Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath Luke 6: 1-11
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
Introduction:
Over the last few weeks, we have seen where Luke has chosen to highlight events in the life of Christ that demonstrate his authority. This “authority” motif is something we see a total of nine times through Luke chapters 4-6.
A motif is a theme, symbol, or image that is repeated throughout a piece of literature or across more than one piece of literature in order to form a pattern. They are helpful to unify a text, especially when it is a long narrative, because they occur at different points throughout that narrative.
Up to this point we’ve seen Jesus authority over:
Demonic spirits. (4:31-37)
Sickness. (4:38-41)
The natural world (5:1-11)
Sin. (5:12-26)
To call people to himself (5:27-39 & 6:12-16)
In our text today, authority over the Sabbath. (6:1-11)
Jesus authority is a very strong motif that occurs over and over again in the book of Luke. It’s important because it helps to demonstrate that Jesus is fully God because he has the authority over things that only God can have. But, it is not the only motif we see.
Another key motif that we see in the book of Luke is that of “mercy”.
In fact, Jesus first recorded sermon was all about mercy as he preached from
1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
Jesus didn't just declare that he came to be merciful, he demonstrated it by preforming acts of mercy. We see that in some of the same text that also demonstrate his authority.
Mercy was at the heart of everything Jesus did in his earthly ministry. In fact, if you read Matthew's account of Jesus feasting in Levi’s house and the interaction with the Pharisees that took place, you will see that Jesus said to the Pharisees criticizing him.
13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
He was quoting Hosea 6:6 to them which in entirety says:
6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Jesus was saying to them, that God is more pleased with a heart devoted to him and a life characterized by mercy, than he was strict religious observance. Mercy is a hallmark of genuine faith.
In the text before us, the Pharisees, who were Jesus biggest detractors, put their genuine nature on full display. They truly did not care about the needs of others be they physical or spiritual. Their strict adherence to custom in regards to the sabbath over the needs of others. Their social and spiritual ethics were not in line with what truly pleased God.
We see this in the text by observing:
A controversial harvesting. (v.1-5)
A Contentious healing. (v.6-11)
1.) A controversial harvesting. (v.1-5)
1.) A controversial harvesting. (v.1-5)
This event in the life of Christ opens up as Jesus and his disciples were passing through someones grain fields, either on their way too or from the synagogue, and they pluck off a few heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat them because they were hungry.
Because of their hatred of Jesus, the Pharisees always seem to be lurking in the background, especially on the sabbath, in hopes of catching Jesus and his disciples violating the laws of the sabbath. As soon as they do this, there comes
A.) An accusation of unlawful activity. (v.2)
Luke 6:2 (NKJV)
...“Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”
The Jewish legal code, given to them by God, contained a provision for the hungry that allowed them to hand pick any of the fruit or grain from another's field for personal consumption.
24 “When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container.
25 When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.
So the disciples were not breaking any civil laws by what they were doing. In fact, the civil law protected what they were doing.
The issue was that they dared to pick the corn, rub it in their hands and then eat it on the sabbath.
You see the fourth commandment forbade any work on the Sabbath.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
12 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
13 “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.
15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.
17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ ”
For instance, when the Jews were wondering in the wilderness for 40 years, they were commanded to gather all the manna the day before the sabbath and not to go looking for it on the Sabbath day.
In Exodus 35:3 they were commanded not to kindle a fire on the sabbath.
In Numbers 15:32-36 God condemns a man to death for gathering sticks on the sabbath.
And in other Old testament passages people going about and doing a normal days work were condemned.
The Sabbath was meant to be a day of total rest for both man and animal in observance to the fact that God rested on the seventh day from creation.
But, beyond that, God never really went on to define what was considered to be “work”.
Over time the Pharisees, , had developed a series of 39 clarifications of what “work” was. Furthermore, each of these 39 categories left endless room for subdivision in the Mishna (the collection of Jewish oral laws). On top of that was the Talmud, which were the expositions of those oral laws and it contained 24 chapters of detailed explanation regarding proper sabbath observance. All of which resulted in a tangled web of man made laws and explanations of those laws.
Three of those 39 forms of “work” were “reaping, threshing, and winnowing.”
To the Pharisees, Jesus disciples were guilty of “reaping” when they plucked the heads of grain. “Threshing and winnowing” when they rubbed it in between their hands. And, when they ate the grain, they were guilty of preparing food on the Sabbath.
These traditions had been in place for so long that they could no longer distinguish between God’s law and their man made traditions which is a recipe for trouble.
These Pharisees thought they had Jesus cornered now.
B.) Jesus gives them a biblical example. (v.3-4)
3 But Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:
4 how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?”
Jesus responds to them by relaying an example from the life of King David in 1 Samuel 21 when he was on the run for his life from the jealous King Saul.
David was so desperate while on the run. He and his men starving by the time they arrived in Nob, where the tabernacle was located and encountered Ahimelech the priest. David begged of him bread but he told David that the only bread on hand was the “showbread” or “bread of the presence”.
