July 17, 2025 • 29 mins
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Matthew 12: 1-8 - 'The Son of Man is master of the sabbath.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 581-582 (in 'Jesus and the Law') - The Jewish people and their spiritual leaders viewed Jesus as a rabbi. He often argued within the framework of rabbinical interpretation of the Law. Yet Jesus could not help but offend the teachers of the Law, for he was not content to propose his interpretation alongside theirs but taught the people “as one who had authority, and not as their scribes"...In presenting with divine authority the definitive interpretation of the Law, Jesus found himself confronted by certain teachers of the Law who did not accept his interpretation of the Law, guaranteed though it was by the divine signs that accompanied it. This was the case especially with the sabbath laws, for he recalls often with rabbinical arguments, that the sabbath rest is not violated by serving God and neighbor, which his own healings did." (abbreviated)
- 2173 (in 'The Sabbath Day') - The Gospel reports many incidents when Jesus was accused of violating the sabbath law. But Jesus never fails to respect the holiness of this day. He gives this law its authentic and authoritative interpretation: “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.” With compassion, Christ declares the sabbath for doing good rather than harm, for saving life rather than killing. The sabbath is the day of the Lord of mercies and a day to honor God. “The Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
- 586 (in 'Jesus and the Temple') - Far from having been hostile to the Temple, where he gave the essential part of his teaching, Jesus was willing to pay the Temple-tax, associating with him Peter, whom he had just made the foundation of his future Church. He even identified himself with the Temple by presenting himself as God's definitive dwelling-place among men (abbreviated).
- 590 (in 'Jesus and Israel's faith in the One God and Saviour') - Only the divine identity of Jesus' person can justify so absolute a claim as "He who is not with me is against me"; and his saying that there was in him "something greater than Jonah,. . . greater than Solomon", something "greater than the Temple"; his reminder that David had called the Messiah his Lord, and his affirmations, "Before Abraham was, I AM", and even "I and the Father are one."
- 2100 (in 'Sacrifice') - Outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must be the expression of spiritual sacrifice: "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit...." The prophets of the Old Covenant often denounced sacrifices that were not from the heart or not coupled with love of neighbor. Jesus recalls the words of the prophet Hosea: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" (abbreviated).
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
Hi everyone. Welcome once again to logical
Bible study, the Catholic podcast, which is all about
doing an exegesis on the gospel text.
So really looking at the text itself, studying scripture in
quite a rigorous Academic Way. We're looking today at Matthew
chapter 12 verses 128. That's the Gospel reading.
(00:31):
You would hear at mass today. So here's today's text that we
want to look at Jesus took a walk one Sabbath day through the
cornfields, his disciples were hungry and began to pick ears of
corn and eat them. The Pharisees noticed it and
said to him look, your disciplesare doing something that is
(00:52):
forbidden on the Sabbath. But he said to them, have you
not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry,
how he went into the house of God and how they ate the loaves
of offering, which neither, he nor his followers were allowed
to eat but which were for the priests alone or again, have you
not read in the law that on the Sabbath day?
(01:15):
The temple priests break, the Sabbath without being blamed for
it. Now, here I tell you is
something greater than the temple.
And if you had understood the meaning of the words, what I
want is Mercy, not sacrifice. You would not have condemned the
blameless. For the son of man is Master of
(01:36):
the Sabbath. So a quite well-known reading,
but Jesus does a lot of really interesting things here.
He makes a lot of interesting movements in his reasoning with
the Pharisees and we really wantto dig into it.
It's quite a rewarding text to dig into when you really
understand the way that he's arguing from scripture here.
(01:57):
So we're starting chapter 12 of Matthew and chapter 12 has a big
focus on identity. So, the identity of Jesus in
this chapter Jesus is revealed to be greater than Jonah and
also greater than Solomon. We'll see that lighter in verse
41 and 42 and in today's passageJesus is revealed to be greater
even than the temple itself. Also later in chapter 12, Jesus
(02:21):
is going to identify the true identity of his adversaries.
So it's a chapter all about identities.
We get to verse one today and now most translations have here
the words at that time. Meaning that what we're about to
see here occurred shortly after what previously occurred, which
was Jesus condemning, the towns of Galilee at the end of chapter
(02:42):
11, But the lectionary has decided not to put that phrase
in because it might be a bit confusing.
If the reader gets up there and starts today's reading with at
that time. So but most translations do have
that in there to make it clear that chapter 12 happens shortly
after chapter 11 Jesus took a walk one Sabbath day.
(03:05):
So the Sabbath day would be Saturday in that culture and it
appears from Mark's version of this account that there's big
crowds following him. He's not walking by Self there's
actually a huge crowds followingthem as they did on most days
and he's walking through the cornfields or grain fields,
which makes sense. Because Galilee is an
(03:25):
agricultural area which does have a lot of grain Fields And
Wide Open Spaces. Matthew says his disciples were
hungry and began to pick ears ofcorn and eat them.
We know from other places in Mark that Jesus and his
disciples are so busy. During their Ministry that they
actually don't have time to eat.That was a pretty common problem
(03:45):
that they faced. So it makes sense.
That on this day, they have the opportunity to get some grain.
And so they eat some Grain on the go and what that would have
looked like is they probably would have plucked the heads off
the Grain, and then they rub thehusks in their hands and that
leaves them with ripe raw wheat,kernels.
And so, it's essentially the ancient equivalent of fast food,
(04:07):
that's what they're doing. They're eating Grain on the go
now. According to Jewish law, there's
nothing wrong with doing this inprinciple.
You're allowed to go into a field and pluck the Grain in
order to feed yourself. There's actually nothing wrong
with that as long as you didn't use a reaping tool.
So we see in Deuteronomy chapter23, verse 26.
(04:28):
It says this when you go throughyour neighbor's grain field, you
may pluck some of the ears with your hand, but do not put a
sickle to your neighbors grain. So, there's nothing wrong with
that in theory. However, the issue here Here is
that they're doing it on the Sabbath and that's where the
controversy lies. Now notice here, that Jesus
(04:49):
himself is not said to be eatingcorn, the text actually says
only his disciples were eating corn and that's important.
Because it probably implies thatJesus did not actually tell them
to do this. Verse 2, the Pharisees noticed
it. Now the Pharisees as he would
know, a constantly on the lookout for those who were
(05:10):
breaking their interpretation ofthe law now, they had a
particular concern for the Sabbath because in the Old
Testament the Sabbath was a really important law often.
