Hope Bible reading plan, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts. Happy Friday!
Today, we start Matthew 12. The text begins with Jesus’ disciples walking through fields of grain on the Sabbath and picking them to eat because they were hungry. This infuriates the Pharisees who have made the Sabbath incredibly complicated for the people. In fact, they had instituted a complex system of Sabbath laws of their own that was oppressive and legalistic. There were strict laws regarding how to observe the Sabbath, which included 39 categories of forbidden activities. In essence, these religious leaders had made themselves lords of the Sabbath, thus making themselves lords over the people.
As he often did, Jesus was pushing back against this. He speaks about how David and his men ate consecrated bread from the Temple when they were hungry, even though it was off-limits. There are times when rules make sense and there are times when they don’t. People are always more important than rules. The original intent of the Sabbath was to give humans rest, not to create a more confusing and restrictive guidelines. The Pharisees had lost sight of this.
Jesus declares that he is Lord of the Sabbath. This really gets the Pharisees upset. By saying this, he is declaring that he has authority over the Sabbath. Jesus can overrule the Pharisees’ rules and regulations because he is the one who created the Sabbath in the first place. He has
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