Jesus And Jewish Laws: How Many Were Broken?

Jesus was born into a Jewish society with a complex set of rules and laws. While he did not break any Roman civil laws, he was accused of breaking Jewish laws on multiple occasions, particularly those concerning the Sabbath. However, Jesus did not break any Old Testament commandments, only the interpretations and traditions that had been built up around them.

Jesus broke Jewish law by healing on the Sabbath

Jesus broke Jewish law by healing people on the Sabbath, which was considered work and therefore prohibited. However, Jesus argued that helping people was more important than following the Sabbath law, and that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Jesus was accused of breaking Sabbath law on multiple occasions. The Gospels record several instances when Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath, which was followed by confrontations with religious leaders. For example, in Mark, Jesus healed Simon Peter's mother-in-law, and in John, he healed a man born blind. Each time, the Pharisees accused him of breaking the Sabbath law.

Jesus did not deny that he was working on the Sabbath but argued that his Father was always working, and so was he. This did not appease the Pharisees, who tried all the more to kill him, as they saw him not only as breaking the Sabbath but also as making himself equal with God.

Jesus also pointed out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees' interpretation of the Sabbath law. He noted that they were willing to work on the Sabbath to help their animals, so it should definitely be allowed to help people. He also challenged them with the question of whether it was lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath, to which the Pharisees remained silent.

Jesus' defence was that he was not violating God's law but the Pharisees' interpretation of it and their particular rules. He was acting in accordance with God's purpose for the Sabbath, which was to benefit people and give them rest from their work, and to turn them towards God.

Jesus' healing on the Sabbath was therefore compatible with God's law, even though it broke the Pharisees' laws.

He also broke the law by declaring all foods clean

Jesus broke Jewish law by declaring all foods clean. This was a significant moment, as Jesus was specifically ending the jurisdiction of some clear laws given by God through Moses, claiming that those laws were now obsolete.

Jesus was addressing the Pharisees and teachers of the law, the fanatical religious legalists and formalists and hypocrites of his day. They had a whole system of man-made regulations that were added to the laws of God, and they forced these add-ons on people's consciences. In this case, it was ritualistic handwashing as part of an overall system of ritual washings that were nowhere commanded in the laws of God.

Jesus exposed their fundamental flaw, which was preferring their man-made traditions over the word of God. He replied, "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions".

Jesus then called everyone in and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can make him unclean by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that makes him unclean". Jesus made this pronouncement to the crowd with no further explanation. The full implications of this would not be clear for decades.

Jesus then went inside with his apostles and gave the fuller explanation to them. He said, "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean? It doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach and then out of his body. And saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean".

Jesus went on to explain that what comes out of a man is what makes him unclean. Evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly all come from inside and make a man unclean.

Jesus was announcing his intention to fulfil all the Mosaic ceremonial laws and bring that era to an end. The old covenant era is over. It's ended because Jesus said so, and he's the only one who can do it.

He broke tradition by not ritually washing his hands before eating

Jesus was born into a Jewish society that had a complex set of rules to control how people lived their everyday lives. He broke many of these rules and traditions, including the tradition of ritually washing his hands before eating.

The Pharisees accused the disciples of Jesus of not properly washing their hands before eating. They asked him: “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”

Ritual hand-washing was a practice derived from the commandment given to Aaron and his sons in Exodus 30:17-21. The law mandated that priests had to wash their hands before offering sacrifices, and the Pharisees' custom was for all people to wash their hands before eating any food, whether sacrificial or not. This would, they reasoned, wash away any ceremonial defilement they may have contracted.

Jesus, however, saw this practice as a rejection of the commandments of God. He rebuked the Pharisees for following human traditions instead of God's commands, calling them hypocrites. He declared that it was what came out of a person that defiled them, not what went into their body. In doing so, he declared all foods clean.

Jesus prioritised people's needs and acts of love over the strict observance of religious laws. He did not see a problem with breaking particular commands as long as people's needs and love were being promoted.

Jesus overturned the money tables at the temple

Jesus's actions in the temple were a powerful demonstration of his authority and a call to return to genuine worship. He forcefully expelled all those who were buying and selling within the temple courts, turning a place of prayer into a marketplace. This act reflects Jesus's righteous indignation against the commercialization of sacred space.

The buying and selling within the temple courts had turned a place of prayer into a marketplace, corrupting its intended purpose. This phrase highlights the tension between religious practice and economic exploitation, a theme that resonates with the prophetic tradition of calling out injustice and corruption.

Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers, symbolically disrupting the economic systems that had perverted the worship of God. Money changers charged exorbitant prices for exchanging currency, necessary for pilgrims to pay the temple tax in the required Tyrian shekel. By overturning these tables, Jesus symbolically disrupted the economic systems that had perverted the worship of God.

He also overturned the seats of those selling doves, which were often women, exploiting the poor by charging them exorbitant prices for sacrificial animals. This action by Jesus was a defense of the marginalized and a critique of those who would profit from religious obligations.

Jesus's actions in the temple were a bold statement against the injustice and exploitation that had taken root in the religious practices of the time. He disrupted the economic systems that profited from religious obligations, prioritizing genuine worship and the protection of the vulnerable.

He forgave people's sins, bypassing temple sacrifices

Jesus was accused by Jewish religious leaders and biblical scholars of being a lawbreaker and a sinner. However, the answer to the question of whether Jesus broke Jewish law is complicated.

Jesus was certainly seen to break with Jewish law by the religious authorities of his day. He was accused of breaking laws concerning the Sabbath on multiple occasions. However, it is argued that he did not break an Old Testament command, but rather the interpretations that religious leaders had developed around the biblical commands. For example, Jesus pointed out that people were willing to save an animal on the Sabbath, so it was quite reasonable to heal someone on that day.

Jesus also broke with the Old Testament law regarding the ceremonial washing of hands. He rejected the biblical teaching of uncleanliness, declaring all foods clean.

Jesus's focus was on a person's faithfulness, not on outward signs such as diet, circumcision, dress, or Sabbath-keeping. He prioritised love and goodness and was willing to break Old Testament laws to do so. For example, he declined to participate in the execution of a woman caught in adultery, forgiving her instead. There is no possibility for forgiveness for intentional sins in the Torah and its sacrificial system.

Jesus's approach to Scripture was not legalistic. He saw no problem with breaking particular commands if it promoted people's needs and love. He was willing to break Old Testament laws in order to provoke and make a point about prioritising people.

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