Matthew 12:1 At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields. And His disciples became hungry and began to pick ears of grain and eat. (2) But the Pharisees, seeing this, said to Him, Behold, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. Gal 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free ; stand fast therefore, and do not be entangled with a yoke of slavery again.
"At that time" [in verse above] joins chapter twelve to chapter eleven. At the time the Lord called people to rest from striving to keep the law and religious regulations, He went on the Sabbath through the grain fields, and His disciples began to pick the ears and to eat, seemingly breaking the Sabbath. At that time, all His disciples were hungry. Whenever we are hungry, we do not have rest. Rest includes satisfaction. When you are satisfied, you are at rest. But if you do not have satisfaction, you do not have rest. He knew that His disciples were hungry and that, because it was the Sabbath, it was difficult to find something to eat. They could not buy anything, do anything, or go anywhere. The disciples could have said, "Lord Jesus, what shall we do? You have called us to come to You for rest; but we are hungry, and there seems to be no way for us to get anything to eat. How can we rest when we have such hunger?" The disciples were under the burden of keeping the Sabbath regulations. These regulations had become a heavy burden to the hungry disciples. Thus, the Lord Jesus took the lead not to keep these regulations by bringing His disciples out of a regulation- keeping situation into the grain fields. The Lord's intention in doing this was to free the disciples from the Sabbath- keeping regulations. When they came into the grain fields, everyone was freed from this burden and was satisfied.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Matthew, pp. 393-395. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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