WEBVTT 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:15.199 One of my uh heroes from church history is a man named Athanasius. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:18.480 Athanasius was in the 300s, early 300s. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:22.399 His name means uh literally no death, never die. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:29.839 And he's aptly named, though he has physically died, he spiritually still, in a sense, is with us through his writings. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:42.399 He was a pastor in North Africa who was leading the charge for Christians to recognize the deity of Jesus Christ, which was still very much a debated doctrine during his lifetime. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:51.520 He came to have such a position of influence because he was what we would call today an associate pastor or an intern or what have you at a prominent church in North Africa. 00:00:51.759 --> 00:01:03.520 The bishop of the church was receiving lots of correspondence about the deity of Christ, and the bishops of the years had figured out how to, you know, say things without saying them, how to answer the mail, so to speak, without contributing to the controversy. 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:08.640 But he had Athanasius start to answer his mail for him, and Athanasius was not as circumspect. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:14.959 Athanasius went right for, you know, like writing letters like if you don't recognize the deity of Jesus, you're a heretic, kind of things. 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:17.680 Uh, which nobody would care what the youth pastor says. 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:26.000 So he signed it with the bishop's name, which caused no small controversy, as they say, in North Africa. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:30.000 Led to all kinds of church councils, led to Athanasius' imprisonment. 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:33.920 Uh, when the bishop died, Athanasius took his spot as the pastor of St. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:37.120 Thomas's Church in North Africa. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:45.840 Uh Athanasius was persecuted by the government, persecuted by riots by other pastors uh countless times throughout his life. 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:52.799 It's estimated he spent 17 years in exile, spread over five different exiles, the second of which was the bloodiest and the most severe. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:54.959 He had been back at his church, St. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:56.480 Thomas, uh, preaching. 00:01:56.640 --> 00:01:59.840 He had been leading a communion service, a midweek evening communion service. 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:06.400 It was dark outside when soldiers arrived at the church to capture him because of his constant advocacy for the deity of Christ. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:11.520 They burst into the center doors of the church, they sliced their way through the crowd, killing people. 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:17.840 Athanasius was smuggled out the back door of the church and ran out into exile where he remained for years. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:25.039 The church, by the way, was singing Psalm 136, his love endures forever while they were being killed. 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:31.120 Athanasius used his time in the wilderness to write treatise about the deity of Christ. 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:32.639 He spent his time in exile. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:33.520 It's so ironic. 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:40.800 The persecution gave him an opportunity to write and to think in a way that magnified the very doctrine for which he was being persecuted. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:45.919 One of the passages that captured his attention about the deity of Christ is Matthew chapter 12. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:47.919 And I want to turn there this morning. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:55.280 And as you think about the deity of Christ, you know, if the Jehovah's Witness or the Mormon knocks on your door and asks you, where does the Bible teach that Jesus is God? 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:57.520 You probably all have your own go-to passages. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:02.479 You might think of the passage we read this morning in Colossians, for example, or John chapter 1. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:05.439 Those are the places I would go to most naturally. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:09.759 But I want you, through our study this morning, to add Matthew 12 to your list. 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:16.319 My argument this morning is that Matthew 12 is one of the clearest places where Jesus claims that he is God. 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:22.800 He gives a series of proofs of his own divinity here through this exchange with the Pharisees. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:24.800 The text begins in verse 1. 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:28.479 At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:35.840 That time is after the events of Matthew 11, where he's been preaching out in that Galilean countryside on Mount Arbel, that area. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.800 He's now walking back to Capernaum on the Sabbath. 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:42.240 That is a long walk, but it's doable in one day. 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:48.879 In fact, if you've been to Israel and the parking lot of Capernaum is full, your tour bus probably parked somewhere around where Jesus started walking from. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:52.319 It's a walk that you can easily manage, just along the Sea of Galilee. 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:58.000 He would have passed through Magdala, probably the place where now there's the uh the chapel for the fish and the loaves. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:03:59.120 He would have passed through that area. 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:01.680 It's a Capernaum, which was his main city. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.800 Capernaum is the town he spent most of his ministry in. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:08.800 He preached in that synagogue on more Sabbaths than any other place. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:13.280 It's where he lived these three years of his life with Peter's mother-in-law in that place. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:14.639 So this is where he's headed. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:16.000 It's familiar territory. 