Lord of the Sabbath

INTRODUCTION

We are now looking at the next section in Mark’s gospel

It’s found in chapter two, verses 23-28

In this passage we learn that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath

Listen to what Mark writes:

Mark 2:23–28 NASB95

23 And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Mark has been telling to us since chapter one and verse one who Jesus is

He is “the Son of God” (Mk.1:1)

And from there has set out to prove his claim

In the verses that follow, Mark identified Him as “the Lord” (1:3), the coming One (1:7), the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit (1:8), the “beloved Son” of the Father (1:11), the One who offers the gospel of the kingdom (1:14), and “the Holy One of God” (1:24).

By the time chapter 2 is reached, it becomes evident that Jesus had the supreme ability to validate these lofty titles, as He displayed unparalleled authority over Satan and temptation (1:12–13), demons and possession (1:25–26), illness and disease (1:29–34), sin and its consequences (2:5–12), and even the societal labels of first-century Judaism (2:13–17).

What He did strongly supported what He said, leaving no doubt that He was the Son of God and deserved every high praise

Now Mark gives us another title for Jesus: “the Lord of the Sabbath”

To illustrate this, we are brought to a situation that occurred on the Sabbath with Jesus and His disciples

The disciples, according to the Pharisees, were violating the Sabbath

What were they doing? "Picking the heads of grain" and eating them

Since they were doing this, the Pharisees considered them not keeping the Sabbath

Keeping the Sabbath was the 4th Commandment in the list of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20.

We hear in verses 8-11, ”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."

Notice again that it is based on God resting on the seventh day from His work of creation

As you can see the term “Sabbath” has its roots in the creation account in the book of Genesis and in Exodus 20:11.

The Hebrew word for Sabbath is Shabbat (שַׁבָּת), derived from the root word shabat (שָׁבַת) which means “to rest or to cease”

It is also important to note that Shabbat is derived from the Hebrew term sheva (שֶׁבַע) which means seven, further highlighting the significance of the seventh day as a day of rest

In the New Testament, the Greek word for Sabbath is Sabbaton (σάββατον), which is a transliteration of the Hebrew term Shabbat

This word is used in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) and the New Testament to refer to the seventh day of the week

This day was a special day set apart as “a holy day of rest for the people of Israel”

Isaiah emphasized the Sabbath in Isaiah 58:13-14, where keeping the Sabbath is associated with delight and blessing

Isaiah 58:13–14, “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word, 14 Then you will take delight in the Lord, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Every Jew observed the Sabbath

In the Gospels, Jesus is depicted as observing the Sabbath according to Luke 4:16, “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.”

In the book of Acts, we see the early Christians gathering on the first day of the week, i.e. Sunday, to break bread and worship, which has been linked to the resurrection of Jesus on a Sunday

That’s why followers of Jesus began to worship on Sunday!

Acts 20:7, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.”

Furthermore, the book of Hebrews emphasizes the significance of entering into Gods rest through faith in Jesus

Hebrews 4:9–11, “9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.”

In Jewish culture, the Sabbath is considered a day of solemn rest, where work is prohibited, and time is set apart for worship and reflection

But the Pharisees believed the Sabbath should be observed strictly and meticulously

So they placed a great emphasis on the proper observance and held detailed rules and regulations about what actions were considered permissible and what were not

They believed that engaging in any form of work on the Sabbath was forbidden, including activities such as cooking, lighting fires, and healing the sick

In the Melachot, which was developed and compiled by the Talmudic rabbis and later Jewish authorities, they gave 39 primary categories of specific types of work or activities that were traditionally prohibited on the Sabbath

In included things like: Sowing, Plowing, Reaping, Binding sheaves, Threshing, Winnowing, Selecting, Grinding, Sifting, Kneading, Baking, Shearing wool, Washing wool, Beating wool, Dyeing wool, Spinning, Weaving, Making two loops, Weaving two threads, Separating two threads, Tying, Untying, Sewing two stitches, Tearing, Trapping, Killing, Flaying, Salting meat, Curing hide, Scraping hide, Cutting hide up, Writing two letters, Erasing two letters, Building, Demolishing, Extinguishing a fire, Kindling a fire, Striking with a hammer, Transporting an object from the private to the public domain, or the reverse (https://www.ou.org/holidays/the_thirty_nine_categories_of_sabbath_work_prohibited_by_law)

