Mark 2 -23_3_6

Mark 2:23-3:6“A Day of Rest”

Exegesis with Sermon Outline

Intro: One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest.

The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had.

“I don’t get it,” he said. “Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did.”

“But you didn’t notice,” said the winning woodsman, “that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest.”

This text concludes Mark’s account of five conflict stories between Jesus and the religious leaders, the Pharisees. They are as follows 1) The conflict over forgiveness of sin, 2) The conflict over associating with sinners and tax-collectors, 3) The conflict over fasting, 4) The conflict over Picking Grain on the Sabbath, and 5) The conflict over healing on the Sabbath.

These last two conflict stories make up our lesson today, they have a common denominator, and they were conflicts over the Sabbath. What is meant by Sabbath? It was the seventh day of the Jewish week, a ceremonial day of rest first illustrated by God as He rested after six literal days of creation and later instituted by God after leading His chosen people Israel out of Egypt.” Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:7-11

What does it mean to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy? In Hebrew the word translated remember means to “make known, or to bring to remembrance” the Hebrew word translated holy means to “separate from the common” to “consecrate.” This was a day of physical rest and spiritual renewal that was not afforded to them during their time as slaves in Egypt and it would serve as reminder of that time and how God delivered them.

They were free from the Bondage of Egypt and could enjoy a day of physical relaxation, mental renewal, and spiritual reviving but by Jesus’ time the Sabbath had become the center stage of ceremonial religious practices which enslaved Israel once again. No more was it a day of rest it had become a day of burden.

How did this happen? To answer this question we must understand the history of Pharisaic Judaism. Long story short, at the return from Babylonian exile Israel sought ways to ensure they kept their land and never be taken into exile again. They understood that exile came because of the breaking of the Law. But they failed to see that the issue was their heart towards God, they chased after other gods. The Law was given to them to teach them the standards of God and to reveal to them their need for total dependence on Him through faith because they could never live up to His standards. The Law was God’s grace reveling their sinfulness and need of repentance and faith. But instead they sought to do things their own way and built a fence around the Law. The Idea was, to create many sub-laws and if the sub-laws were not broken then the Law would not be broken. These sub-laws known as the oral law were written into what is known as the Mishnah. As time went by the oral law became superior to the written law givenby God through Moses and was thus the biases for Pharisaic Judaism.

When Jesus came to earth He came to fulfill the righteousness of the written law and as the inspiration for the written word of God He has authority over its interpretation. As Mark records in 1:22, “He was teaching them as One who has authority.” During this time the Pharisees and Scribes were the known religious rulers and they had led Israel into a state of religious legalism that made the Sabbath day a day of great burden instead of great rest.

CPS: Today I want us to see the Grace of God given to us in a prescribed day of rest and to know that a day of rest is for the good of man.

Jesus teaches the Sabbath is not a day for burden but for the good of man.

This story takes place on a Sabbath day in Galilee. Jesus and His disciples are walking through a grainfield and the according to Matthews account (Matt. 12:1-8) the disciple became hungry and reached down plucked some grains of wheat. They rolled the grain in their hands, blew away the chaff, then put it in their mouth and ate it. The Pharisee’s who have launched an investigation into Jesus now screams bloody murder because the disciples of Jesus have broken the Law.

In order to understand their claim we must understand the Mishnah and its Sabbath Day requirements. The Mishnah records 9 forms of work which are unlawful to do on the Sabbath Day. The first eleven pertain to grain, they are as follow: planting, plowing, reaping, gathering, threshing, winnowing, sorting, grinding, sifting, kneading, and cooking. These 39 requirements are not activities but categories which ultimately make up 1500 regulations that ruled over the Sabbath. For example, “winnowing” generally refers to the separation of chaff from grain however according to the Mishnah it includes separation of intermixed materials which renders edible that which was unedible. Ie: filtering undrinkable water or removing the meat from the bones of a fish.

With this in mind we see that according to the Pharisees who were following Jesus, His disciples were guilty of breaking at least 4 Laws of the Sabbath. The 1st is reaping, when they removed the wheat from the stalk they were guilty of reaping on the Sabbath Day, the 2nd is threshing, when the disciples rubbed the wheat in their hands to separate it from the chaff they were guilty of threshing wheat on the Sabbath, the 3rd is winnowing, when the disciples blew into their hands blowing the chaff away making the grain edible they were guilty of winnowing on the Sabbath, the 4th storing, when the disciples swallowed the wheat they were guilty of storing wheat on the Sabbath.