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:17.920 He's there most Sabbaths. 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:21.360 He's on his way back there now at verse 1. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:27.839 His disciples were hungry, and they begin to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:35.839 This is a foreign world for us as Americans to understand how the Jews viewed the Sabbath. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:42.959 Central to the Jewish identity is the Sabbath, the Sabbath restrictions, the Sabbath celebrations, the Sabbath keeping. 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:48.959 You know, we think of the Jewish identity sometimes in terms of clothes and in Torah and in food, which is all true. 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:54.959 You know, they ate different food than the nations around them, even than the aliens and the immigrants inside of Israel. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:00.319 They ate different food, they dressed differently, they spoke a different language, all that gave the Jewish identity. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:06.160 But Tadma, like the chief of the things giving the Jews their identity was their Sabbath keeping. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:18.079 Sabbath in the Jewish world begins Friday evening at sundown and goes all the way until sunset on Saturday, because the Lord had evening and morning, the the you know, each of the days in Genesis. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:21.040 God created the earth in six days, rested it on the seventh. 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:32.000 And so the Jews were supposed to work for six days, rest on the seventh day, and the Jewish people had developed all these restrictions to guard and to keep the Sabbath special, to keep it different. 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:44.480 Like I mentioned, for American Christians, even uh for American Jews, even American Jews today do not keep or celebrate the Sabbath for the most part, like Jews in Israel do, even to this day. 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:47.439 If you've been to Israel on the Sabbath, you you know what I'm talking about. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:48.879 I mean the country shuts down. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:54.879 Everything is a half day on Friday because you have to, you know, leave work to prepare for uh for the Sabbath. 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:59.600 You have to prepare the food before sundown on Friday because you're not supposed to work on the Sabbath. 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:03.839 And so the fruit food for Saturday and all that is prepared on Friday. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:05.199 It's what you're doing Friday afternoon. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:10.959 You go to the market, you buy your stuff, you cook, you prepare, because you don't want to do any work on the Sabbath. 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:13.360 And what's defined as work is very intricate. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:14.399 All kinds of rules. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:20.720 William Barclay in his commentary lists many examples of the rules around the Sabbath during Jesus' lifetime. 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:23.279 You weren't supposed to wear sandals with two straps on them. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:28.240 One strap, yes, two straps no, because of the doing the extra work and moving clothing. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:31.759 You weren't supposed to carry clothing on the Sabbath unless you were wearing it. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.800 So, kids, no putting away your laundry on the Sabbath. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:37.040 Unless you were wearing it. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:39.439 You couldn't carry enough ink to write two letters. 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:45.600 And by letters, I don't mean like script letters, I mean like Aleph, bet, gimmel doll, like two, like A, B, C. 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:53.279 And the idea is that if you're carrying a pin with you, which you should not on the Sabbath, but if you were, it could be reasonable to think there was some residual ink in there. 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:53.920 That's okay. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:58.560 But if you have enough ink in there to write two letters, you're probably trying to circumvent the Sabbath restriction. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:00.000 So don't do that. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:05.759 You weren't supposed to carry uh food that weighed more than the weight of a dried fig. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:09.360 Unless it was on a spoon, that would be about its normal course of movement anyway. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:15.360 In other words, you could, you don't have to wait how much food you bring to your mouth at a time, because that spoon's in its normal course of movement. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:18.639 But you can't be moving food around your kitchen on the Sabbath. 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:23.519 Everything has to be set up, otherwise, you're working on the Sabbath. 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:26.160 There's rules about spitting. 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:29.759 You know, your spit's not supposed to turn up dirt on the Sabbath. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:32.319 So things like spitting on the softball field kind of thing. 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:37.600 Keep that in the back of your mind when Jesus is going to heal people by spitting into mud and making it on the Sabbath. 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:40.720 He's intentionally flaunting that kind of restriction. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:43.439 Rules about travel from your house on the Sabbath. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:48.160 You weren't supposed to go more than a certain distance from your house unless it was to the synagogue, of course. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:51.600 You were supposed to stay home, stay in your house. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:58.240 And over time, those developed to more, you know, extrapolated restrictions, like when they invented outhouses kind of thing. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:03.120 You would tie a string from your house to the outhouse, showing that it was confined. 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:04.720 It was one, you know, one building. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:07.680 It was still an extension of your house because it was connected by the string. