Necessary Roughness

Pastor Murray covered Matthew 12:1-14 on Christian Education Night. Notes:

v. 1: “At that time” - Matthew’s Old Testament lingo for “this is the word of the Lord”. He’s making an emphasis. Out of the three gospels that cover this event, Matthew is the only gospel that mentions why they were picking and eating grain; they were hungry.

v. 2: During the Sabbath, all forms of labor were forbidden, for the purpose of resting and hearing God’s word. Before this event the Pharisees were merely sitting back and watching Jesus teach; now they are getting more aggressive.

v. 3: Jesus is quoting I Samuel 21. The priests gave the restricted food to David. Jesus is saying here that he is at least equal to David.

v. 5: The priests work on the Sabbath, but they’re not guilty of any violation. They can work, why can’t he? Jesus is saying he is a High Priest.

v. 6: The Sabbath is less a rest from work than a rest for the soul. “Something” can be translated someone. “Temple” here refers not to the temple court but the building which contained the Holy of Holies where God promised to dwell. He is the something/someone greater than the temple. No wonder the Pharisees were irked.

v. 7: A reference to Hosea 6:6: Jesus prefers mercy over sacrifice.

v. 8: All of the temple law points to Christ. Everything is made new and entirely different, not new and improved. God made the normal week of seven days; the new Sabbath when we rest in the Lord is the eighth day. For this reason some baptismal fonts and some old Lutheran church sanctuaries were made with eight sides.

v. 9: He leaves to avoid the Pharisees. Even the Lord of the Sabbath worshipped on the Sabbath.

v. 10: The Pharisees try to show the people that Christ is a bad rabbi.

v. 13: Christ restored the man his true rest by making him whole.

Vespers then followed. In these services I had finally picked up the Magnificat tune from TLH. Because of how it is printed in the hymnal it is difficult to read as well as sing. It occurred to me that when this church and the others move on to the new LSB hymnal that this would not be sung any more. LSB has the simpler Magnificat from Lutheran Worship. It’s a weird feeling, to have earned something but not use it for much longer.