The Story

We all know the Commandment to keep the Sabbath holy and to make it a day of rest. Do you know how the Pharisees kept the day? They said it was wrong to do any useful thing, to walk more than a very little way, or to carry more than a very little burden, or even to help sick people on the Sabbath. The Lord did not keep the Sabbath so. He taught and healed the people on that day. (John 5:9, 10; 9:14-16) One Sabbath the Lord and the disciples were walking through the grain fields. It was probably in the plain of Gennesaret, near Capernaum, where the wheat overhung the beaten path on either side. The Lord was teaching as they walked, and while they listened the disciples picked and ate the wheat, rubbing out the grains in their hands. The Pharisees said that they did wrong to do so much work on the Sabbath. The Lord said it was not a wrong use of the day; it is not wrong to make good use of holy things. He reminded them how David, when he fled from Saul, ate holy bread from the tabernacle and gave to his companions, and it was not wrong.

On another Sabbath the Lord was in a synagogue. We remember the synagogue in Nazareth, and that it was the Lord's custom to read and teach in the synagogues. A man was there whose right hand was shrunken and helpless; was it right to heal the man on the Sabbath day? What would the Pharisees say? What would the Lord say and do?

How should we keep the Sabbath? We must remember that it is a holy day, and must lay aside the hard work and rough plays which belong to other days, and must take time to learn about heavenly things. It is also a day to do and say kind things, to help the sick and to comfort wounded feelings.

From the plain of Gennesaret you can look up through a rocky valley to a mountain. It was perhaps in this mountain that the Lord spent a night in prayer. In the morning many of His disciples came to Him there, and He chose twelve who should be with Him more than the rest and help in His work. He called them apostles, which means, "sent forth," because he sent them with His message. How many of the twelve have we already learned about? Simon, Andrew, and John saw the Lord at the Jordan, and afterwards He called them from their nets by the sea of Galilee. James was called with his brother from the nets. Philip followed the Lord as He went from the Jordan to Galilee. Where was Philip's home? (John 1:44) Bartholomew, probably the same as Nathaniel, was called by Philip as he sat under the fig tree. Where was his home? (John 21:2) Matthew was called as he was collecting taxes at Capernaum. The rest of the twelve we shall learn more about by and by.

The Lord came down with the apostles from the top of the mountain to a level place. It was still on the mountain and perhaps was the little level which lies between the two tops which give the mountain its name, "Horns of Hattin." A multitude was gathering there from Judea and Jerusalem, from Tyre and Sidon on the seashore, and from beyond Jordan. (Matthew 4:25) The Lord sat down. The twelve were near Him and the multitude all about. In this peaceful spot above the world, open to the sunshine of heaven, He told how angels live and how Christian people ought to live. We call it the Sermon on the Mount. The first words of the sermon were the Ten Blessings. Let us say them and imagine that we are with the people on the mountain, listening to the Lord's own voice.

1. How did the Pharisees keep the Sabbath? How did the Lord keep the day? How ought we to keep it?

2. What happened one Sabbath in the grain fields? What happened one Sabbath in the synagogue?

3. Tell me of some other works of healing that the Lord did on the Sabbath day.

4. What does the name "apostles" mean? How many apostles did the Lord choose?

5. Who spoke the Blessings? Where were they spoken? Who heard them?

The disciples ate the ears of grain as they walked with the Lord. Were they eating in a spiritual way at the same time? They were listening to His teaching. And He was not giving them dry, lifeless food as the Pharisees did, but He taught them out of His own living experience. This is suggested by their eating the growing grain. Rubbing it in their hands pictures an active desire to find the application of the teaching to themselves and to put it into practice. Eating the grain was not wrong, and what the rubbing and eating of the grain represented was especially appropriate to the Sabbath. (T. 301-304) What is the truest kind of rest? Doing nothing? Doing kind, useful works, when selfish feelings are overcome and the mind is united and happy. This is the rest of heaven, which the Sabbath represents.

The Lord appealed to what David did. David represented the Lord, and those who were with him were like the Lord's disciples. His act in feeding them with holy bread was a sort of picture and prophecy of the Lord's feeding His disciples, and of His feeding us all with heavenly instruction on the Sabbath day.

The hands stand for the actions; so we are commanded to make our hands clean, and to bind the law upon our hands. The love which prompts the actions is especially represented by the strong right hand. In what condition was practical good life and love for good life among the Jews? It was withered like the right hand of the man in the synagogue; for they left good deeds out of the Sabbath day and out of religion and out of their idea of heaven. (A. 10061; E. 600.)

Why did the Lord choose twelve apostles? Because twelve represents heavenly people of all kinds, like the twelve tribes; and it represents all heavenly faculties in ourselves. Does anyone know what element of character Peter represents? Andrew? James? John? (A. 3858; E. 430)

What kind of state does a mountain represent? A state of interior, heavenly affection, of love to the Lord and one another. Why did the Lord speak the Blessings and the Christian law on the mountain? Contrast the giving of the Jewish law, when the people were forbidden to come near the mountain or even to touch it. (E. 405; A. 8797, 9422)

In studying verses 27-49 of this chapter, compare with the fuller version of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 to 7. Notice especially verse 38 of our chapter: "Give, and it shall be given unto you," and learn the lesson that abilities are given us to use and are increased by use. We are recipients of life from the Lord, and as we give forth to others the channels of life are opened for us to receive in larger measure. (A. 7984; H. 349)

Other lessons in regard to prayer and trust in the Lord's care, which in Matthew form a part of the Sermon on the Mount, have a close parallel in discourses of the Lord on the last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, recorded in Luke 11 and 12 - a beautiful reminder that Christian truth is intended not only for contemplation but to live by in the journey of life. It is to be talked of in the house and by the way, lying down and rising up.

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