However Jesus did not ascribe to Pharisaic Judaism, instead following the man made religion He rebuked the Pharisee by saying “Have you never read!” In this simple statement He rebukes the Mishnah and embraces the Scriptures, after all the Scripture is the final authority in doctrine and deed, the Mishnah was nothing more than a man made addition to the holy word of God. Then He gives an example of the Law being broken due to man being in need, He tells of David the anointed of Israel who while fleeing Saul the king was in need of provisions and they went to the tabernacle and the priest gave the show bread which dedicated to be eaten by the priests alone. They accepted David’s breaking the Law but shunned the Lord for breaking the Law, while all in all they were more than likely breaking their Law themselves.

According to the Mishnah, one could not walk more than 2,000 cubits (1 kilometer) outside of their place of residence; however the Law could be manipulated. If they left food on a previous day in a certain location within the 2000 cubits then that place could serve as a temporary residence and they were free to travel 2000 cubits from that place. The problem was they were following Jesus around through countryside of Galilee. They didn’t know where He was going. The bottom line is that human need takes precedents over ceremonial law. HUMAN NEEDS ARE MORE INPORTANT THAN CEREMONIAL RITUALS.

As previously stated, The Jews held the Sabbath on the top shelf, many referred to the Sabbath as Queen Sabbath, their sub-laws had elevated the Sabbath day to a height that God had not intended. Thus, the Jews began to act as they were created for the Sabbath, but Jesus reminds them that God created the Sabbath for man. Man has a great need for Sabbath, though it was given to the Jews the N.T. gives examples of Sunday (resurrection day) being held by NT Christians as a day of rest. It is a day that we can turn off the things of the world that occupy so much of our daily lives and come together and worship the Lord so that we may renew our minds in the Word of God, that our souls may be refreshed by standing in the presence of God in worship with our brothers and sisters. Have you ever worked so long and hard that you didn’t have anything offer anything or anyone else, you become of no use…. You are just busy! Like the man in the wood chopping contest, when we rest we sharpen our axes and become more productive when we begin to work again.

It is important for us today to see that we have a job given to us by God but if we spend all week chasing our tails like a dog who can’t quite get a hold of it you become just busy…. And you are never in the moment, position, strength, or state of mind that you to be in to bear good fruit. The Pharisees, bore bad fruit, burdens upon burden that they could not keep themselves but expected others to carry perfectly.

The Sabbath was made to bring good to man, to bring refreshment, renewal, revitalization. The disciples of Jesus were hungry but the religion of the day had no compassion or sympathy only strict burdens that were of no use to man. Jesus answers the cry of the Pharisees by making a statement about His preimence as the God Man, He saisd that He was Lord of the Sabbath therefore, interpretation of Sabbath observance belongs to Him and not them nor their strict laws. He came to bring good to man their legalism brought only harm and burden.

Jesus teaches the Sabbath is not a day for burden but for doing good for man.

Again on a Sabbath day Jesus enters a synagogue and heals man whose hand is withered, perhaps by paralyses. It seems this man has been planted by the Pharisees to tempt Jesus to heal on the Sabbath day. The argument for this comes from the text, “they were watching to see if He would heal him.” The Greek word “watching” is in the imperfect tense thus they were continually watching to see if He would heal the man.

Traditionally a man like this would not be welcomed in the synagogue because he would have been seen as a sinner and that by his great sin was his hand deformed and useless. How sad to know that those in great need weren’t welcome in worship.

Jesus calls the man to middle of the synagogue where He was and asked the audience a question. Is it Lawful on the Sabbath to good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill? According to their oral law it was only lawful to heal on the Sabbath if the person’s life was in jeopardy. But, Jesus says to do nothing for this man in need is to do harm to Him. They have killed him in their hearts by their lack of support for doing good to man on the Sabbath day.

Jesus healed the man and then the Pharisees sought to kill Him. They consulted with their enemies, those who supported Roman rule as to how they may kill Jesus. It is interesting to see as one Scholar wrote, “their legalism led them to plot murder while vowing to keep the Sabbath holy.

The Sabbath was made to bring good to man, to be a day of rest from the burdens we suffer. It was a day for the good of man and a day to do good for man but the religious laws of the day were in direct opposeeions of the goodness of God and they didn’t experience God’s grace only man’s burden.

In the Philippines I heard a local pastor use the following parable to illustrate Christ’s offer of rest (Matt. ll:28) and the response of people who won’t trust Him completely: The driver of a caribou wagon was on his way to market when he overtook an old man carrying a heavy load. Taking compassion on him, the driver invited the old man to ride in the wagon.

