Explore the Bible: February 15

Rejecting Legalism • Matthew 12:1-14

By Carl M. White

Jesus did not come to reform religion. He came to end religion and replace it with a relationship with Him! This put Him in direct conflict with the religious establishment of the day, and places Him still in conflict with religious organizations. Our texts for today are two conflict stories between our Lord and the Pharisees, two of a series that led all the way to a hill called Mount Calvary.

What is wrong with religion? Well, there is much that is good! According to a 2020 Stanford Report, there is a strong, positive correlation between active religious participation, and improved wellbeing. Yet, there is also a strong positive correlation between joining almost any club and improved wellbeing. (news.stanford.edu/stories/2020/11; accessed 1/31/26). 

The simple truth is, God made us relational beings. Thus, anything we do that brings us meaningful relationships helps us have better mental health. But the Optimus Club cannot make you right with God. 

While there is much that is good about religion, there is also a negative side to religion, and we hear it expressed in our passage for today. With religion, you get rules. We need rules, yet struggle against rules. But rules can have negative effects, especially when they are unmerciful and without justice. 

Rules-based religion is called legalism. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were legalistic. Jesus and his disciples came into conflict with this while traveling through some grain fields. What did they do? They took handfuls of grain as a sort of snack. This is not against the law, but it is on the Sabbath and, according to the “rule book” of the Pharisees, this was forbidden. 

Jesus reminded them of a story from 1 Samuel 21. Fleeing from King Saul, David asked Ahimelech, the priest of Nod, for provisions for his men. The only bread Ahimelech had was consecrated bread, and he gave it to David for his men. This bread would be replaced daily. The priests could eat the old bread only in the temple, but David and his men ate this bread while on the road. 

Then Jesus said something radical to the Pharisee critics. “But I say to you that something greater than the Temple is here” (vs. 6 NASB). And what was that something? It was Jesus, the Messiah, God in the flesh, incarnate. They ate the bread in the presence of the Messiah!

Jesus called out these legalists for failing to understand a simple but foundational truth of the Law of God. This is expressed in the quote in verse 7 from the prophet Hosea. It is not the physical act of a burnt offering that God desires. Rather, that act represents something deeper. God is looking for compassion and knowledge of Him, or in other words, a loving heart and a relationship with God. This is what He seeks, not blind obedience to a set of rules.

As beautiful and deeply loved as our rituals and traditions of worship are, in-and-of themselves they are inadequate. Nothing can replace a personal relationship with God.

Legalism allows people to hide behind a mask, appearing to have a personal relationship while harshly judging others. Rules easily became a weapon to put people down and to keep them in line. Legalists are often good at guilt and shaming, not the kind of thing that grows deep relationships. 

In the next story, Jesus entered a synagogue where he encountered a man with a withered hand. Hoping to catch him in a serious breach of their law the Pharisees asked, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath (vs. 10b)?” 

Jesus noted that, according to their law, a man might rescue a sheep from a pit on the Sabbath, then why not heal a man, who is of such greater value than a sheep (vs. 12)? Would it be lawful to do something so worthwhile, something good on the Sabbath? 

Their legalism had no flexibility. There was no room for compassion, for mercy, for loving deeds for the sake of others in need. Jesus reminds us that the law of the Sabbath was made for man, not to be a club to beat people with. Then to give final poof of His claim that He was the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, “Stretch out your hand!” 

He stretched it out! He was healed! 

Then the Pharisees do what Pharisees always do. They began to plot against the Lord, to protect their legalistic house of cards.

White is a member of Pineview Church, Clinton.