Thursday after the Third Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on July 7, 2022 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 12:1-8 (NKJV)
12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”
3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. 7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Devotion
Our Lord is not teaching that we should break His laws; He is teaching that we should understand His laws and why they were given. The Pharisees focused only on appearances. They wanted to do what seemed right to them, and they wanted it to appear good and righteous to others; but they lacked faith in the coming Messiah, failing to seek God’s true righteousness. All of our Savior’s teaching in the Gospels (and throughout Scripture), He shows that we are to keep His commands. He also teaches us to be honest, confessing ourselves sinners who continually fail to keep them, needing His grace to help us, His righteousness standing in the place of our failure.
God’s Law is a blessing. Discipline, correction, sacrifice, and the Sabbath’s rest in His Word are all blessed instructions given so we may grow in His righteousness and, thereby, in service. As always, we know we cannot earn forgiveness or salvation through any effort of ours: the Son is the only one who saves us from sin and death. Yet, He still gives us commands and times of rest so we can walk in His will, which is focused on loving and serving all. Through such opportunities, our lives show others the very things we trust in for salvation. Thus, our Lord goes on to heal and to speak about healing on the Sabbath. His mercy is what makes obedience and sacrifice meaningful, not man’s efforts or appearances.
Prayer: O God, the Protector of all that trust in Thee, without Whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us Thy mercy; that Thou being our Ruler and Guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
