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Matthew 12
Shabbat or Shabbos (Hebrew: שבת, shabbāt, shabbes, "rest/inactivity"), is the weekly Sabbath or day of rest in Judaism, symbolizing the seventh day in Genesis, after the six days of creation. Though it is commonly said to be the Saturday of each week, it is observed from sundown on Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night.
In Matthew 11:28 – 31 Jesus told those who were weary to come to him for rest. It’s always and only in Him that we can find complete rest. It is in no other place and in no other at all. He is Shabbat.
This idea of Jesus being Shabbat is indicated in the next verses of Matthew 12: 1 – 8.
Jesus and his disciples did something on the Sabbath that was not permitted by the tradition of the religious leaders of the day. See this in verses 1 & 2. Jesus answer was not to deny what they had done but to explain more fully the purpose of Sabboth to these hard hearted Pharisees. See verses 3 – 7.
Then Jesus points out something that will eventually get him murdered and hung on a Roman cross. In verses 6 and 8 Jesus reveals his true identity, his divinity. He had revealed it before when he began his ministry by saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the reign of God is here….” It is obvious that he was not pointing to the ground but to himself when he spoke these words.
The Pharacees were accusing Jesus and his disciples of doing work, carrying burdens, if you will. But notice what he had already told his disciples in Mt. 11:30 – “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
What we learn here is that in Jesus burdens don’t disappear, but do lighten. Yokes don’t have to cease but in him, they are easy to endure.
Do you have a burden that is getting heavier and heavier? Do you have yokes that are grating on you and chaffing you?
In Mt. 12:6 as was his custom, Jesus reminded these learned scholors of a passage in Hosea 6:6 about what God really wants. He wants a relationship with us, that’s all. He doesn’t care about our burdens or our yokes or our hangups our our sins or even about our adhering to the letter of the Torah Law. He’s already handled that. He just wants us.
I pray that you will find your Shabbat in Jesus. You pray for me that I will too.