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:17.600 Over the course of years, this is after Jesus' lifetime, but over the course of the years they invented or developed a concept called the Aruv, which is a border around joining lots of houses together. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:19.439 Like in English, you might call it a compound. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:24.639 If you had like six houses all inside one fence, that's an area where you could move freely on the Sabbath. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:29.839 Your home is defined, by the way, as where you have your food for your Sabbath meal. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:39.279 So you would set your food for your Sabbath meal in a house and you would eat there on, you know, Friday night or Saturday, and that's your home for the Shabbat for Sabbath. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:40.399 That's your home there. 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:44.639 And so people would store food in a place because that would be their home for the next day. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:47.519 Very, very common to do that. 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:50.399 Today the Aruve restriction has grown and grown and grown. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:52.799 You know, before I was living here, I was living in Los Angeles. 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:55.200 Los Angeles has the largest Aruve in the United States. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:59.440 It runs up the median of the 405 freeway, down the 101 freeway, over the hills. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:04.159 It's a Kevlar cable, and it embraces a huge portion of Los Angeles City. 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:08.960 So inside of LA City, you can move freely on the Sabbath. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:10.639 There's an Aruvin, D.C. 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:15.279 It's a cable that runs under the Key Bridge and connects part of Arlington to DC. 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:18.080 And so Jewish people can, that's all their home. 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:22.559 And today Jerusalem is surrounded by an Aruv, so you can move freely inside of Jerusalem. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:30.240 But the idea is that you would settle in a house and be there and stay there all of Shabbat, all of Sabbath. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:34.879 By the way, when I lived in LA, I had a text message alert set up on my phone. 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:46.000 So the Aruv would be patrolled on Fridays, and if like a car crashed the median or something, which happens more than you would imagine in Los Angeles, yeah, it would be an alert that would go out to everybody, like the Aruva is down. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:48.080 So I'd get an alert on Friday, Aruv is down. 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:52.720 In other words, you're stuck where your food is for the next 24 hours. 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:59.679 You know, there's just so many restrictions about the Sabbath, and a lot of them involve what you eat, where you go. 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:06.799 The um Talmud, which is a Jewish uh book of, you know, basically teaching on the Torah, says this. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:07.679 Let me read it for you. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:12.559 Quote, in case a woman rolls wheat to remove the husks, it is sifting. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:16.240 If she rub the heads of wheat, it's considered threshing. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:20.480 If she cleans off the side adherences, it's sifting of the fruit. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:23.679 If she bruises the ears, it is grinding. 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:26.639 If she throws them in her hands, it is winnowing. 00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:34.399 So if you're messing around with wheat on the Sabbath, you are breaking all of these restrictions. 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:38.960 And these restrictions are not incidental to the Jewish identity. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:41.120 They are the heart of the Jewish identity here. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:42.240 They really are. 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:50.879 The Sabbath celebration, in a sense, the Jews had their, like I said, they spoke Aramaic, Hebrew had faded away by Jesus' lifetime. 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:57.679 They didn't have their own currency, but they had they believed in Yahweh, they had the Torah and the Shabbat. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:02.960 The Sabbath is what gave them their centralized cultural identity. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:04.960 We don't have a lot like that as Americans. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:06.960 I mean, Thanksgiving was what I was thinking of. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:10.799 Like you would go and you'd spend that a day at somebody's house on Thanksgiving. 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:18.799 You go to somebody's house for Thanksgiving, you get there at like noon or one or whatever, and you spend, you watch football there and you play games in the yard and you spend the day there. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:22.639 You even eat like leftovers later that night there, like it's a full thing. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:26.159 That's every week in the Jewish culture. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:27.039 Do you understand that? 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:28.480 Every week. 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:30.960 It's a huge deal to them. 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:35.200 And it is guarded with all of these restrictions. 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:45.440 One commentator, a Christian commentator, writes, quote, because of the thousands of man-made restrictions regarding it, the Sabbath was more tiresome than the six days devoted to one's occupation. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:48.879 It was harder to rest than to earn a living. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:51.600 And there's some truth to that. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:55.759 If you were to talk to a Jewish person about that, they would probably grant that. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:57.200 That is true. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:00.480 But that's not that's a feature, not a bug in their mind. