THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
The Sabbath: Mt 12,1-14
The word "sabbath" is used 8 times in 14 verses and only twice elsewhere in the Gospel. In Matthew as in Mark, these are the two incidents which deal with Jesus' understanding of the sabbath against that of the Pharisees. Matthew's additions to both incidents stress the legal background. The sabbath issue could thus be a good example of Jesus making the yoke (of the Law) easy and his burden light (11,30).
Case 1: Hungry Disciples: 12,1-8
The scene is set in the first verse with the disciples in the corn field on the sabbath. Dt 23,25 indicates that such plucking of the grain was permissable as long as the standing grain was not reaped. That verse in Deuteronomy is a general principle which makes no mention of the sabbath.
The Pharisees then say to Jesus that his disciples are acting against the law concerning the sabbath. Their appeal is to the ten commandments (Ex 20,8-11) which receives a specific reference "even in harvest time" in Ex 34,21.
Jesus gives them three answers.
The first, in verses 3 and 4, follows Mark by looking to the behaviour of David's disciples in the 1st book of Samuel. Again, there is no mention of the sabbath in the story. The principle is that David's men could eat even holy bread reserved for the priests if there was a need. However we can note that the priest in 1st Samuel made the exception because David's men were abstaining from women and so could have a share in the holiness of the priests. So this is not the strongest of arguments which may be why Matthew added two more. The principle though is that what is true for the followers of David is even more true for the followers of the Son of David (12,23).
The second answer is legal: the priests are permitted to work on the sabbath, and there are the two examples of Lev 24,8 or Numbers 28,9-10. There are therefore exceptions to the law. Added to that, Jesus adds that in himself "something greater than the Temple is here".
The third answer in verse 7 is one which Jesus has given already, 9,13: the supreme importance of mercy and love. Jesus's law, yoke (11,30), is mercy, always.
There are therefore ascending values in Jesus' argument: from the story, to the law, to mercy and love. And this points finally to Jesus himself, the Son of Man who is lord of the sabbath (verse 8).
Return now to continue with the second sabbath incident.
Case 2: Doing good on the Sabbath: 12,9-14
It's noticeable that Matthew refers to "their synagogue" as he has already done several times. There is a clear distancing between Matthew and his Christian community from the Jews in the local synagogue.
The man only has one withered hand so his healing could easily have waited until the next day. The man says nothing, all he does is to hold out his hand for healing (verse 13). He is just the occasion of the incident. Only Matthew stresses that the hand was restored "whole, as the other", verse 13.
The Pharisees are the only people taking an active involvement in these verses so we can take it that verse 10 refers to them. Whereas in Mark, they are merely watching Jesus, here they make their accusation directly to him.
Jesus answers in verse 11 with the example of the sheep in the cistern on the sabbath. Whatever the legal niceties about which the rabbis loved to argue, Jesus answer is entirely practical. Poor people cannot risk losing an animal, even a sheep. If that is the case for a sheep so how much more so for a human being in need, even if the need may not be actually life threatening.
The reaction of the Pharisees is to plot to destroy Jesus, 12,14.
In Mark, this is the climax to the five controversies, Mk 2,1-3,6. In Matthew it may set the scene for what follows.
Now we are ready to return and to continue our reading.