Israel is punished in the Old Testament specifically for not
keeping the Sabbath. So the Pharisees out of concern
for the people want to make surethat people do keep the Sabbath
properly, and of course they hadthis really complex system of
(05:33):
Laws of what was allowed on the Sabbath and what wasn't now?
They had their I particularly onJesus by this point because he's
been doing a lot of unconventional things.
So here they notice that Jesus disciples are breaking their
interpretation of the Sabbath law.
So they use the opportunity to accuse Jesus.
This is what they say to him. Look, your disciples are doing
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something that is forbidden on the Sabbath more.
Literally there, it actually says not lawful on the Sabbath.
So the Old Testament stipulates that a do cannot do work on the
Sabbath. So that is in Exodus chapter 34
verse 21, that is clearly part of the law.
A Jew cannot do work on the Sabbath.
The question, of course, there is what counts as work.
(06:17):
The Old Testament is not entirely clear on that.
So the Pharisees in Jesus time had come up with an elaborate
system of what counted as work and what didn't and in their
system based on some Jewish Traditions, picking corn was To
be raping and therefore work. So you in the current thinking
of the Pharisees, at the time, you are not allowed to pick corn
(06:40):
on the Sabbath that counts as work.
Now, what's important to know here is that Jesus doesn't
confirm or deny their interpretation of what counts as
work. He actually doesn't enter into
that discussion at all, and thisis something that people often
miss when they're interpreting this passage.
Jesus does not dismiss the Pharisees interpretation.
(07:01):
He doesn't even enter into that debate at all.
So it could well, be that the Pharisees were right, that that
does count as work. Or at least, I think the best
way of looking at this, is it appears that the Jesse's at that
time, did have legitimate teaching Authority.
So that whatever the Pharisees taught was binding on the Jews
regardless of whether it was ultimately God's will or not.
(07:24):
The Pharisees did have teaching Authority and for the sake of
the people, the people were required to submit to the
teaching law of the Pharisees. And in fact Jesus recognizes
that he actually says later in Matthew, the Pharisees sit in
Moses seat. So Jesus doesn't dispute their
interpretation of the law. He's not entering into Ooh that
what he does is he approaches the matter on a different level,
(07:47):
he's going to point them towardssome deeper principles that
they've forgotten about verse 3.Have you not read?
Now, even that itself would be quite an insult to the Pharisees
because of course the Pharisees know the Old Testament really.
Well, there would be familiar with the story that he's about
to site to them. And so, for Jesus to say to
them, have you not read? That's quite an insult, isn't
(08:09):
it? But another aspect of this is
Jesus when dealing with his And it's almost always appeals to
Common Ground in the scriptures in order to make his point.
So, when he's dealing with the Pharisees, he knows that the
Pharisees place a high value on the Old Testament, so he argues
with them primarily from the OldTestament, whereas when he's
dealing with the Sadducees, theyonly accept the Torah.
(08:32):
So, in order for Jesus to make his point, he only quotes from
the Torah and not from other places in the Old Testament.
And that's an important lesson for us to learn as well.
We want to try and argue from common ground And where
possible? So he says to them, have you not
read? What David did when he and his
followers? Or in fact, water says here more
(08:53):
literally. Is he and those who are with
him. So Matthew and in fact, Jesus,
as he speaking here, seems to beemphasizing this idea that it
wasn't just David in the story. It was actually the followers as
well. Possibly Jesus, here is trying
to set up a direct parallel between David and his followers
in the story that will see and Jesus and his followers.
(09:16):
So, there seems to be this emphasis on the followers here.
Have you not read what David didwhen he and his followers were
hungry, how he went into the house of God and how they ate
the loaves of offering. Now, this is all in 1 Samuel,
21, That's the part of the Old Testament where you'll see this
story and it says they ate the loaves of offering.
(09:39):
And if you read 1 Samuel, 21, that's what they do.
So the loaves of offering are the bread of the presence and
basically that's twelve loaves of bread that are placed on the
table in the Holy Sanctuary on every Sabbath.
That's what David's men ate, which they were not supposed to
do. And Jesus says that explicitly
he says which neither he nor hisfollowers were allowed to eat
(10:01):
but which foot were for the priests alone.
So, Gives a summary of the storyto the Pharisees and says, have
you not read this story? Now that's that's all he says
about this story. Actually, he doesn't bring out
the meaning, but I think we can work out.
What why Jesus brings this up? Let's think about it.
What point is Jesus trying to make you about the story of
(10:21):
David? Well, David is considered to be
a holy man. Very holy and venerated by all
the Jews but notice what David does in 1 Samuel 21 and this is
what Jesus is trying to draw their attention to David takes
the holy bread that only the priests could eat from the holy
tent or more. Like the priest actually gives
it to you, David actually ate the bread when he was hungry
(10:46):
which only the priests were supposed to eat.
David gave some of the bread to his men who were with him
because they were hungry too. And also this event in 1 Samuel,
21 probably occurred on the Sabbath because the holy bread
was usually only available on the Sabbath.
So that's there's this parallel,that Jesus is trying to set up
(11:08):
with David situation and his ownsituation in the cornfields.
Here's the reasoning that his hewants the Pharisees to think
about. If David being the chosen, one
of God, did all of this and broke.
All of these laws about eating the holy bread, because he and
his followers needed food. He's the chosen one of God.
Well, then surely it's acceptable for a Jewish teacher.
(11:31):
Just an ordinary Jewish teacher to take ordinary food on the
Sabbath. So that his followers do not go
hungry. If it's acceptable for David to
eat, holy food, that is not supposed to on the Sabbath then.
Surely it's acceptable for an ordinary Jewish teacher to take
ordinary not wholly food on the Sabbath so that his followers do
not go hungry. That seems to be Jesus reasoning
(11:51):
here. And in fact, that would mean
that in what he's trying to get the Seems to recognize is that
if the Pharisees are going to say that Jesus and his disciples
are guilty. Well then they're going to have
to say that David is guilty too and obviously, that's not
something the Pharisees want to say.
Now, there's another interpretation here or maybe
another element, which might be sort of lurking in the
(12:13):
background here. We know that elsewhere in the
gospels and particularly in Matthew, Jesus Compares himself
to David directly. And Jesus actually says things
like behold one greater than David is.
He's here. So, Jesus might have this kind
of specific davidic fulfillment in mind here.
So, Jesus might be thinking something like, this, David was
(12:35):
allowed to do this and I'm greater than David.