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:05.840 Like it is designed to be work to protect it because of how persecuted the Jews are. 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:08.080 Like, this is what binds them together. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:10.080 They're bound by this. 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:14.240 You know, that's how think of the attacks last October. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:16.960 I mean, they happened on the Sabbath for a reason. 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:18.639 Everybody's home. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:26.320 You know, there's a story in 1 Maccabees about how the Jews were killed by an invading Greek army that invaded them on the Sabbath because they wouldn't fight back. 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:28.240 They wouldn't pick up their swords. 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:30.639 And they were slaughtered. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:33.600 That's the Sabbath. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:41.360 That's the day that Jesus is cutting through the grain fields with his disciples. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:46.320 And if you look at verse 1, they begin to pluck heads of grain and eat. 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:50.639 Mark says they were rolling the grain in their hands. 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:59.039 So they're cutting through the grain field, plucking grain, rolling it, and eating it on the Sabbath. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.879 As far as the crowds are concerned, they may have had as well have had a combine out there. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:10.000 This is flagrant Sabbath violation. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:12.720 And people notice verse 2. 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:21.279 When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, Look, your disciples are doing what's not lawful for them to do on the Sabbath. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:24.720 You know, the Pharisees are there. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:27.919 Now, what in the world are the Pharisees doing there? 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:31.679 By the way, what are they out there for? 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:34.320 They're hunting Jesus. 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:37.840 They have his life under a microscope. 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:40.000 He has made claims to deity. 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:43.279 Earlier in Matthew 8, he identified himself as the Son of Man. 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:47.919 The end of Matthew 11, he identifies himself as the Son of God. 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:49.600 He has made claims of deity. 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:51.360 He says, No one knows the Father except the Son. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:52.720 That's the end of Matthew 11. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:56.399 All that the Father is, the Father's existence, has been given to the Son. 00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:59.120 In other words, the doctrine we would call eternal generation. 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:02.159 Jesus is claiming that he is the eternal Son of God. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:04.240 He is God, the very God. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:07.440 Everybody knows he's claiming that. 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:11.039 God doesn't sin. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:20.799 And so the Jewish mind here, the Pharisees, the rabbis, the Sadducees, even the Herodians, which is the most liberal Jewish party there is. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:23.279 I mean, they're in partnership with Rome. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:34.960 They are stalking Jesus because they know if they can catch him sinning, if they can catch him breaking Torah, if they can catch him breaking the Sabbath, for example, then all of his claims are undone. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:39.519 He's not the Messiah if he's breaking Torah. 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:48.720 By the way, the claims of the New Testament and the Apostles that Jesus is sinless should be read in that light. 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:53.919 They're not retroactive claims like ten years later, the disciples were like, you know, do you remember Jesus sinning? 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:54.720 I don't either. 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:56.799 Let's say that he was sinless. 00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:05.120 No, during his life, his enemies stalked him and watched every movement he made, listened to every word that he said. 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:10.720 His enemies had him under a microscope, and so they were trying to catch him sinning. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:15.840 At the end of his life, do you remember his enemies got together and looked for something to charge him with, and they couldn't come up with anything? 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:20.000 They invented a lie about them and they couldn't even get two lives to agree. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:25.120 So when the scripture speaks of Jesus as sinless, it's his enemies who declared him to be sinless. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:27.840 It's his enemies who said, we can't find anything wrong with him. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:30.480 Well, here in this instance, they think they found something. 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:36.320 They say, aha, in verse in verse 2, your disciples are doing what's not lawful to do on the Sabbath. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:42.720 Now, if you were Jesus, how would you respond to that? 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:52.639 If I was Jesus, I likely would have gone to Exodus 20 and read the Sabbath command and argued that it doesn't say anything about grain. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:55.279 Like there's nothing about plucking grain. 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:57.120 There's nothing about walking through a grain field. 00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:58.159 It's not there. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:15:59.919 So I would argue from that. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:01.279 That's not what Jesus does. 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:02.960 Jesus has something bigger in mind. