EXPLORE THE TEXT
We should give greater attention to the condition of our heart than to adherence to man-made rules.
3 He said to them,
“Haven’t you read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry:
4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the bread of the Presence-
which is not lawful for him or for those with him to eat, but only for the priests?
5 Or haven’t you read in the law that on Sabbath days
the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath and are innocent?
6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.
7 If you had known what this means,
I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned the innocent.
8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Jesus’s opponents had spent their lives studying the Scriptures,
but Jesus used the Scriptures they knew so well to prove they were wrong.
Note the importance of a solid understanding of the Bible.
Share this content from pages 111-112 of the PSG to
highlight Jesus’s statement:
Jesus concluded His two illustrations with a startling claim:
“something greater than the temple is here.”
Jesus’s authority was greater than that of the temple.
The implication was that His authority superseded
the authority and the traditions of the Pharisees.
Such a statement would have greatly angered the religious leaders. .
. . Yet, by His very nature as the Son of God, Jesus is greater
than man-made laws.