So I can do it too. So, there's two interpretation
of this of this. Really, Jesus is arguing either
from the greater to the Lesser, which is the most basic
interpretation, but perhaps lurking behind it is actually
arguing from the Lesser to the greater, that's possible too.
And in this case, in the latter case, Jesus is saying that his
(12:58):
disciples who were the ones, picking the grain, who are
involved in his special Messianic Mission, they are
granted an exception, a Priestlydispensation from the Sabbath
regulations just as David's men had been granted, a dispensation
by the high priest at that time.So that's another really
interesting take on this. In terms of been given
(13:19):
exceptions for the Messianic Mission, just as David's, men
were given exceptions for David's mission.
No one of the key things to notehere when we're talking about
this passage is, why did they take the fruit?
It's because they're hungry, they're not doing it, they're
not plucking, the food just for fun.
If they were plucking the grain just for fun that would not be
(13:39):
acceptable. They would clearly be breaking
the Sabbath law. Jesus would not approve but the
disciples are doing this becausethey're hungry.
So the disciples are plucking food because they're trying to
meet a human need and therefore as we'll see Jesus is going.
Make the point that because it'smating a genuine human need.
It is acceptable to do on the Sabbath.
(14:01):
It's a need not a want and marksversion brings this out a bit
more clearly. Jesus now is going to use a
second example. Of cording from the Old
Testament. And this is a really interesting
one. So he says, verse 5, or again,
have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath day?
The temple priests break the Sabbath without being blamed for
(14:23):
it or more. Literally.
There it says they are Guiltless.
So Temple priests. Even at the time of Jesus, they
worked every day in the temple and that included doing
particular offerings on the Sabbath.
You see that in numbers 28? They are commanded to do
offerings on the Sabbath as wellas eating the bread from the
Swick that's in Leviticus twentyfour.
(14:44):
So notice that it's the Old Testament.
Even the Torah, Moses law itselfcommands that the temple priests
have to do certain work on the Sabbath.
So already Jesus has pointed to an example where God requires
certain people to work on the Sabbath verse 6.
Jesus says, now, here I tell youand this is obviously the
(15:06):
language of very bold Proclamation kind of reminds us
of The Sermon on the Mount wherehe says, but I I say to you, he
says something greater than the temple is here.
Now that is an astounding statement that might not have a
big impact on us, but think about what that would have meant
to his first century Jewish hereis Jesus is claiming to be
(15:27):
greater than the temple. Is claiming to be greater than
the holy sanctuary of God which is God's very Dwelling Place.
Jesus is essentially implying here that he himself is the new
focal point for Israel's worship.
That's a huge claim. He's saying, you Worship in the
temple now something greater than the temple is here.
It's huge when you try and unpack that, in fact Jesus is
(15:50):
going to call himself the templedirectly in John 2.
Verses 19 to 21. Remember that argument about
destroy this Temple and I will rebuild it again.
In three days, he calls himself the temple there.
So, clearly Jesus wants to be seen as the new Temple.
And in fact, the catechism here says something really nice about
this passage, it says that here when Jesus says something
(16:13):
greater than the temple is here,Jesus is claiming to be God's
definitive Dwelling, Place amongmen.
And I think that's an excellent quote there from the catechism.
The other point that Jesus is making here about the temp, the
temple priests doing work on theSabbath is that since the temple
priests enjoy exceptions from the Sabbath when they're serving
the temple. Well, now something greater than
(16:37):
the temple is here. So those who serve the greater
temple. In other words, his disciples,
they should enjoy freedom from the Sabbath as well when they're
serving the greater Temple. So I'll save it again because
it's really important. Jesus is saying that clearly in
the Old Testament, those who serve the temple have an Ocean
from the Sabbath law. And now Jesus says, well, now
(16:57):
there's a new Temple. So, those who serve the new
Temple directly have an exemption on the Sabbath law,
which in this case means Jesus direct disciples.
Interesting reasoning. Isn't it now?
He's going to take it even further.
Watch what he does next with hislogic in verse 7, and if you had
understood, the meaning of thesewords, what I want is Mercy, not
(17:19):
sacrifice. You would not have condemned the
blameless. Now the quote here, what I want
is Mercy, not sacrifice. This is from Hosea in the Old
Testament, Hosea 6 verse 6, and in context, God is saying to
Hosea and, and the people of Israel, he tells them that,
although Temple sacrifices are important.
(17:41):
It is a far more important thingto practice.
Mercy, that is God's teaching there to see the Israelites.
Temple, sacrifices, sacrifices are important, but it's more
important to practice Mercy. He says that Mercy is a higher
requirement than the Sabbath law.
That's in the Old Testament itself.
Now, this is the second time Jesus has quoted from this
(18:02):
passage in Hosea. He actually quoted from it in
chapter 9 of Matthew, as well. He continually quotes this
passage to the Pharisees and that indicates.
This is one of the key things that Jesus thinks the Pharisees
are not paying enough attention to.
This is one of the principles ofthe Old Testament that they have
forgotten. It's one of the key principles
that forgotten and that's why hecontinually reminds them, of
(18:24):
this God desires Mercy, rather than sacrifice.
And in fact in context, that means Mercy is more important
than sacrifice. So Jesus logic.
Here is basically this. We wouldn't necessarily realize
this as we readers, but if we stop and think about the point,
he's trying to make to the Pharisees, it's probably this
(18:45):
earlier in verse six, he has established, the fulfilling, the
temple laws is more important than the Sabbath laws.
That's what he said. In verse 6, the temple takes
priority over the Sabbath will. Now in the last thing he said
here, he is established from theOld Testament, that Mercy is
more important than Temple regulations.
So the hierarchy goes Sabbath laws at the bottom and then
(19:09):
Temple laws next and they're even more important than Temple
laws is Mercy. And Jesus has made that point
just from passages in the Old Testament.
So, what that shows is that Mercy must be important.
More important in God's eyes than fulfilling the Sabbath
laws. It's fascinating, isn't it the
way he uses that logic purely? Arguing from the Old Testament,
(19:30):
it's expert use of the Old Testament.
It actually tells us a lot aboutthe Pharisees to it teaches us
that the Pharisees really did want to lead people to Holiness.
They were concerned with Holiness and bringing people
closer to God and they wanted everyone to follow God's laws.
But there's one thing that they fundamentally did not recognize
that we as Christians now realize but they didn't, which
(19:53):
is that there's a hierarchy in God's laws, not all of God's
laws are equal in importance, some Laws are more important
than others. And we need to realize this.