Gratefully the old man accepted. After a few minutes, the driver turned to see how the man was doing. To his surprise, he found him still straining under the heavy weight, for he had not taken the burden off his shoulders.

Mark 2:23-3:6Conflict with Religion

Intro: I am reminded of a story told by a pastor in the Philippians’: The driver of a caribou wagon was on his way to market when he overtook an old man carrying a heavy load. Taking compassion on him, the driver invited the old man to ride in the wagon. Gratefully the old man accepted. After a few minutes, the driver turned to see how the man was doing. To his surprise, he found him still straining under the heavy weight, for he had not taken the burden off his shoulders.

Religion is a heavy load, a burden put on man by man, a burden you can’t take off of your shoulders even when sitting down to rest. Judaism during Jesus’ day was a heavy lists of do’s and do not’s. Strict obedience to these laws was man’s attempt to reach God but they so blinded in their own efforts that they missed God’s way of reaching them…. Jesus.

Today’s text closes a series of conflict stories between Jesus and the religious leaders of His day. 1st was the conflict over forgiveness of sin, 2nd was the conflict over association with sinners, 3rd was the conflict over fasting, now we are going to see perhaps the greatest conflict….Conflict over the Sabbath!

CPS: Today I want you to see that Religion is man’s burdensome attempt to reach God and only keeps you from the goodness that God desires for you.

Jesus teaches us that the Sabbath was made to meet the needs of the people Vs. 23-28

Ex: The underlying issue is that God is concerned about the needs of mankind, After all we were created in His image but the religion (Pharisaic Judaism) of the day was not concerned about people. It was only concerned over strict observance of manmade ceremonial law. Jesus teaches that basic needs of man take precedence over the observance of ceremonial law and a day of rest is a need of mankind as demonstrated by God as He rested after creation.

The Written Law {The disciples of Jesus were well within the actual Law of God expressed in His Word.}

Ex 20:8-11

Dut. 23:25

The Oral Law {The disciples of Jesus were in violation of the oral law, which was never expressed by God nor is backed in His Word.}

Mishnah

39 Melachot

Their Violation

Reaping (Plucked it)

Threshing (Rubbed it)

Winnowing (Blew it)

Storing (Ate it)

The Correction

He directed them to the Scriptures (1 Sam. 21:1-9)

He corrected them teaching human need takes presence over ceremonial law

He pointed them to the Lord who is the object of the Sabbath and the interpreter of the Sabbath

Application: The Sabbath is meant for good, and rest is good for mankind. We get so wrapped up in the daily affairs of life that we get bogged down and become useless to ourselves, those around us, and the Lord Himself. But Sabbath is a day of physical and mental renewal and spiritual revitalization. A day of rest and worship sp we can be sharp and useful.

I recall a story I once heard One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest.

The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had.

“I don’t get it,” he said. “Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did.”

“But you didn’t notice,” said the winning woodsman, “that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest.”

II. Jesus teaches us that the Sabbath is a day to do good for man Vs. 3:1-6

Ex: The Pharisees investigation of Jesus had intensified, Jesus had recently declared Himself Lord of the Sabbath so on this Sabbath day they were closely watching Him so they could find something to charge Him with and bring Him before their court. Their religion had severed their compassion for needy man and turned their focus to doing evil to man (namely Jesus Christ)

The Plant (his and was useless probably paralysis)

The question {He planned to do good to man, they planned to do evil to Him!)

The Anger

The Miracle (extend your useless hand)

The conspiracy

Application: This text shows the heart of God and His care for people contrasted with the religious of the day. Jesus cares about you and your physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing takes precedents over ceremonial law. The oral law which the Jews subscribed to only allowed healing on the Sabbath in life threatening circumstances. But Jesus teaches a higher law, the Law of Love and shows us that to not do good is the same as doing evil, regardless of the day.

Conclusion: Religion only brings burden, in our text we see the burden it tried to place on the hungry disciples, the burden it placed on the man with the withered hand, the burden it placed on the Pharisees as their hearts were hardened and their conscience seared, the burden it placed on Jesus by the crucifixion that would follow.

The Sabbath was a stumbling block to conservative religious in Jesus’ day but Jesus came to fulfill the Law and to give us grace upon grace and still today we can find grace in the observing the Sabbath day. Have you ever noticed the Grace of God… that in OT times the Sabbath took place after 6 days of work but in N.T. times we observe a day of rest/worship on the first day of the week before the work week begins!

Let us today, enjoy the freedom of Christ and turn off the things of the world that binds us and keeps us busy and enjoy a day of rest, renewal, and revitalization.