So practically speaking you couldn’t do things like…

Add water to a vase or cut flowings (that was sowing)

You couldn’t sharpen a pencil (that was cutting to shape)

You couldn’t open an umbrella (that was building)

You couldn’t switch off an electric light (that was extinguishing a fire)

You couldn’t throw a toothpick in a fire (that was burning)

You couldn’t rub soap to make lather (that was rubbing) (https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/shabbats-work-prohibition)

That’s how meticulous they were

This is how the Pharisees viewed the Sabbath and what they had in mind when they encountered Jesus and His disciples

Notice…

I. The Scene (v.23)

It was the "Sabbath"

Jesus "was passing through the grainfields" with His disciples

In first-century Palestine, the main roads were like major highways

But when people left those roads, they walked on wide paths that went through pastures and fields of grain

And if a traveler was hungry, the law allowed him to eat freely of the grain but he could not put a sickle to the field

Deuteronomy 23:25, “When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.”

So as they were making their way, our parallel passage in Matthew 12:1 says Jesus’ disciples “became hungry” and were “picking the heads of grain”

Luke says they were “rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain” (6:1)

Apparently the Pharisees were traveling on the same road and saw what the disciples were doing and immediately give…

II. The Accusation (v.24)

"Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"

The question this morning is "Were the disciples breaking the Sabbath by picking the heads of grain and eating them"?

Because that’s what they were accused of by the Pharisees

Remember the Pharisees had developed “thousands of petty rules and regulations [saying] all work was forbidden?

They even classified “Work…under thirty-nine different heads and four of these heads were reaping, winnowing, threshing and preparing a meal” (Barclay)

So the disciples were guilty of breaking all four of these rules and were therefore law-breakers

Notice...

III. The Response (vv.25-28)

Jesus first points the Pharisees to 1 Samuel 21 and asks them, "Have you not read what David did?”

Not only did they not remember Deuteronomy 23:25 that I read earlier

But they also forgot about 1 Samuel 21.

So Jesus says…

Remember What David Did (vv.25-26)

This was during the time when David was fleeing from King Saul's

Saul was jealous of David and wanted to kill him

So David arrives at the town of Nob

Hungry, David asked the priest named Ahimelech for food

Ahimelech told David "There is no ordinary bread on hand, but there is consecrated bread” (v.5)

You might be saying, “Wait a minute? They can’t eat that. Only the priests were allowed to eat the consecrated or show bread”

According to the law, in Leviticus 24:9, it is stated that the consecrated bread, also known as showbread, is reserved for the priests and should be eaten by them in a holy place

Leviticus 24:9, “It shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the Lord’s offerings by fire, his portion forever.”

Ahimelech says, “I don’t have any food but there is the consecrated or show bread, you can eat that,” “if only the young men have kept themselves from women" (v.5)

David said, "Surely women have been kept from us" (v.6)

So verse 6 says, "...the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence which was removed from before the LORD, in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away."

The "consecrated bread" or "the showbread" consisted of "twelve loaves of unleavened bread (representing the 12 tribes of Israel)"

These were placed on the table in the Sanctuary and at the end of the week replaced with fresh ones.

The old loaves were to be eaten only by the priests

While it was not normally lawful for David and his companions to eat this showbread, neither did God want them to starve, so nowhere does Scripture condemn them for eating (MacArthur)

We could call this “the law of necessity and mercy”

But they also had to be ceremonially pure

That’s why Ahimelech said “If only the young men have kept themselves from women” (v.15)

Leviticus 15:18, “‘If a man lies with a woman so that there is a seminal emission, they shall both bathe in water and be unclean until evening.”