When we're dealing with the Old Testament, some laws are more
important than others. And in fact on top of that, they
also didn't realize God's ultimate intention for the laws.
(20:14):
And Mark's account of this story, brings it out even
further because marks account says, The Sabbath was made for
man, not man for the Sabbath. So that's something else that
they work. The Pharisees did not.
Realize there's a lot we can sayabout this principle when were
interpreting the Old Testament. That some laws in the Old
Testament were more important than others.
(20:35):
If we can grasp that will understand a lot of the things
that goes on the go on in the Old Testament.
So Jesus here confirms that his disciples are Guiltless in this
case because of the reasoning that he's just laid out.
So he's proved to the Pharisees that based purely on Old
Testament. Principles his disciples are in
fact Guiltless, they have not broken God's laws.
(20:58):
Now, given the general principle, he's just laid out in
terms of the law. He's now going to make an even
more radical Claim about himself, verse 8, for the son of
man is Master of the Sabbath. Now, son of man was a term used
for the Messiah in the time of Jesus and Jesus often applies it
to himself. So when Jesus says, son of man,
(21:19):
he is talking about the Messiah himself and he says the son of
man is Master of the Sabbath or Lord of the Sabbath.
In fact, some translations have this as The son of man is Master
even of the Sabbath. Now, this is a new teaching,
think about what Jesus is saying, the Messiah is Master of
the Sabbath, the Jews. At the time, did not realize
(21:40):
that the Messiah was going to beMaster of the Sabbath, in that
sense, they probably viewed. The Sabbath is more important
than the Messiah. Now, Jesus is not abrogating
Sabbath laws. Here, Jesus is not saying the
Sabbath law is not a thing. He's not saying that.
What he's saying in this with this phrase, the son of man is
Master of the Sabbath. What he means is this, the
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Messiah has power even to interpret how the Sabbath should
be observed. Now we know that the Pharisees
did have some authority to teachand interpret Jewish laws
because they sat on the seat of Moses.
But now Jesus, you says the Messiah has a genuine Authority,
that goes far beyond even the Pharisees Authority.
(22:24):
So the Messiah is in charge of interpreting Sabbath laws.
Now many Jewish Scholars have looked at this so people who are
not Christian but who are Jews have looked at this passage and
have discerned that there's something even more radical
going on here. Lots of Scholars feel that Jesus
is in fact, claiming to be God, here he is not merely saying the
Messiah has power over the Sabbath laws.
(22:46):
Jesus is actually claiming to beGod and this would be the
reasoning. So the Sabbath is a Divine
institution. It's set up, even in Genesis
2:3. So it's something that God put
in place for all. Time.
And in fact, in the Old Testament, God consistently
calls the Sabbath my Sabbath. If you look at Exodus 31,
Leviticus 19, Isaiah 50:6. Constantly the Sabbath was
(23:11):
clearly, not just a man-made law.
It's a law of God himself my Sabbath.
Now Jesus comes along here and says, the son of man is Master
even of the Sabbath, but if the Sabbath really belongs to God
and Jesus, here is saying, the son of man is Most of the
Sabbath basically. Jesus is claiming to change
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God's Sabbath law in such a radical way that he must be
putting himself on a par with God.
This is one of these places where we often don't think about
it, but it appears that Jesus isclaiming to be God, not in a way
that might strike us immediatelythat Jesus is claiming to be
God. But if we understand the Jewish
content and context of what's going on here, that appears to
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be this appears to be a claim todivinity.
Tea with in Matthew's gospel, it's and it's a passage that we
should use more. Jesus is claiming that he has
Divine Authority here to change God's Own Sabbath law.
Now marks version also adds in here, some additional
information and that's well worth looking at.
So marks versions says, the Sabbath was made for man, not
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man for the Sabbath. So Jesus in marks version also,
teaches, the Jews can still fulfill their basic needs on the
Sabbath, otherwise that would goagainst the whole purpose of the
Sabbath. Which was to rest in Covenant
relationship with God. Matthew doesn't include that
line, though. Matthew does not include the
line about the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the
(24:38):
Sabbath, maybe he feels that, that would be too controversial
for his Jewish audience to handle, but that would just be
speculation. Now, the next little part of
Matthew chapter 12 is verses 9 to 13, which includes Jesus.
Having another confrontation with the Pharisees on the
Sabbath day, though, about a different matter so that is
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verses 9 to 13. Now that's actually never
covered in the lectionary. This is one of these few
passages in Matthew that we never get to hear.
So if you want to hear that confrontation between Jesus and
the Pharisees in verses 9 to 13,then you can have a look at the
Page for this ministry. So if you become a regular
(25:19):
patreon supporter and a willing to contribute $10 a month or
more than you can get. Access to these bonus episodes,
where we go in depth on these texts that you will never hear
as part of the usual lectionary cycle.
And so please consider whether you might like to get access to
those. There's quite a good community
of people who've really benefited from hearing these
(25:40):
passages of the Gospel which arenever read out at mass and the
link for the patreon page is in the show notes here.
In the next week day, we will continue in Matthew Matthew
chapter 12, but we're picking itup from verse 14, next time,
let's now turn to the catechism.And look at some of the most
important paragraphs here. So paragraphs 581 this is about
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Jesus and the law, the Jewish people and their spiritual
leaders often view Jesus as a rabbi, he often argued within
the framework of rabbinical interpretation of the law yet.
Jesus, Not help. But offend the teachers of the
law for he was not content to propose his interpretation,
alongside this But taught the people as one who had Authority
(26:26):
and not as the scribes in presenting with Divine
Authority, the definitive interpretation of the law.
Jesus found himself confronted by certain teachers of the law
who did not accept his interpretation of the law
guaranteed, though, it was by the Divine signs that
accompanied it. This was the case, especially
with the Sabbath laws. For he recalls often with
(26:46):
rabbinical arguments. That the Sabbath rest is not
violated by God by serving God and neighbor, which his own
healing. Did.
So that's a really important passage in helping us understand
the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees.
And then paragraph to 173 is about the Sabbath day.
Specifically, the gospel reports, many incidents when
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Jesus was accused of violating the Sabbath law but Jesus never
fails to respect the Holiness ofthis day.
