Nitpickers

N.T.#127 "Nitpickers"

August 10, 2023

Matthew 12

LET IT GLOW

Jesus' disciples were hungry on the Sabbath and picked some ears of corn and ate it-corn pickers. Now what in the world could be wrong with that? There was a need and they met it. Well, those religious nitpickers called Pharisees thought such an action was sinful. Do you know why? 

The Pharisees had established 39 categories of actions forbidden on the Sabbath, based on interpretations of God's law and on Jewish custom. Harvesting was one of those forbidden actions. By picking wheat (corn), rubbing it in their hands, the disciples were technically harvesting according to the Pharisees. Jesus and the disciples were picking rain because they were hungry, not because they wanted to harvest the grain for a profit. They were not working on the Sabbath. However, the Pharisees could not nor did they want to see beyond their law's technicalities. They had no room for compassion, and they were determined to accuse Jesus of wrongdoing. (Life Application Study Bible)

The Pharisees had a long list of 39 prohibited actions on the Sabbath for the Jews:

• No sowing, reaping, gathering into sheaves,
• no baking, 
• no shearing wool, making two chords, weaving or separating two threads, making or untying a knot, tearing to sew into two stitches,
• catching a deer, killing it, skinning it, salting it, preparing its hide, scraping off its hair, cutting it up
• writing two letters or blotting them out,
• building, pulling down, extinguishing or lighting a fire,
• beating a hammer, carrying one to another property.

There were several hundreds of things a conscientious, law-abiding Jew could not do on the Sabbath, according to Stephen Barabas, "Sabbath", in New International Dictionary of the Bible.

LET IT GROW

All those man-made rules were added to God's inspired Word. The problem wasn't plucking and eating the grain. In the minds of the Pharisees, the problem was doing it on the Sabbath. Grabbing a snack because a person is hungry was breaking the Jewish law? Really guys? Bizarre! But how typical of legalists!

What I find crazy is that the Pharisees were spying on Jesus. They must have been watching in the corn field, and close enough in order to see the disciples pop those tiny kernels into their mouths. 

The disciples had been with Jesus long enough, knew the difference between the Mosaic Law and man-made traditions. However, those Legalists did consider the disciples breaking it. 

We will see how Jesus responded to those accusations next time.

Are we willing to help others, meet their needs, show compassion? Or are we nitpickers like the Pharisees?

LET IT GO

Fill us with Your love, Jesus.

Open our eyes to the needs of others.