In the days of Jesus, the Mosaic Law ruled nearly aspect of people’s lives. One of the central elements of the Mosaic Law was the Sabbath. The Sabbath was considered to be one of the defining characteristics of the covenant relationship between God and Israel.

The Sabbath was so central, it was thought that if all Jews could perfectly keep the Sabbath just one time, the Messiah would immediately arrive.

Lord of the Sabbath

So it was quite shocking to most Jews when Jesus taught His followers to violate some of the Sabbath traditions (but not the Law itself), and even said that “Sabbath was made for man; not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27), and that “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5).

In my Commentary on Luke 6:1-5, I suggest that while the term “Son of Man” does refer primarily to Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus also used the phrase in reference to all humanity which was being renewed in Him. The title “Son of Man” refers to Jesus as the model human; the way humanity was supposed to be.

So whenever you read the term, “Son of Man” you can substitute in the following phrase, “I, and all humanity with me.”

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Part of the purpose of the sacrificial system in the Hebrew Scriptures was to provide for the priests when they had no other means of providing for themselves. As I have indicated previously, many of them had “jobs” in their home towns, which provided food and clothing for themselves and their families, but when they went to serve in the Temple for two weeks a year, part of the meat of the sacrifices went to feed the priests.

In other words, the sacrificial system was partially intended to meet the physical needs of others who would have gone hungry otherwise.

Yet historians and archaeologists tell us that in the days of Jesus, the Temple Priesthood had come to own acres and acres of wheat fields. And since the wheat from these fields was consecrated and holy to the Lord, the priests hoarded it all for themselves and for the other temple workers. The average person was not holy enough to eat it. Furthermore, due to a complex system of money-changing, sacrificial inspection policies, and heavy taxation by the Temple (called a Tithe), some of the priests in the days of Jesus had become quite wealthy. Furthermore, they had leveraged the religious laws to make themselves even more rich by requiring ever-increasing tithes and offerings from the people.

Isn’t it sad that the laws which were originally intended to help the priests who had very little, eventually were used to help the priests amass wealth for themselves from people who already had very little to begin with.

The situation had reversed, but the laws had not, and so the Priests continued to use the laws to their own advantage, at the expense of other people. When the poor and hungry came and brought their tithes and offerings, while the rich religious rulers took it all, and gave nothing but a blessing and a prayer in return.

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I’m not poor. In fact, Sam, who writes at GraceGround, recently directed me to a Photo Essay called “Where Children Sleep,” which showed me how unbelievably rich I really am.

A huge question in my life right now is how I can “share the wealth” with those who have less than I.

I know this is a huge political issue right now as many on the political left are saying that it is the responsibility of the rich to “spread the wealth around and give their fair share” while those on the right are saying, “Stay out of my pocket so I can create jobs.”

This is not a political blog, and I do not have a solution. But one thing I do think is that it should never be the government’s responsibility to provide for the poor and hungry. This is the church’s responsibility. And somewhere along the way, the government decided to get involved, and the church was only too happy to let them, because this freed up more money for big buildings, and better salaries.

Ok. I’m getting cynical again. Let me back up and start over…

I’m not poor. I think one of the things God calls us to do as followers of Jesus is help provide for those who are poor and hungry. And the world is full of people who need our help.

But the question is “How”?

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