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:11.519 He's less concerned about the intricacies of the Sabbath restriction, and he's going to do a bigger argument about the nature and the identity of Jesus himself. 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:13.600 You can follow his argument here. 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:15.600 It's three proofs that Jesus is God. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:20.720 And these proofs are telescoping, they're building, they're cumulative, in other words. 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:24.480 The first one starts, and you might think the first one's not a clear attestation of deity. 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:27.759 I know where it's going, but you could see it a different way. 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:32.000 The second one becomes harder to navigate, and the third one becomes irrefutable. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:33.440 That's what I mean by telescoping. 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:36.320 They fold in on themselves and they expand back out again. 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:40.480 The first proof of his deity is found in verse 3. 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:47.360 Jesus said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who are with him? 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:51.519 Now, this is a little bit of sarcasm from Jesus. 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:56.320 When he is addressing the scribes and the Pharisees with the statement, Have you not read? 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:00.720 the scribes and the Pharisees have the Torah memorized. 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:04.480 They know how many words are in each scroll of the Torah. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:06.480 They have read the Torah. 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:11.279 So when Jesus says, Have you not read, it should make you chuckle a little bit. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:14.319 And he follows it with a story that's not obscure for the Jews. 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:20.240 It's not a Sunday school story for us, it's not a well-known story for us, but it was a Saturday school story for the Jews for sure. 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:26.559 It's a very well-known story about David taking the bread of the presence from the priest at Nob. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:32.079 And the point Jesus is going to make, and this let me put on the screen before we get back to the story, is that Jesus is like the priest. 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:34.400 Jesus is like the priest. 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:45.359 David was hungry, and those who are with him, he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priest. 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:50.480 So this story, if you recall, David was the rightful king of Israel. 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:52.240 God had appointed him king of Israel. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:57.599 Samuel had anointed him as king of Israel, and yet Saul was the actual king. 00:17:57.839 --> 00:17:58.960 Saul was reigning. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:06.480 And David was happy to be underneath Saul and to honor Saul, to recognize Saul as king, because Saul had earlier been ordained as king. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:08.880 David likely received his ordination as king. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:10.960 As for when Saul dies, he's next in line. 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:13.680 That's how Jonathan understood it, who was Saul's son. 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:15.759 Saul did not want the kingdom to go to David. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:17.759 He wanted it to go to Jonathan, his own son. 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:23.440 But David and Jonathan were friends, and all was well until Saul turned against David. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:26.559 Remember the people are singing the song, David killed his tens, thousands. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:27.599 Saul killed his thousands. 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:28.960 David is tens of thousands. 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:32.880 Yay! Every time Saul heard it on the radio, he got upset. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:37.519 So he turns his animosity towards David. 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:38.960 And David tries to tell Jonathan this. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:40.480 Remember, David and Jonathan are best friends. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:43.039 He tells Jonathan, hey, I think your dad's trying to kill me. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:46.559 Like I'm picking up a little sign, it's like him trying to kill me. 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:50.079 Jonathan says, No, no, no, it's a misunderstanding. 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:51.759 They work out the covert sign, remember? 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:55.359 I'll go talk to my dad, and if he's trying to kill you, he'll shoot an arrow over you. 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:58.720 He goes and talks to his dad, and his dad tries to kill Jonathan. 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:02.319 So Jonathan puts it together, shoots the arrow. 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:06.880 David and Jonathan hug and cry, and David sneaks out in the middle of the night. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:12.160 He goes and gathers his mighty men, and they're gonna go live in hiding for the next several years. 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:14.559 But they don't have everything to eat. 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:16.160 It's the middle of the night. 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:18.720 So David goes to the tabernacle. 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:21.279 This is the bread that the temple hasn't been built yet. 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:24.000 This is the bread that's always supposed to be before the ark. 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:25.519 It's supposed to, it's the holy bread. 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:26.799 It's always there. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:29.440 But only the priests get to eat it. 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:30.799 Other people can't eat it. 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:32.480 It's it's designed for worship. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:36.160 It's the bread of the presence, represent representing the presence of God. 