He gives the law. It's authentic and authoritative
interpretation. The Sabbath was made for man,
not man for the Sabbath. With compassion Jesus Christ,
declares the Sabbath for doing good rather than harm for saving
(27:29):
life. Rather than killing the Sabbath
is the day of the Lord of mercies and a day to honor God,
the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
Paragraph, 586. So this is about Jesus
relationship with the temple. And it's a really nice paragraph
far from having been hostile to the temple, where he gave the
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essential part of his teaching, Jesus was willing to pay the
temple tax. Associating him with Peter, whom
he had just made the foundation of his future to church.
He even identified himself with the temple, by presenting
himself as God's definitive Dwelling Place among men.
And that was the The recorded earlier.
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Lastly, let's pack look at paragraph to 100.
This is about sacrifice. And it's in the section of the
catechism about the way we should act.
As Christians out would sacrifice to be genuine must be
the expression of spiritual. Sacrifice, the sacrifice
acceptable to God is a broken Spirit, the prophets of the old
Covenant, often denounced sacrifices that were not from
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the heart or not. Coupled with love of neighbor
Jesus recalls. The words of the Prophet Hosea,
I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
And of course, as we said, that's one of Jesus favorite
prophecy quotes that he gives tothe Pharisees to remind them of
their correct way to understand,God's will.
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So, it's a longer episode today,but I hope you agree that it's
one of those ones where if you unpack it in a bit of detail,
you see, the underlying Jewish logic of what Jesus is trying to
say here and the expert use thathe makes of the Old Testament.
Thank you, and will continue in Matthew chapter 12 tomorrow.
Hi everyone. Welcome once again to logical
Bible study, the Catholic podcast, which is all about
doing an exegesis on the gospel text.
So really looking at the text itself, studying scripture in
quite a rigorous Academic Way. We're looking today at Matthew
chapter 12 verses 128. That's the Gospel reading.
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You would hear at mass today. So here's today's text that we
want to look at Jesus took a walk one Sabbath day through the
cornfields, his disciples were hungry and began to pick ears of
corn and eat them. The Pharisees noticed it and
said to him look, your disciplesare doing something that is
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forbidden on the Sabbath. But he said to them, have you
not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry,
how he went into the house of God and how they ate the loaves
of offering, which neither, he nor his followers were allowed
to eat but which were for the priests alone or again, have you
not read in the law that on the Sabbath day?
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The temple priests break, the Sabbath without being blamed for
it. Now, here I tell you is
something greater than the temple.
And if you had understood the meaning of the words, what I
want is Mercy, not sacrifice. You would not have condemned the
blameless. For the son of man is Master of
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the Sabbath. So a quite well-known reading,
but Jesus does a lot of really interesting things here.
He makes a lot of interesting movements in his reasoning with
the Pharisees and we really wantto dig into it.
It's quite a rewarding text to dig into when you really
understand the way that he's arguing from scripture here.
(01:57):
So we're starting chapter 12 of Matthew and chapter 12 has a big
focus on identity. So, the identity of Jesus in
this chapter Jesus is revealed to be greater than Jonah and
also greater than Solomon. We'll see that lighter in verse
41 and 42 and in today's passageJesus is revealed to be greater
even than the temple itself. Also later in chapter 12, Jesus
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is going to identify the true identity of his adversaries.
So it's a chapter all about identities.
We get to verse one today and now most translations have here
the words at that time. Meaning that what we're about to
see here occurred shortly after what previously occurred, which
was Jesus condemning, the towns of Galilee at the end of chapter
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11, But the lectionary has decided not to put that phrase
in because it might be a bit confusing.
If the reader gets up there and starts today's reading with at
that time. So but most translations do have
that in there to make it clear that chapter 12 happens shortly
after chapter 11 Jesus took a walk one Sabbath day.
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So the Sabbath day would be Saturday in that culture and it
appears from Mark's version of this account that there's big
crowds following him. He's not walking by Self there's
actually a huge crowds followingthem as they did on most days
and he's walking through the cornfields or grain fields,
which makes sense. Because Galilee is an
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agricultural area which does have a lot of grain Fields And
Wide Open Spaces. Matthew says his disciples were
hungry and began to pick ears ofcorn and eat them.
We know from other places in Mark that Jesus and his
disciples are so busy. During their Ministry that they
actually don't have time to eat.That was a pretty common problem
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that they faced. So it makes sense.
That on this day, they have the opportunity to get some grain.
And so they eat some Grain on the go and what that would have
looked like is they probably would have plucked the heads off
the Grain, and then they rub thehusks in their hands and that
leaves them with ripe raw wheat,kernels.
And so, it's essentially the ancient equivalent of fast food,
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that's what they're doing. They're eating Grain on the go
now. According to Jewish law, there's
nothing wrong with doing this inprinciple.
You're allowed to go into a field and pluck the Grain in
order to feed yourself. There's actually nothing wrong
with that as long as you didn't use a reaping tool.
So we see in Deuteronomy chapter23, verse 26.
(04:28):
It says this when you go throughyour neighbor's grain field, you
may pluck some of the ears with your hand, but do not put a
sickle to your neighbors grain. So, there's nothing wrong with
that in theory. However, the issue here Here is
that they're doing it on the Sabbath and that's where the
controversy lies. Now notice here, that Jesus
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himself is not said to be eatingcorn, the text actually says
only his disciples were eating corn and that's important.
Because it probably implies thatJesus did not actually tell them
to do this. Verse 2, the Pharisees noticed
it. Now the Pharisees as he would
know, a constantly on the lookout for those who were
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breaking their interpretation ofthe law now, they had a
particular concern for the Sabbath because in the Old
Testament the Sabbath was a really important law often.
Israel is punished in the Old Testament specifically for not
keeping the Sabbath. So the Pharisees out of concern
for the people want to make surethat people do keep the Sabbath
properly, and of course they hadthis really complex system of
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Laws of what was allowed on the Sabbath and what wasn't now?
They had their I particularly onJesus by this point because he's
been doing a lot of unconventional things.
So here they notice that Jesus disciples are breaking their
interpretation of the Sabbath law.
So they use the opportunity to accuse Jesus.
This is what they say to him. Look, your disciples are doing
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something that is forbidden on the Sabbath more.
Literally there, it actually says not lawful on the Sabbath.
So the Old Testament stipulates that a do cannot do work on the
Sabbath. So that is in Exodus chapter 34
verse 21, that is clearly part of the law.
A Jew cannot do work on the Sabbath.
The question, of course, there is what counts as work.
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The Old Testament is not entirely clear on that.
