‘At about that time Jesus was walking through some grainfields on the Sabbath.’ Matthew 12:1 NLT

What a lovely picture! The Lord Jesus walking through some grainfields. Can you see it in your mind’s eye?

One could imagine a beautiful day with blue skies and warm sunshine. The quietness of the countryside, the twittering of birds and our Lord Jesus strolling with His disciples through fields rich with ripened grain, just ready for the harvest. We know this because His disciples were hungry and broke off heads of grain to eat.

A moment spoiled by the Pharisees who protested at the disciples for breaking the Jewish laws. The menacing cruelty of hell was all around, and even this peaceful picture was spoiled by criticising voices who found fault with everything.

Have you known such a moment when all the world feels right, and suddenly there comes a breath of hell that seems to spoil it all? The enemy of souls is cruel. He will not want you to be sublimely happy and at peace with the world. He is here to create havoc, and he dared to try that with Christ.

Our Lord Jesus deals with the situation in a moment. He deftly takes two portions of the Old Testament, puts them together and quickly demonstrates with the accuracy of the word of God that their religious teachings allowed this on more than one occasion.

How bizarre! The Creator is being criticised for enjoying His creation. How wonderful! Christ defends and describes His disciples as innocent. How perfect! He draws out further teachings from the Old Testament on this occasion. How victorious! He turns the whole thing around against His enemies.

Lessons indeed that we could all learn. When the enemy strikes at you because that is what he is good at, take a deep breath and learn to respond as Christ did.

After reading through this portion, you get the unmistakable impression that the Lord Jesus was unperturbed by the comments from the Pharisees. The passage finishes with the glorious words:

“For the Son of Man is Lord.”  Matthew 12:8 NLT