Controversy With The Pharisees About The Sabbath. The Son of Man Is Lord Of The Sabbath (12:1-16).
In the last passage Matthew has depicted words of Jesus concerning the heavy burden of the Law and the way to finding rest from it. Here we now have two clear illustrations of what He was saying, depicting the heavy yoke of the Law, and the way in which Jesus would make it ‘easier'. It also demonstrates that the Pharisees were on the watch for Him, trying to catch Him out. The opposition is growing until in Matthew 12:14 it reaches fever pitch. But this must not just be seen as an argument on the minutiae of the Law in the face of two different opinions. Jesus rather challenges the basic attitudes that lie behind the Scribes' interpretation of the Law, and especially their right to challenge the disciples of the Son of Man on such a matter, for that is an implied criticism of Him. And He is Lord of the Sabbath.
The first challenge arises as a result of a walk through a grainfield on the Sabbath Day, when they pluck ears of grain, and roll it in their hands and eat it because they are hungry. The disciples are then faced up with the accusation of transgressing the Law because they have technically reaped and threshed grain on the Sabbath. Jesus is warned that what they have done ‘is not lawful'. This may well have been an official warning, (one warning on matters of interpretation of the Law had to be given to ‘the ignorant') in which case not to heed it would involve being in danger of being brought before the synagogue courts for punishment. Jesus' confutes it both on the grounds of precedence, and on the grounds that as the Son of Man, and greater than the Temple, He has the right to declare what is right on the Sabbath.
Then again in the synagogue Jesus Himself is challenged as to whether ‘it is lawful' to heal on the Sabbath when a life is not at stake. It should be noted that in neither case does Jesus reply that the Sabbath need not be observed. What He does speak of is the kind of thing that must not be forbidden on the Sabbath simply because of the declaration of the Scribes. This is when it involves the genuine good of man, and cases of genuine need. By it He indicates that as the Son of Man He is the Lord of the Sabbath. That was a huge claim to make, for the Sabbath was God's ordinance and not man's. He was claiming to be able to unveil the mind of God (compare Matthew 11:27) and to be able to set aside tradition on a subject of great importance to the Jews.
The importance of the Sabbath to the Jews cannot be overstressed. They rejoiced in it for they saw it as marking them off as God's people. No one else had such a symbol which every seven days revealed that like God at creation they worked in accordance with His pattern.
So Jesus' reply is not that the Sabbath does not matter, but that their interpretation is wrong because they have not considered all the facts. He then points out that the Scriptures allow the breaking of the Sabbath Rule of ‘you shall do no manner of work' in certain circumstances, and He stresses that what they have especially overlooked is God's concern for mercy. Thus both the hungry poor (which includes His disciples) who need to eat on the Sabbath, and the doing of genuine good, are factors that, within reason, overrule the Sabbath prohibition, just as the Temple requirements do. In making this point He also stresses that One is now here Who is greater than the Temple and is Lord of the Sabbath. It is He Who has the right to say what is lawful on the Sabbath Day, and He makes clear that He declares His disciples innocent.
This theme of ‘greater than' will continue on through the chapter. He is greater than the Temple (Matthew 12:6), He is greater than Satan (Matthew 12:29), He is greater than Jonah (Matthew 12:41), He is greater than the great King Solomon (Matthew 12:42), just as previously He was greater than John the greatest of all the Prophets (Matthew 11:11; Matthew 11:13-14). For He is the Spirit Anointed and beloved Servant of YHWH (Matthew 12:18).