The Grand Weaver by Ravi Zacharias

Author:Ravi Zacharias
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Array
Publisher: Zondervan

Jesus and Truth

In the gospel of Matthew, we receive a brilliant insight into Jesus’ handling of a legalistic and ceremonial spirituality. Jesus had been walking through some fields of grain on a Sabbath day. According to Mosaic law, grain could not be picked on the Sabbath. But the hungry disciples reached out to pick some grain and began to eat it as they walked along. Naturally, the “spiritualists” jumped on that violation of the law and asked Jesus how he could condone such a thing. Jesus, as always, responded to hypocritical or unreflective questions with a question of his own:

“Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread — which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice, ’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

MATTHEW 12:3 – 8

Jesus took the law’s severity and showed his hearers that, technically, both the people and the priests violate it all the time. He pointed out that the ceremony had a larger point than mere ritual, namely, that he was Lord of the Sabbath, which meant that all ceremonial law was designed to focus on him. Yet over time, the ceremony became an end in itself and lost its true focus.

In Matthew 12, Jesus said three remarkable things in his response to the accusations that were being brought against him: he was greater than the temple (verse 6); he was greater than Jonah (verse 41); and he was greater than Solomon (verse 42). As greater than the temple, Jesus meant that he could be worshiped anywhere; he was the object of all the law and worship. That Jesus was greater than Solomon meant that Solomon’s wisdom was mere theory and not practice; Jesus lived a life of perfection and true wisdom. That Jesus was greater than Jonah meant that Jonah had survived the catastrophe of spending three days inside a large fish — undoubtedly a miracle; Jesus would conquer death itself and three days after his death would rise again.

In effect, Jesus said that he is greater than religion, greater than any religious teacher, and greater than any miracle. True spirituality is not a religion, a “guru, ” or a miracle. True spirituality must follow where all these lead in ultimate truth — and that is to Jesus Christ alone.

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