Showbread- consisted of twelve loaves of unleavened bread that were arranged in two rows of six on a table of God inside of the tabernacle. This bread symbolized that the 12 tribes of Israel dwelled in the presence of God. It’s placement inside the tabernacle (later the temple) demonstrated that God was the source of Israel’s strength and nourishment. It also was meant to show their dependence on God. The bread was ceremonially holy and put on display for seven days. After which it was only to be eaten by the Aronic priests. (Lev 24)
It is this bread that Ahimelech gave to David after it had just been taken off of display. The only requirement was that David and his men were ceremonially clean prior to eating it.
Jesus gave this example in order to lay out a biblical principle to the Pharisees that human need could not be subjected to their cold, dead legalism. That peoples needs mattered more than traditions and man made rules.
Ahimelech the priest of Nob, 1,000 years before them understood this principle, but, it was lost on the Pharisees. Jesus basically told them they were ignorant of the scriptures that they proposed to have cared about so much.
God desired mercy way more than he did sacrifice and adherence to rules.
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
It’s mercy, not rules that demonstrate our love of God to others.
C.) An assertive statement. (v.5)
The Pharisees had set themselves up to be the overseers of Sabbath observance, some even went as far to teach that the Messiah would not come until all the jews kept the Sabbath perfectly. They meticulously policed the people making sure they were doing everything to the letter.
But, the Sabbath wasn’t theres to regulate.
5 And He said to them, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
The Sabbath was a divine institution of God given to the people at Mt. Sinai by his thundering decree.
Jesus by asserting his authority here over the Sabbath was saying that he was greater than the Sabbath.
If David could override the law without blame, how much more could Jesus because he was greater than David. He’s the Lord of the Sabbath!
Theologically speaking, Jesus is ultimate fulfillment of the Sabbath because everything the Sabbath was meant to supply to his people (peace, rest, restoration, communion with God) can be found in him.
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
Jesus broke the religious traditions on this day in order to mercifully deal with his disciples hunger. As “Lord of the Sabbath” he shows mercy and meets our deepest needs which are regeneration, renewal, peace and rest.
2.) A contentious healing. (v.6-11)
2.) A contentious healing. (v.6-11)
6 Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered.
7 So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him.
We do not know when this next event happened, but many think this is perhaps the very next sabbath day because once again the Pharisees are there to “watch” Jesus in order to once again charge him with violating the sabbath.
Once again, we see the pharisees lacked mercy for those in need.
There is present this day in the synagogue a man whose hand is withered. (Dry, denotes a lameness in his hand.) This is all we know about this man, some scholars speculate that perhaps this man was a “plant” by the Pharisees in order to trap Jesus into sinning. Rather or not that is the case, they definitely knew this man was here and they were leering just waiting for an opportune time to pounce.
v.8 tells us that Jesus knew their thoughts, SO HE SAID TO THE MAN.
Luke 6:8 (NKJV)
...“Arise and stand here.” And he arose and stood.
Now, with this man standing in the center of the room for all to see:
A.) Jesus asks a pointed question. (v.9)
9 Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?”
Remember we said that God is more pleased with mercy than adherence to rules and traditions. To God, refusing to do good is evil. To refuse to save a life is to destroy a life.
When Jesus asked this question, it appears he waited for a response (v.10 tells us “He looked around at them all”) . But there was no response. I imagine you could have heard crickets if there were any present.
10 And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.
As this man extended his hand toward Jesus. His dry and atrophied hand returned to normalcy.
You would think that Jesus healing this man would have resulted in instant belief in his claims to be the messiah. That these Pharisees would see the error of their ways, repent and follow Jesus. But, the exact opposite is true.
B.) Filled with rage. (v.11)
Once again, instead of an appropriate response, these pharisees were blinded by rage.
The greek here implies a state of unthinking or thoughtlessness. Extreme fury. A madness.
Sadly, those who are filled with self-righteousness find little interest in mercy and truth.
Why? because they are far more concerned with observance and ritual.
Parallel passages in Matthew and Luke tell us from this point on, they plotted to kill Jesus.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
What is our take away from these two events this morning?
True faith produces mercy and compassion. These two attributes don’t make someone a christian, but they are attributes of our savior that should shine though us.
Sometimes our traditions compromise our theology; they even encourage us to look toward wrong solutions to the sin problem. We Christians at times produce lists of rules that protect us from defilement. Though it may not be packaged as such, defilement is viewed as “out there in the world.” Certain people are designated as defiling.… Certain places are inherently compromising: wherever alcohol is served or pot smoked, wherever rock music is played …—wherever secular activities occur.… While there is wisdom in many of these rules, they subtly communicate the antithesis of bedrock biblical theology, namely, that defilement is internal and not external.
Tom Hovestol, Extreme Righteousness: Seeing Ourselves in the Pharisees (Chicago: Moody, 1997), 112.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
True christians are marked by compassion and mercy. Be it the poor, the immigrants, the cultural outcasts, the mentally unstable, alcoholics, drug addicts, prisoners, etc.
True christians stand care about sinners enough to witness to them about the love of Christ.
Reaching out to these kind of people in mercy and compassion is inconvenient, messy, costly, inefficient, trying and completely counter cultural. But it is our calling to be like Christ!
Give the gospel explaining Jesus love for people who are just like what I described.