So the Pharisees in Jesus time had come up with an elaborate
system of what counted as work and what didn't and in their
system based on some Jewish Traditions, picking corn was To
be raping and therefore work. So you in the current thinking
of the Pharisees, at the time, you are not allowed to pick corn
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on the Sabbath that counts as work.
Now, what's important to know here is that Jesus doesn't
confirm or deny their interpretation of what counts as
work. He actually doesn't enter into
that discussion at all, and thisis something that people often
miss when they're interpreting this passage.
Jesus does not dismiss the Pharisees interpretation.
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He doesn't even enter into that debate at all.
So it could well, be that the Pharisees were right, that that
does count as work. Or at least, I think the best
way of looking at this, is it appears that the Jesse's at that
time, did have legitimate teaching Authority.
So that whatever the Pharisees taught was binding on the Jews
regardless of whether it was ultimately God's will or not.
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The Pharisees did have teaching Authority and for the sake of
the people, the people were required to submit to the
teaching law of the Pharisees. And in fact Jesus recognizes
that he actually says later in Matthew, the Pharisees sit in
Moses seat. So Jesus doesn't dispute their
interpretation of the law. He's not entering into Ooh that
what he does is he approaches the matter on a different level,
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he's going to point them towardssome deeper principles that
they've forgotten about verse 3.Have you not read?
Now, even that itself would be quite an insult to the Pharisees
because of course the Pharisees know the Old Testament really.
Well, there would be familiar with the story that he's about
to site to them. And so, for Jesus to say to
them, have you not read? That's quite an insult, isn't
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it? But another aspect of this is
Jesus when dealing with his And it's almost always appeals to
Common Ground in the scriptures in order to make his point.
So, when he's dealing with the Pharisees, he knows that the
Pharisees place a high value on the Old Testament, so he argues
with them primarily from the OldTestament, whereas when he's
dealing with the Sadducees, theyonly accept the Torah.
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So, in order for Jesus to make his point, he only quotes from
the Torah and not from other places in the Old Testament.
And that's an important lesson for us to learn as well.
We want to try and argue from common ground And where
possible? So he says to them, have you not
read? What David did when he and his
followers? Or in fact, water says here more
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literally. Is he and those who are with
him. So Matthew and in fact, Jesus,
as he speaking here, seems to beemphasizing this idea that it
wasn't just David in the story. It was actually the followers as
well. Possibly Jesus, here is trying
to set up a direct parallel between David and his followers
in the story that will see and Jesus and his followers.
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So, there seems to be this emphasis on the followers here.
Have you not read what David didwhen he and his followers were
hungry, how he went into the house of God and how they ate
the loaves of offering. Now, this is all in 1 Samuel,
21, That's the part of the Old Testament where you'll see this
story and it says they ate the loaves of offering.
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And if you read 1 Samuel, 21, that's what they do.
So the loaves of offering are the bread of the presence and
basically that's twelve loaves of bread that are placed on the
table in the Holy Sanctuary on every Sabbath.
That's what David's men ate, which they were not supposed to
do. And Jesus says that explicitly
he says which neither he nor hisfollowers were allowed to eat
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but which foot were for the priests alone.
So, Gives a summary of the storyto the Pharisees and says, have
you not read this story? Now that's that's all he says
about this story. Actually, he doesn't bring out
the meaning, but I think we can work out.
What why Jesus brings this up? Let's think about it.
What point is Jesus trying to make you about the story of
(10:21):
David? Well, David is considered to be
a holy man. Very holy and venerated by all
the Jews but notice what David does in 1 Samuel 21 and this is
what Jesus is trying to draw their attention to David takes
the holy bread that only the priests could eat from the holy
tent or more. Like the priest actually gives
it to you, David actually ate the bread when he was hungry
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which only the priests were supposed to eat.
David gave some of the bread to his men who were with him
because they were hungry too. And also this event in 1 Samuel,
21 probably occurred on the Sabbath because the holy bread
was usually only available on the Sabbath.
So that's there's this parallel,that Jesus is trying to set up
(11:08):
with David situation and his ownsituation in the cornfields.
Here's the reasoning that his hewants the Pharisees to think
about. If David being the chosen, one
of God, did all of this and broke.
All of these laws about eating the holy bread, because he and
his followers needed food. He's the chosen one of God.
Well, then surely it's acceptable for a Jewish teacher.
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Just an ordinary Jewish teacher to take ordinary food on the
Sabbath. So that his followers do not go
hungry. If it's acceptable for David to
eat, holy food, that is not supposed to on the Sabbath then.
Surely it's acceptable for an ordinary Jewish teacher to take
ordinary not wholly food on the Sabbath so that his followers do
not go hungry. That seems to be Jesus reasoning
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here. And in fact, that would mean
that in what he's trying to get the Seems to recognize is that
if the Pharisees are going to say that Jesus and his disciples
are guilty. Well then they're going to have
to say that David is guilty too and obviously, that's not
something the Pharisees want to say.
Now, there's another interpretation here or maybe
another element, which might be sort of lurking in the
(12:13):
background here. We know that elsewhere in the
gospels and particularly in Matthew, Jesus Compares himself
to David directly. And Jesus actually says things
like behold one greater than David is.
He's here. So, Jesus might have this kind
of specific davidic fulfillment in mind here.
So, Jesus might be thinking something like, this, David was
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allowed to do this and I'm greater than David.
So I can do it too. So, there's two interpretation
of this of this. Really, Jesus is arguing either
from the greater to the Lesser, which is the most basic
interpretation, but perhaps lurking behind it is actually
arguing from the Lesser to the greater, that's possible too.
And in this case, in the latter case, Jesus is saying that his
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disciples who were the ones, picking the grain, who are
involved in his special Messianic Mission, they are
granted an exception, a Priestlydispensation from the Sabbath
regulations just as David's men had been granted, a dispensation
by the high priest at that time.So that's another really
interesting take on this. In terms of been given
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exceptions for the Messianic Mission, just as David's, men
were given exceptions for David's mission.
No one of the key things to notehere when we're talking about
this passage is, why did they take the fruit?
It's because they're hungry, they're not doing it, they're
not plucking, the food just for fun.
If they were plucking the grain just for fun that would not be
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acceptable. They would clearly be breaking
the Sabbath law. Jesus would not approve but the
disciples are doing this becausethey're hungry.
So the disciples are plucking food because they're trying to
meet a human need and therefore as we'll see Jesus is going.
Make the point that because it'smating a genuine human need.
It is acceptable to do on the Sabbath.
