Have you never read what David did
In this instance Jesus, pursued by the constant criticism and hostility of the Pharisees and others, was like David, pursued by Saul. David was designated by God as the one to succeed Saul as King. And Jesus was the messianic Son of David. Because he and his men were fleeing, David didn't have adequate supplies of food. But because he was pursuing God's purpose in making him king it was fitting he be permitted to share in the bread of offering in the house of God. For Jesus and his disciples it was permissible that they too pursue their goal even on the sabbath, since it was God's own purpose that they desired to fulfill. David and his companions were granted a priestly privilege since they were about God's work. So too for Jesus and his disciples pursuing the mission of the Kingdom.
The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.
It was not merely that the mission of Jesus was a higher priority than the sabbath such that the sabbath should take a back seat. Rather, the sabbath itself could only be what it was truly meant to be with the completion of the mission of Jesus. We saw in recent readings from the letter to the Hebrews that the promise of rest was given but not fulfilled in the Old Testament.
Therefore, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God (see Hebrews 4:9).
It is only in Jesus Christ that the promise of the sabbath rest, intended from the creation of the world, is finally realized since it is "we who believed enter into [that] rest" (see Hebrews 4:3). The Pharisees recognized the importance of the sabbath but did not understand that it could not be attained merely by fastidious conformity to rules and regulations. They put the rules first and tried to fit individuals into that mold even if it crushed them. But Jesus recognized that the human heart needed healing in order to truly attain the promise. It was his priestly act of self-offering that would finally make this definitive sabbath rest an attainable reality for his people. This sacrifice was also what allowed his disciples and we ourselves to have the priestly privilege of eating something even better than the bread of offering, the bread of life itself.
The rest of God that still remains for us is meant to be a promise that gives us hope. But it is meant to be a hope so real as to serve as "an anchor of the soul". It is not an anchor that merely keeps us securely where we are now. It is rather planted firmly behind the veil, giving us a solid connection from the here and now to our ultimate destiny, "where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner". It is behind the veil in the presence of the eternal triune God where alone true rest can be found. Therefore, with together with the author of the letter to the Hebrews, we exhort ourselves:
We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness
for the fulfillment of hope until the end,
so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who,
through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises.
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