One of the most important questions we can ever ask is: “What is God really like?” In fact, one of Jesus’ objectives was to answer that question. When His disciple Philip says, “Lord, show us the Father,” Jesus replied:
“Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:9)
Jesus continues to show us the heart and character of God. Let’s look at one of those cameos:
“On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” (Luke 6:1–4)
The drama here is the Sabbath and the Pharisees. They had developed their own concepts of the Sabbath and from that created a huge collection of minute rules and regulations that defined what it meant to break the Sabbath. For them, rubbing the grain between the hands to loosen the chaff was “threshing” it. So they ask: “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” It never occurs to them to question their own definition of Sabbath-breaking! The Pharisees are so committed to their rules and regulations that they can no longer tell difference between their traditions and the actual Law of God. Keep in mind that this is not a minor issue. Jesus said: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Their rules and regulations reflect both their own hearts and their concept of God.
The first thing that I notice here is the loyalty of Jesus. He does not hesitate to defend His men against the attack of the religious folks of the day.
But why does Jesus use the example of David’s men eating the holy bread? I think he is correcting the Pharisaic misconception of who God really is. In His response, Jesus seems to be saying:
“David and his men were hungry and there was bread just lying there in God’s tabernacle. What kind of God do you think He is? Do you think that He would let his servants go hungry? My men are passing through grain fields full of ripe grain and they’re hungry because we’ve been on the move. Do you think I’m going to let them go hungry just so I they can comply with your twisted notions about God and keeping his Sabbath?
Clearly the Pharisees have created a “god” in their own image. And the “god” of the Pharisees cares more about ritual and tradition than He does about people. But Jesus shows us what God is really like. And the true God cares enough about His people that He will meet their needs with whatever is at hand. He was like that at the time of David, and He is still like that today.
When I see Jesus revealing God this way it makes my heart smile; how about you?