7/13/25 Weekly Bible Lesson: A Question of Authority

Introduction — The central idea in today’s passage is that the authority of Christ is liberating. It frees us from “Karens,” legalism, and Idolatry. Someone has said, “Highly focused people do not leave their options open. They select their priorities and are comfortable ignoring the rest. If you commit to nothing, you’ll be distracted by everything.”

When a Christian commits to Jesus as Lord, he has submitted to Christ as the ultimate authority in his life. This submission is liberating as demonstrated in this interaction between Jesus and the adversarial Pharisees.

Verses 1-2 — Christ’s authority liberates from “Karens.”

“At about that time Jesus was walking through some grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began breaking off some heads of grain and eating them. But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, ‘Look, your disciples are breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.’”

“Karen” is a slang term typically used to refer to an upper middle-class American woman who is perceived as entitled or excessively demanding. There is no equivalent word for her male counterpart but if I were submitting a candidate, it would be the word Pharisee. Upper-middle-class? Check. Entitled? Check. Excessively demanding? Check. The Pharisees were “nattering nabobs of negativity.” They comprised the nanny-state of first-century Israel. The common folk despised them but submitted to them because they held a degree of authority. The arrival of Jesus was like the appointment of a new sheriff in town. Jesus’s authority superseded that of the Pharisees, freeing His followers from the mundane tyranny of these stifling busy bodies. His authority still does.

On occasion, one might encounter a holier-than-though “Super Christian” who feels that God has called them to enforce their manmade derivations of God’s laws upon you. Do not permit them to rain on your joyful God parade. Remember that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1). Follow the example of Jesus’s disciples. If the “Karens” have a problem with you, they can take it up with Jesus.

In 1807, Thomas Campbell was the minister of an Old Light, Anti-Burger, Seceder Presbyterian Church. One Sunday he dared to serve the Lord’s Supper to a Presbyterian who was not an Old-light, Anti-burgher, Seceder Presbyterian, and his Synod censured him for it. Campbell eschewed the censure and left the Synod. He differentiated between the authority of Christ and the authority of manmade synods and councils (“Karens”).

Verses 3-5 — Christ’s authority liberates us from legalism.

“Jesus said to them, ‘Haven’t you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God, and he and his companions broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. And haven’t you read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath?’”

Legalism is following the letter of the law but not the SPIRIT (intention) of the law. Jesus used two examples from His Bible (our Old Testament) to illustrate the Pharisees’ enslavement to legalism. The first example is of David and his men eating the sacred loaves of bread given to them by Ahimelech that only priests were typically allowed to eat (1 Samuel 21). In doing so, Ahimelech saved them from starvation. The second example is of priests on duty in the Temple “working” on the Sabbath by offering sacrifices on behalf of the people. A legalist could find reason to condemn David, Ahimelech, and the temple priests for their apparent “breaking” of the law, but Jesus did not condemn them because it fulfilled the SPIRIT of the law, which is love for God and for one’s neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40).

The Bible says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1, CSB). The Pharisees combined their knowledge of Scripture with pride which resulted in persecution and enslavement of God’s people (Matthew 23:4). Jesus combined knowledge of Scripture with love resulting in liberation for God’s people. By Jesus’s authority, we apply God’s Word through the rubric of mercy and common sense. In so doing, we live in freedom ourselves and help others to do likewise.

Verses 6-8 — Christ’s authority liberates us from idolatry.

“I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath.”

These two verses reinforce Jesus’s liberating authority from “Karens” and from legalism, and they add a third and more important element — liberation from idolatry. “Idolatry” is elevating any person, practice, or thing above God or in the place of God. The Pharisees were blind to the idolatrous homage they gave to the Temple and the Sabbath while dishonoring the God who ORIGINATED the Temple and the Sabbath. This idolatry came to a head in their rejection of the identity and authority of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is having none of it. As the “Son of Man,” a Messianic title, He declares His authority OVER the Temple and the Sabbath. If the Pharisees had acknowledged Jesus’ authority, they would not have committed the grievous sins of judgmentalism, lovelessness, and idolatry.

Those who place their trust in Jesus and give their allegiance to the Son of Man are liberated from the ignorance and soul-killing worship of inferior substitutes.