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:38.640 David goes there. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:40.960 On the wall, if you remember, is Goliath's sword. 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:41.920 David killed Goliath. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:43.599 He wants the sword back, and what are you gonna do? 00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:44.079 Say no. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:46.480 I mean, he killed Goliath, he can take the sword. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:49.279 And David also asks for the bread. 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:54.880 And the priest says in 1 Samuel 21, I can't give you the bread, it's not lawful to do that. 00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:04.079 But I guess if it's like an exigent circumstance, if you're like on the run, if you could die, if you're on a special mission, and David's like, of course I'm on a special mission. 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:05.599 All of my missions are special. 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:08.160 How much more this top secret mission from the king? 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:11.680 And it was a top secret mission from the king, if you know what I mean. 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:15.359 The king definitely is not allowed to know about it. 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:20.160 And so the priest gives David enough bread for him and his men. 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:22.880 Remember, somebody saw this? 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:28.000 Doeg the Edomite and told Saul, and you remember what Saul did? 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:32.480 Slaughtered the priests, killed them and their families. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:37.759 So when Jesus says, haven't you read this story? 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:40.240 This is the story he goes to. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:46.559 That Jesus, in the analogy, if you trace this analogy down, what's the comparison here? 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:48.880 Why does Jesus use this story? 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:58.319 Because his point is that it was not lawful under normal circumstances for David to eat the bread, but these were not normal circumstances. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:03.039 The Jewish leadership was trying to kill the rightful king. 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:12.880 And the priest of God can give access to the presence of God to people who come through him, regardless of what the Jewish leadership says. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:17.599 You don't get to God through the Jewish leadership, you get to God through the priest. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:22.400 And he can give the bread of the presence as he sees fit. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:24.640 In other words, Jesus compares himself to the priest. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:27.519 And the point here is that Jesus gives access to God. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:33.279 The priest could give the bread of the presence to David and his men, the priest can give access to God. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:35.680 The Jewish leadership kills the priest. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:43.039 In the analogy here, Jesus is the priest, and he can give access to God to those who come through him. 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:45.920 And what's the Jewish leadership going to do, by the way? 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:47.839 They're going to kill him. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:51.279 They're going to play the role of Saul. 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:57.119 And this is true, by the way, in every generation of Jewish leadership. 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:03.599 The Jews often Fancy themselves and proclaim themselves the keepers of the Torah. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:12.160 But truth be told, every generation of Jewish leadership killed the prophets that called them to keep the Torah. 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:15.440 And then the next generation build a monument to the prophet. 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:16.799 It's insane. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:19.359 That's what happens. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:23.440 Saul goes after David and tries to kill him. 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:27.599 Generation after generation of Jewish leadership takes the place of Saul. 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:31.440 They kill, they they banish Jeremiah, they throw him in a pit. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:33.279 They saw Isaiah in two. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:41.440 From Abel to Zechariah, they've slaughtered the prophets one after another while the next generation claims that they're the keepers of the Torah. 00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:43.359 That's Jesus' point here. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:52.880 Nevertheless, the Pharisees, notwithstanding, God gives access to the very bread of life through the high priest. 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:55.519 Jesus, in this analogy, is the high priest. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:57.359 His body is the bread of life. 00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:01.039 He gives himself an eternal life to those who come through him. 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:06.640 He controls access to God, not the Pharisees, not the Jewish leaders, not the Sabbath, certainly. 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:10.400 He is in control. 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:11.839 He is the priest. 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:14.799 He is the one who directs people to God. 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:24.880 David did not sin and eating the bread reserved for the priest because he's Israel's real king, rejected by those in power, greater than the law governing the bread. 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:37.759 The irony here is that Jesus and his disciples do not sin by eating grain on the Sabbath, because Jesus is Israel's real king, who's being rejected by those in power, and Jesus is greater than the law that governs the Sabbath. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:39.440 That's the irony here. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:42.000 That's the irony. 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:45.519 And notice the text doesn't say that Jesus ate the grain, just his disciples. