Christ would teach His disciples and His enemies that the service of God is first of all. The object of God's work in this world is the redemption of man; therefore that which is necessary to be done on the Sabbath in the accomplishment of this work is in accord with the Sabbath law. Jesus then crowned His argument by declaring Himself the "Lord of the Sabbath,"--One above all question and above all law. This infinite Judge acquits the disciples of blame, appealing to the very statutes they are accused of violating.
Jesus did not let the matter pass with administering a rebuke to His enemies. He declared that in their blindness they had mistaken the object of the Sabbath. He said, "If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless." Matt. 12:7. Their many heartless rites could not supply the lack of that truthful integrity and tender love which will ever characterize the true worshipper of God.
Ellen White continues her narrative with an occasional imaginary touch here and there to embellish the - rather more simple and more credible - biblical narrative from Matthew 12:1-14.
At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
Matthew 12:1-14
Ellen White makes a couple of assertions that are interesting. First she says "
The object of God's work in this world is the redemption of man; therefore that which is necessary to be done on the Sabbath in the accomplishment of this work is in accord with the Sabbath law" and then she says of Jesus that he is "
One above all question and above all law".
It is obvious to every christian that what Jesus did and said was always "in accord with" the law because he was Missiah come to fulfil the law and so to redeem his people from the power of sin and death. Now, we know that the strength of death is in the law and that by works of the law shall no flesh be justified and one hopes that Ellen White also knew and taught these things. But when she asserts that Jesus is "One above all question and above all law" one must pause for a while and consider if she is speaking of Jesus as God - because God is indeed above all laws - or if she was still speaking of Jesus as Messiah. If she were thinking of the latter then she would be misunderstanding the meaning of messiah and the mission of Christ.
Once again her comments have an emphasis on the sabbath that is probably not fully warranted by the teaching of Christ in the scripture.
