Did Christ Pick Corn on the Sabbath?

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Hi C____,

Thank you for bringing this “small detail” up, because it gives me the opportunity to point out that we are never to be found guilty of pitting one section of scripture against another. Rather we are always to put the scriptures together to arrive at what is actually being said. I certainly am not accusing you of pitting one verse of God’s Word against another verse of God’s Word, I just want to take this opportunity to demonstrate that when we fail to consider the sum of God’s Word, and we attempt to establish doctrine based upon isolated verses of scripture, what we are doing is tantamount to “taking away from the words of this prophecy”, which we are solemnly warned will bring a terrible curse upon us. Here is that solemn warning:

Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

“The things which are written in this book” includes “all things… the world… life, death, things present and things to come, all are yours”.

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

So when we read anything in God’s word, even if it includes “the world”, or even “death”, it is still ‘ours’. It is not just someone else’s. It is also ours.

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

The Truth is not to be found in ‘some of God’s words’; rather it is only to be found in “the sum of thy Word”.

Psa 119:160 The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ASV)

It is true that Mat 12:1-2 and Mar 2:23-24 may appear to some to be saying that Christ Himself did not eat the corn on the sabbath day. Luke however, is worded in such a way as to make clear that the spirit does not, in this instance, exclude Christ from the actions of His disciples:

Luk 6:2 But certain of the Pharisees said, Why do ye [ Christ and His disciples] that which it is not lawful to do on the sabbath day?

So the holy spirit does not separate the actions of Christ’s disciples, in this instance, from Christ Himself. That Christ Himself “broke the sabbath” is simply not in doubt as far as the inspired Word of God is concerned. Only the most severely spiritually blinded mind, wanting to remain under the law, will deny the message of this verse of scripture concerning He who so clearly, and so often said “Ye have heard it said by them of old time… but I say unto you…”

Joh 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Yes, it appears from the wording of Matthew’s gospel and Mark’s gospel that it was only the disciples who broke the sabbath by eating the grain in the field on the sabbath day. But Christ not only “did not even rebuke them”, as you so rightly put it, He went way beyond just ‘not rebuking them’, because “not only had He broken the sabbath”, but He also actually defended His disciples for doing so, and He did this all “for our admonition” (1Co 10:11).
So whether Christ Himself actually ate of the grain of that field that day is a moot question. He plainly confesses to having done that “which was not lawful for him…” and He confesses to having “profaned the sabbath” just as if He had picked the corn, and just as if He were one of the physical Levitical, Aaronic priests which, being of the tribe of Judah, He certainly was not.

Mat 12:3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Mat 12:4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Mat 12:5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.

Christ’s defense was not, ‘But I myself did not eat’, it is rather simply “That in this place is one greater than the temple”. You talk about nerve! Christ had surely been given “the spirit without measure” to make such a defense. He had come as a reformer, and He was in the process of reforming things.

Joh 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
Joh 3:35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
Heb 9:10 Which [ sacrifices in the first tabernacle] stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

I hope this helps you to see that in this instance, Christ and His disciples are a unit, and that Christ considered those accusing His disciples of breaking the sabbath as an attack upon Himself, who made no pretense of keeping the physical weekly sabbath day.

Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

God bless you for your care in handling His Word.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike

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