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:47.039 We'll look at why next week. 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:48.880 We'll save that observation for next week. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:50.480 But first, Jesus is like the priest. 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:53.839 Second, Jesus is greater than the temple. 00:23:54.160 --> 00:23:55.440 He's greater than the temple. 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:59.039 So this just gets getting more and more intense here. 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:08.160 Verse 5, have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:13.359 Profane is a very fascinating word here in the Greek that's used. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:21.440 It's the word that's used in the Septuagint for the abomination of desolation, for the Antichrist who profanes the temple. 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:22.480 That's this word. 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:25.599 And this is what the priests are doing, in a sense, on the temple. 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:30.480 They're slaughtering animals in the temple on the Sabbath, every Sabbath. 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:32.880 The priests don't get to rest on the Sabbath. 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:34.880 The priests work on the Sabbath. 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:38.720 The priests are doing work on the Sabbath. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:41.759 They get up early to go to the temple on the Sabbath. 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:43.920 They are butchers all Sabbath long. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:50.400 And you wouldn't say the priest is breaking the Sabbath by offering sacrifices that he's commanded to by the Torah on the Sabbath. 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:51.440 Of course not. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:54.319 Why not, though? 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:56.240 Why not, is the point. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:25:01.680 Because the priests are facilitating temple worship on the Sabbath. 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:04.640 That's why they're not really breaking it. 00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:06.400 Yes, they're slaughtering animals. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:12.160 You can't bring more food than the weight of a dried fig, and the priests are butchering sheep. 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:17.200 But they're doing it to facilitate worship. 00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:20.880 They're doing it to facilitate worship. 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:26.079 Jesus here is identifying himself as something greater. 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:26.960 Look at verse 6. 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:30.640 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:39.759 The pattern here is that God grants access to heaven through first a priest and now through the temple worship. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:43.279 Jesus says he is greater than the temple worship. 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:48.799 The sacrifices in the temple point to something else that's beyond the sacrifice. 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:54.880 And you know this, the sacrifices are done every year because they can't effectively take away the sins of the people. 00:25:55.119 --> 00:25:56.880 They're only in that sense symbolic. 00:25:57.039 --> 00:26:00.880 If they could truly atone the sins of the people, they would be offered once and for all. 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:08.799 But instead, the very nature of their, the very recurring nature of the sacrifices shows you they cannot actually change the heart. 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:10.079 They're anticipatory. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:18.720 They're anticipating the Lamb of God who will be the final sacrifice once and for all to end all sacrifices, to take away the sins of the world. 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:21.119 That's the point. 00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:22.640 They're pointing forward. 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:24.400 They're done at the temple. 00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:28.319 The Jews, the temple is just a central part of the Jewish religion. 00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:31.200 It's where the high priest enters once a year to make atonement for sins. 00:26:31.359 --> 00:26:32.799 Worship takes place at the temple. 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:35.200 The temple is the pinnacle of the Jewish religion. 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:37.359 In Israel, right now, there's no temple. 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:40.319 In fact, this is the reason a lot of the Jews wear black now. 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:42.319 It's because mourning of no temple. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:44.079 They're mourning their lack of a temple. 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:45.759 The temple mount is there. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:51.519 And you know the wailing wall, the temple where the Jews come with their prayers in and they wail and all that. 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:52.720 That's you know, the holy of holies. 00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:55.200 You can go in a tunnel underground there and be even closer to the center. 00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:00.720 I mean, they do that wall because it's as close to where the temple once was that you can get. 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:02.799 It's gone now. 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:05.599 The Muslims control the top of the temple mount. 00:27:06.240 --> 00:27:10.960 So the Jews worship, every time a Jew goes on the Temple Mount, they do sometimes to pray and walk around today. 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:13.759 They're, you know, they have to be followed by soldiers. 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:17.119 But they can go to the wall, which is as close as they could get. 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:19.680 In Jesus' lifetime, there wasn't the wheeling wall. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:20.559 There was the temple. 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:21.359 Do you understand that? 00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:23.680 There was the actual temple that was there. 00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:26.319 It's the focal point of their religion. 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:28.000