Mark 2:23-3:6; What’s The Problem With The Sabbath?

Sermon in a sentence: Jesus is lord of the Sabbath and the Pharisees were the lords of tradition.

What’s The Problem? (vs. 23-24)

The Pharisees added tradition to God’s commands. (Exodus 16:29; 20:10, and Deuteronomy 23:25)

Exodus 16:29 ESV

29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”

Exodus 20:10 ESV

10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

Deuteronomy 23:25 ESV

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.

What is clear is that the command to rest on the Sabbath was first given to Israel under the Mosaic covenant (Exod 20:8–11; 31:12–17; Lev 23:3; Deut 5:12–15). God prohibited Israel from working on the Sabbath, which is equivalent to our Saturday. The ban from work was all encompassing, including children, slaves, and animals. The OT specifies what qualifies as work: gathering manna (Exod 16:22–30), plowing and harvesting (Exod 34:21), lighting a fire (Exod 35:3), gathering wood (Num 15:32), and buying and selling merchandise (Neh 10:31; 13:16–22; Jer 17:21–27). Perhaps military campaigns functioned as exceptions (Josh 6:15; 1 Kgs 20:29; 2 Kgs 3:9; cf. 1 Macc 2:32–41). Cult-related activities were regularly permitted on the Sabbath: dedication feasts (1 Kgs 8:65; 2 Chr 7:8), changing temple guards (2 Kgs 11:5–9), putting showbread out (Lev 24:8; 1 Chr 9:32), offering sacrifices (Num 28:9–10; 1 Chr 23:31; 2 Chr 8:13–14; Ezek 45:17; 46:12; Neh 10:33), the duties of priests and Levites (2 Kgs 11:5–9; 2 Chr 23:4, 8), opening the east gate (Ezek 46:1–3), and circumcision (John 7:22–23).

OT Old Testament

Thomas R. Schreiner, “Good-Bye and Hello: The Sabbath Command for New Covenant Believers,” in Progressive Covenantalism: Charting a Course between Dispensational and Covenantal Theologies, ed. Stephen J. Wellum and Brent E. Parker (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2016), 162.

God’s commands are blessings not burdens! (Psalm 1, Matthew 5:1-8; 23:1-4)

Matthew 23:1–4 ESV

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

We must be very careful to not add man made traditions to the commands of God.

Like alcohol that we just saw in the last text.

Have we ever tried to find our righteousness in our own traditions?

What’s The Answer? (vs. 25-28)

First, we must read the Bible properly.

Jesus’ first words are “Have you never read...”

God’s commands must be properly understood before they can be rightly applied.

Jesus could have cited Deuteronomy 23:25 saying that the disciples’ actions were permitted according to the OT law and did not constitute work. Instead, he appealed to David’s taking the showbread when he fled from Saul, even though the bread was reserved for priests (1 Sam 21:1–6; Mark 2:25–26).

What is the fundamental point of the account? It does not seem to be legal, where Jesus appeals to the OT to demonstrate that he and the disciples are innocent. Instead, the main truth of the story is Christological. Jesus is the new and final David, the King promised according to the covenant with David.Hence, those who belong to him have a right to eat on the Sabbath.

The Matthean addition points in the same direction. Sabbath regulations are subordinate to temple requirements, but Jesus is greater than the temple (Matt 12:5–6). If Sabbath regulations take second place to temple requirements, then they also are subservient to Jesus, the greater temple. All three accounts conclude on this note, affirming that Jesus as the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath (Matt 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5). Certainly Jesus does not abolish the Sabbath command here, but the narrative indicates that the Sabbath stands under the authority of Jesus as the Son of Man. We have a hint that the Sabbath (like the temple!) must be reinterpreted now that the Son of Man has arrived.

Thomas R. Schreiner, “Good-Bye and Hello: The Sabbath Command for New Covenant Believers,” in Progressive Covenantalism: Charting a Course between Dispensational and Covenantal Theologies, ed. Stephen J. Wellum and Brent E. Parker (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2016), 172.

Second, Jesus is our Sabbath.

The Sabbath is not a creation command (Genesis 2:1-3)

The Patriarchs did not keep Sabbath

The Sabbath is a sign of the Mosaic covenant (Exodus 31:16-17)

Exodus 31:16–17 ESV

16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’ ”

Jesus demonstrates he is the Lord of the Sabbath (Hebrews 4:9-11, Mark 7:19)

The Sabbath is not commanded in the NT (Colossians 2:16-17)

What’s The Response? (vs. 1-6)

Jesus responds with compassion that leads to healing and restoration.

The Pharisees respond with a plan to kill Jesus.