Bridegroom and Lord of the Sabbath
Studies through Mark • Sermon • Submitted
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Why Don’t the Disciples Fast? (2:18-22)
Why Don’t the Disciples Fast? (2:18-22)
Fasting was one of the three basic practices of Jewish piety (prayer, fasting, almsgiving)
Jewish law required fasting once a year (Day of Atonement)
Pharisees practiced it twice a week as a mark of devotion
Jesus has just finished feasting with sinners, and now and his disciples don’t fast either. Again, the challenge to the authority of Jesus is very clear.
Jesus answers by first describing himself as the bridegroom.
The feast that he just partook of was more significant than we might realize.
Remember, the nations were seated at this table. Everyone was open to feast at the table. That was an issue for the religious leaders.
Jesus as the bridegroom desires to wed his people, and that is cause for celebration. Fasting was a sign of mourning during this period. There was no need to mourn.
Fasting then will be different. For us, it is a preparation, a spiritual discipline to prepare and heighten our joy. We are to fast as we encounter a serious situation or a great need arise. Fasting should lead us to prayer and a strong leaning upon God, feasting on His presence in prayer and in the Word.
Jesus then uses two parable images to describe why his disciples don’t fast:
Cloth - fasting would be like putting an unshrunken cloth on old clothing
New wine in old wineskins - old covenant practices verse new covenant practices.
What has come is a completely new life, a kingdom way of salvation that the old covenant pointed to but could never save. “it cannot be contained with institutions and observances of the new covenant.” - Mary Healy
Inner transformation is done by the Holy Spirit (Joel 4:18)
18 “And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Shittim.
and this transformation is done by Christ through His death, burial, and resurrection. We partake of a meal often to remember Mark 14:24-25
24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
Lord of the Sabbath (2:23-28)
Lord of the Sabbath (2:23-28)
With the busyness of the disciples and Jesus, this next scene sets up as though they are grabbing a bite to eat on the go. Ancient days fast food if you will. They would pluck the heads of grain, rub the heads and get the wheat kernels and eat those because they were edible. This provision was allowed in the Law itself.
24 “If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. 25 If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.
They were not allowed to plow a neighbors field, but people could certainly grab a bite to eat if they were needy. Again, we see how God looks after the poor and the oppressed. It would do well for us to remember that we are called to do the same.
The Pharisees challenge this act as “work”
The Pharisees saw this act of eating on the Sabbath as work, seeing and viewing it as harvesting. Again, the Pharisees were very particular and concerned about the external appearances. They also did not like Jesus and desired to trap him for breaking the Law. The reality is that Jesus could not break the Law because he was the Law-giver himself.
Jesus explains the intention of the Law
Jesus then uses a story from the Old Testament, one they would readily know, especially since it was about David, the greatest King that Israel had.
2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” 4 And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5 And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away. 7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s herdsmen.
As David was on the run, the necessity of food was real, and the priest understood that. The intention of the law was to provide rest for God’s people. But the Pharisees were oppressing God’s people with additional requirements.
Like David, Jesus is the “anointed one,” pursued and persecuted by the religious leaders, who are also murderous. Jesus, the greater High Priest gives the priestly allowance to his disciples.
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath
The Sabbath was intended to be rest
Intended to promote worship
Genesis informs us of this intention. And the same God who declared Sabbath rest is the same God in the midst of these people. Jesus himself is declaring his divinity by saying that he is “Lord of the Sabbath.”
The Heart of the Matter
The Heart of the Matter
Closely related to the Sabbath incident earlier, the concern we see here is the hearts of the people in regards to these Laws, in particular, the response of the religious elite.
What we see is a man with a withered hand. As this wasn’t a “life-threatening” medical ailment, the Pharisees were waiting to see what Jesus would do. They wanted to trap him again for his breaking of the Sabbath.
Jesus seeks to heal the man, but also to teach the people in the synagogue of who he is and what kind of kingdom he is bringing. The kingdom of God.
Rather than compassion, we see that the Pharisees are only concerned about externals, looking religious, and trapping people for their breaking of the law rather than showing mercy and grace to those in need.
Lack of love of God and love of neighbor
Jesus is challenging these religious practices, these extra laws, because it doesn’t come out of a love for God, but rather, to impress him and others. It comes out of a desire to look good for everyone and say “look at how righteous we are.”
So he then comes back at them and asks them a question, getting to the heart of the matter. Do you think that the Sabbath was intended to stop people from doing good, to help save a life? You are missing the point. God doesn’t want you to forget the act of good and love in favor of keeping a regulation. That wasn’t the point of the Sabbath in first place. It was meant to be rest. It was meant to be worship. But how could we not help those in need. That’s not work. That’s compassion.
Jesus sees the heart of people
Solomon prays at the dedication of the temple, and reminds those that hear that only God can see the hearts of men.
39 then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind),
The silence was deafening. Jesus looked at them with anger. He saw their hardness of heart.
8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”
7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.
18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
Jesus anger was one of holy indignation against evil. And make no doubt about it, this was evil. To withhold healing and to withhold good from someone just so you can keep a law or to look religious. That would be like me telling you if you came in late for church or even missed church because you saw someone injured on the side of the road, took them to the hospital, and I getting mad at you and telling you that you sinned for missing church that day.
The Pharisees respond
They desire to kill Jesus because he has challenged their very system, their very own livelihoods and power structure.
What they didn’t realize is this: Jesus fulfills the meaning of the Sabbath: It is by Him that we are able to have communion with God, by trusting in Him.