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It's a need not a want and marksversion brings this out a bit
more clearly. Jesus now is going to use a
second example. Of cording from the Old
Testament. And this is a really interesting
one. So he says, verse 5, or again,
have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath day?
The temple priests break the Sabbath without being blamed for
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it or more. Literally.
There it says they are Guiltless.
So Temple priests. Even at the time of Jesus, they
worked every day in the temple and that included doing
particular offerings on the Sabbath.
You see that in numbers 28? They are commanded to do
offerings on the Sabbath as wellas eating the bread from the
Swick that's in Leviticus twentyfour.
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So notice that it's the Old Testament.
Even the Torah, Moses law itselfcommands that the temple priests
have to do certain work on the Sabbath.
So already Jesus has pointed to an example where God requires
certain people to work on the Sabbath verse 6.
Jesus says, now, here I tell youand this is obviously the
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language of very bold Proclamation kind of reminds us
of The Sermon on the Mount wherehe says, but I I say to you, he
says something greater than the temple is here.
Now that is an astounding statement that might not have a
big impact on us, but think about what that would have meant
to his first century Jewish hereis Jesus is claiming to be
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greater than the temple. Is claiming to be greater than
the holy sanctuary of God which is God's very Dwelling Place.
Jesus is essentially implying here that he himself is the new
focal point for Israel's worship.
That's a huge claim. He's saying, you Worship in the
temple now something greater than the temple is here.
It's huge when you try and unpack that, in fact Jesus is
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going to call himself the templedirectly in John 2.
Verses 19 to 21. Remember that argument about
destroy this Temple and I will rebuild it again.
In three days, he calls himself the temple there.
So, clearly Jesus wants to be seen as the new Temple.
And in fact, the catechism here says something really nice about
this passage, it says that here when Jesus says something
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greater than the temple is here,Jesus is claiming to be God's
definitive Dwelling, Place amongmen.
And I think that's an excellent quote there from the catechism.
The other point that Jesus is making here about the temp, the
temple priests doing work on theSabbath is that since the temple
priests enjoy exceptions from the Sabbath when they're serving
the temple. Well, now something greater than
(16:37):
the temple is here. So those who serve the greater
temple. In other words, his disciples,
they should enjoy freedom from the Sabbath as well when they're
serving the greater Temple. So I'll save it again because
it's really important. Jesus is saying that clearly in
the Old Testament, those who serve the temple have an Ocean
from the Sabbath law. And now Jesus says, well, now
(16:57):
there's a new Temple. So, those who serve the new
Temple directly have an exemption on the Sabbath law,
which in this case means Jesus direct disciples.
Interesting reasoning. Isn't it now?
He's going to take it even further.
Watch what he does next with hislogic in verse 7, and if you had
understood, the meaning of thesewords, what I want is Mercy, not
(17:19):
sacrifice. You would not have condemned the
blameless. Now the quote here, what I want
is Mercy, not sacrifice. This is from Hosea in the Old
Testament, Hosea 6 verse 6, and in context, God is saying to
Hosea and, and the people of Israel, he tells them that,
although Temple sacrifices are important.
(17:41):
It is a far more important thingto practice.
Mercy, that is God's teaching there to see the Israelites.
Temple, sacrifices, sacrifices are important, but it's more
important to practice Mercy. He says that Mercy is a higher
requirement than the Sabbath law.
That's in the Old Testament itself.
Now, this is the second time Jesus has quoted from this
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passage in Hosea. He actually quoted from it in
chapter 9 of Matthew, as well. He continually quotes this
passage to the Pharisees and that indicates.
This is one of the key things that Jesus thinks the Pharisees
are not paying enough attention to.
This is one of the principles ofthe Old Testament that they have
forgotten. It's one of the key principles
that forgotten and that's why hecontinually reminds them, of
(18:24):
this God desires Mercy, rather than sacrifice.
And in fact in context, that means Mercy is more important
than sacrifice. So Jesus logic.
Here is basically this. We wouldn't necessarily realize
this as we readers, but if we stop and think about the point,
he's trying to make to the Pharisees, it's probably this
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earlier in verse six, he has established, the fulfilling, the
temple laws is more important than the Sabbath laws.
That's what he said. In verse 6, the temple takes
priority over the Sabbath will. Now in the last thing he said
here, he is established from theOld Testament, that Mercy is
more important than Temple regulations.
So the hierarchy goes Sabbath laws at the bottom and then
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Temple laws next and they're even more important than Temple
laws is Mercy. And Jesus has made that point
just from passages in the Old Testament.
So, what that shows is that Mercy must be important.
More important in God's eyes than fulfilling the Sabbath
laws. It's fascinating, isn't it the
way he uses that logic purely? Arguing from the Old Testament,
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it's expert use of the Old Testament.
It actually tells us a lot aboutthe Pharisees to it teaches us
that the Pharisees really did want to lead people to Holiness.
They were concerned with Holiness and bringing people
closer to God and they wanted everyone to follow God's laws.
But there's one thing that they fundamentally did not recognize
that we as Christians now realize but they didn't, which
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is that there's a hierarchy in God's laws, not all of God's
laws are equal in importance, some Laws are more important
than others. And we need to realize this.
When we're dealing with the Old Testament, some laws are more
important than others. And in fact on top of that, they
also didn't realize God's ultimate intention for the laws.
(20:14):
And Mark's account of this story, brings it out even
further because marks account says, The Sabbath was made for
man, not man for the Sabbath. So that's something else that
they work. The Pharisees did not.
Realize there's a lot we can sayabout this principle when were
interpreting the Old Testament. That some laws in the Old
Testament were more important than others.
(20:35):
If we can grasp that will understand a lot of the things
that goes on the go on in the Old Testament.
So Jesus here confirms that his disciples are Guiltless in this
case because of the reasoning that he's just laid out.
So he's proved to the Pharisees that based purely on Old
Testament. Principles his disciples are in
fact Guiltless, they have not broken God's laws.
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Now, given the general principle, he's just laid out in
terms of the law. He's now going to make an even
more radical Claim about himself, verse 8, for the son of
man is Master of the Sabbath. Now, son of man was a term used
for the Messiah in the time of Jesus and Jesus often applies it
to himself. So when Jesus says, son of man,
(21:19):
he is talking about the Messiah himself and he says the son of
man is Master of the Sabbath or Lord of the Sabbath.
