Picking the ears of grain on the Sabbath

(Matt. 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5).

After this, Jesus left Judea for Galilee. On the way back to Galilee, on one of the Saturdays, which St. Luke calls the Sabbath "the first on the second day of Pascha", that is, the first Saturday after the second day of Pascha. The Lord walked with His disciples through the sown fields. The disciples, feeling hungry, began to pluck the ears of grain, rubbed them between their hands and ate the grains. This was permitted by the law of Moses, which forbade only bringing the sickle into someone else's field (Deut. 23:25). But the Pharisees considered this a violation of the Sabbath rest, not missing an opportunity to reproach the Lord for allowing His disciples to do this. In order to protect His disciples from reproach, the Lord points out to the Pharisees the incident of David, described in the 1st Book of Samuel (chapter 21).

David, fleeing from Saul, came to the priestly city of Nobah and asked the priest Abimelech to give him five loaves or whatever he could find, and he gave him the former showbread, which, according to the law, could only be eaten by priests. The power of the example is that if no one condemned David for eating these loaves of bread in hunger, then the Lord's disciples do not deserve condemnation for the fact that, serving the Lord and sometimes not even having time to eat, caught by hunger on the Sabbath, they violated the commandment of Sabbath rest to a very small extent. Then the Lord reveals the source from which the unjust condemnation of the disciples flowed: this is a false understanding of the requirements of the law of God. If the Pharisees had understood that compassionate love for the suffering is above traditions and customs, they would not have judged the innocent who pluck ears of grain to satisfy their hunger.

Man was not created for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was given to man for his benefit; Therefore man himself, and his preservation from death and exhaustion, is more important than the Sabbath law. And the fact that the Sabbath law is not a prohibition to do anything at all is evident at least from the fact that in the temple on Saturdays the priests slaughter sacrificial animals, skin them, prepare them for sacrifice and burn them. And they, however, are not guilty of breaking the Sabbath rest. And if the servants of the temple are innocent of such a transgression, how much more innocent are the servants of Him who is above the temple, and who is Lord of the Sabbath, who has the power to abolish the Sabbath as He established it.

Healing of the withered hand

(Matt. 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11).

With this healing, the Lord again aroused the indignation of the scribes and Pharisees, who apparently accompanied Him everywhere in order to finally convict Him of violating the law of Moses. Having put the question to the Pharisees, "Which of you, having one sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take it and pull it out?" (Matthew 12:11), the Lord showed that, in His opinion, works of mercy are much more important than the observance of the law of Sabbath rest, and that, in general, for the sake of the work of charity, it is not only permissible, but also necessary to interrupt this rest.

The Lord Avoids Fame

(Матф. 12:15-21; Марк 3:7-12).

После удаления Господа из синагоги, в которой он исцелил сухорукого, за Ним последовало множество народа из Галилеи, Иудеи и даже из-за иорданских и языческих стран. Он совершил очень много чудесных исцелений, запрещая, однако, разглашать о Нем. В этом св. Матфей видит исполнение пророчества Исайи (42:1-4) о Возлюбленном Отроке Божием. В этом пророчестве, несомненно, относящемуся к Мессии, пророк прославляет кротость и смирение Христа. Приводя это пророчество, св. Матфей хочет показать евреям, что их представления о Мессии, как о земном царе-завоевателе, который возвеличит еврейское царство и будет внешним блеском и славой царствовать на престоле Давида, ложны, что ветхозаветные пророки возвещали о кротком и смиренном Мессии, Царство Которого будет не от мира сего, но Который, тем не менее, дарует закон язычникам и на Имя Которого будут уповать все народы.

Избрание Апостолов

(Матф. 10:2-4; Марк 3:13-19; Луки 6:12-19).

Пробыв всю ночь на горе (по мнению древних на горе Фавор), в молитве, несомненно, об утверждении основываемой Им Церкви, Господь призвал учеников Своих и избрал из их числа двенадцать, чтобы они постоянно находились при Нем и могли бы потом свидетельствовать о Нем. Это были как бы начальники будущих двенадцати колен Нового Израиля. Число 12 имеет в Священном Писании знаменательное значение, как произведение 3 и 4; три — вечно не созданное Существо Божие, а четыре — число мира, четыре стороны света. 12 обозначает проникновение человеческого и мирового Божественным. Три первых Евангелиста и книга Деяний дают нам имена всех 12-ти Апостолов. В этом списке замечательно то, что Апостолы разделены везде на три группы по четыре человека в каждой, при этом во главе каждой группы стоят одни и те же имена, и в составе их — одни и те же лица.