In fact, some translations have this as The son of man is Master
even of the Sabbath. Now, this is a new teaching,
think about what Jesus is saying, the Messiah is Master of
the Sabbath, the Jews. At the time, did not realize
(21:40):
that the Messiah was going to beMaster of the Sabbath, in that
sense, they probably viewed. The Sabbath is more important
than the Messiah. Now, Jesus is not abrogating
Sabbath laws. Here, Jesus is not saying the
Sabbath law is not a thing. He's not saying that.
What he's saying in this with this phrase, the son of man is
Master of the Sabbath. What he means is this, the
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Messiah has power even to interpret how the Sabbath should
be observed. Now we know that the Pharisees
did have some authority to teachand interpret Jewish laws
because they sat on the seat of Moses.
But now Jesus, you says the Messiah has a genuine Authority,
that goes far beyond even the Pharisees Authority.
(22:24):
So the Messiah is in charge of interpreting Sabbath laws.
Now many Jewish Scholars have looked at this so people who are
not Christian but who are Jews have looked at this passage and
have discerned that there's something even more radical
going on here. Lots of Scholars feel that Jesus
is in fact, claiming to be God, here he is not merely saying the
Messiah has power over the Sabbath laws.
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Jesus is actually claiming to beGod and this would be the
reasoning. So the Sabbath is a Divine
institution. It's set up, even in Genesis
2:3. So it's something that God put
in place for all. Time.
And in fact, in the Old Testament, God consistently
calls the Sabbath my Sabbath. If you look at Exodus 31,
Leviticus 19, Isaiah 50:6. Constantly the Sabbath was
(23:11):
clearly, not just a man-made law.
It's a law of God himself my Sabbath.
Now Jesus comes along here and says, the son of man is Master
even of the Sabbath, but if the Sabbath really belongs to God
and Jesus, here is saying, the son of man is Most of the
Sabbath basically. Jesus is claiming to change
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God's Sabbath law in such a radical way that he must be
putting himself on a par with God.
This is one of these places where we often don't think about
it, but it appears that Jesus isclaiming to be God, not in a way
that might strike us immediatelythat Jesus is claiming to be
God. But if we understand the Jewish
content and context of what's going on here, that appears to
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be this appears to be a claim todivinity.
Tea with in Matthew's gospel, it's and it's a passage that we
should use more. Jesus is claiming that he has
Divine Authority here to change God's Own Sabbath law.
Now marks version also adds in here, some additional
information and that's well worth looking at.
So marks versions says, the Sabbath was made for man, not
(24:17):
man for the Sabbath. So Jesus in marks version also,
teaches, the Jews can still fulfill their basic needs on the
Sabbath, otherwise that would goagainst the whole purpose of the
Sabbath. Which was to rest in Covenant
relationship with God. Matthew doesn't include that
line, though. Matthew does not include the
line about the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the
(24:38):
Sabbath, maybe he feels that, that would be too controversial
for his Jewish audience to handle, but that would just be
speculation. Now, the next little part of
Matthew chapter 12 is verses 9 to 13, which includes Jesus.
Having another confrontation with the Pharisees on the
Sabbath day, though, about a different matter so that is
(24:58):
verses 9 to 13. Now that's actually never
covered in the lectionary. This is one of these few
passages in Matthew that we never get to hear.
So if you want to hear that confrontation between Jesus and
the Pharisees in verses 9 to 13,then you can have a look at the
Page for this ministry. So if you become a regular
(25:19):
patreon supporter and a willing to contribute $10 a month or
more than you can get. Access to these bonus episodes,
where we go in depth on these texts that you will never hear
as part of the usual lectionary cycle.
And so please consider whether you might like to get access to
those. There's quite a good community
of people who've really benefited from hearing these
(25:40):
passages of the Gospel which arenever read out at mass and the
link for the patreon page is in the show notes here.
In the next week day, we will continue in Matthew Matthew
chapter 12, but we're picking itup from verse 14, next time,
let's now turn to the catechism.And look at some of the most
important paragraphs here. So paragraphs 581 this is about
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Jesus and the law, the Jewish people and their spiritual
leaders often view Jesus as a rabbi, he often argued within
the framework of rabbinical interpretation of the law yet.
Jesus, Not help. But offend the teachers of the
law for he was not content to propose his interpretation,
alongside this But taught the people as one who had Authority
(26:26):
and not as the scribes in presenting with Divine
Authority, the definitive interpretation of the law.
Jesus found himself confronted by certain teachers of the law
who did not accept his interpretation of the law
guaranteed, though, it was by the Divine signs that
accompanied it. This was the case, especially
with the Sabbath laws. For he recalls often with
(26:46):
rabbinical arguments. That the Sabbath rest is not
violated by God by serving God and neighbor, which his own
healing. Did.
So that's a really important passage in helping us understand
the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees.
And then paragraph to 173 is about the Sabbath day.
Specifically, the gospel reports, many incidents when
(27:08):
Jesus was accused of violating the Sabbath law but Jesus never
fails to respect the Holiness ofthis day.
He gives the law. It's authentic and authoritative
interpretation. The Sabbath was made for man,
not man for the Sabbath. With compassion Jesus Christ,
declares the Sabbath for doing good rather than harm for saving
(27:29):
life. Rather than killing the Sabbath
is the day of the Lord of mercies and a day to honor God,
the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
Paragraph, 586. So this is about Jesus
relationship with the temple. And it's a really nice paragraph
far from having been hostile to the temple, where he gave the
(27:50):
essential part of his teaching, Jesus was willing to pay the
temple tax. Associating him with Peter, whom
he had just made the foundation of his future to church.
He even identified himself with the temple, by presenting
himself as God's definitive Dwelling Place among men.
And that was the The recorded earlier.
(28:13):
Lastly, let's pack look at paragraph to 100.
This is about sacrifice. And it's in the section of the
catechism about the way we should act.
As Christians out would sacrifice to be genuine must be
the expression of spiritual. Sacrifice, the sacrifice
acceptable to God is a broken Spirit, the prophets of the old
Covenant, often denounced sacrifices that were not from
(28:35):
the heart or not. Coupled with love of neighbor
Jesus recalls. The words of the Prophet Hosea,
I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
And of course, as we said, that's one of Jesus favorite
prophecy quotes that he gives tothe Pharisees to remind them of
their correct way to understand,God's will.
(28:56):
So, it's a longer episode today,but I hope you agree that it's
one of those ones where if you unpack it in a bit of detail,
you see, the underlying Jewish logic of what Jesus is trying to
say here and the expert use thathe makes of the Old Testament.
Thank you, and will continue in Matthew chapter 12 tomorrow.
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