All of this occurred, Jesus said, "in the time of Abiathar the high priest"

"In the time" can mean "during the lifetime" (MacArthur)

Now you may have already noticed that Mark doesn’t mention Ahimelech

He mentions his son, Abiathar, who later became a priest after his father’s death

If you remember Saul had all of the priests executed because he thought they were colluding with David, who by this time was considered an enemy

So Jesus’ reply by quoting a Scriptural example would be a story they could not deny

The New Bible Commentary 1:21–3:35 Signs of the Kingdom of God

The great king David had committed a far greater breach of Sabbath laws when he was in need, and he was not blamed for it.

Jesus said this to emphasize...

The Sabbath was Made for Man Not Man for the Sabbath (v.26)

That was evident by what David did and by what God allowed only for the priests

Man was created before the Sabbath law came into existence

He was not created to be the victim and slave of Sabbath rules and regulations

The Sabbath was created to make life fuller and better for man

Remember God instituted the Sabbath to benefit man by giving him a day to rest from his labors and to be a blessing to him

The Pharisees turned it into a burden and made man a slave to their myriad of man-made regulations (MacArthur)

Some rabbis really believed and taught that humans were created in order to keep Sabbath. Jesus showed how absurd this was, teaching that the Sabbath was God’s loving provision to us for rest and worship. (Cole, R. Alan. “Mark.” New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition)

Jesus’ response to the Pharisees demonstrated that…

The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath (v.28)

Mark 1–8: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Sovereign Interpreter (2:27–28)

If there had been any ambiguity about His earlier claim, that “something greater than the temple is here” (Matt. 12:6), it was gone

Notice the two titles He gives Himself

First He calls Himself…

“the Son of Man”

This is a Messianic title from Daniel 7:13–14, “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”

Second He calls Himself…

“The Lord”

This is the Greek word kurios

When it is used of Jesus, it refers to “supremacy” (NSDHGW)

He is “master…potentate…deity” (MCEDONTW)

It’s used in Joel 2:32 as Yahweh

It’s quoted in Romans 10:13 but is a reference to the LXX where it is used as “Lord” in reference to Jesus

Jesus said to His disciples in John 13:13, “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.”

Jesus is claiming in Mark 2:28 that He is God

This is exactly how Thomas saw Him after His resurrection in John 20:28 where he said, “My Lord and my God!”

So when Jesus said He is “Lord even of the Sabbath,” he was giving a direct statement to His deity and authority

He also wanted the religious leaders to know that He not only had authority to forgive sins (2:5-12), but also that He was (and is) Lord of the Sabbath (Sproul)

Since He is Lord, He is sovereign over it and greater than it

John 1:3, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”

It says “all things”—that includes the Sabbath

Jesus is the divine King who created the Sabbath and defined its parameters (MacArthur)

Mark 1–8: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Sovereign Interpreter (2:27–28)

The Pharisees prided themselves on being the authoritative interpreters of God’s Word and will. In their midst stood the One whose interpretation was infinitely more authoritative: the Son of God Himself.

Jesus rejected the Pharisaic regulations concerning the Sabbath and restored God’s original intention for Sabbath observance to be a blessing not a burden (MacArthur)

CONCLUSION

As God in human flesh, He condemned their self-righteous attempts to please God

He was characterized by grace; they prided themselves on their works

He demonstrated mercy and compassion to people

They cared only about protecting their petty customs

He exemplified the true purpose of the Sabbath

They twisted a divine blessing into a dismal day of drudgery

For the Pharisees, the Sabbath belonged to them

For centuries they had been working out its rules

When Jesus elevated Himself far above them and their rules by declaring Himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath, their hostility and hatred could not be satisfied until they had Him murdered

Since He is the sovereign Lord of the Sabbath, He is also sovereign Lord over your salvation

He created it and preached it and called on everyone to repent and believe it

In Acts 2:38, Peter said to those who were convicted by His preaching at Pentecost, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"

Later in Acts 3:19, we hear them giving the same response to the gospel

They said, ”Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."

Paul told the Philippians jailer in Acts 16:31 to “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.'"

Paul said in Acts 26:20, ”First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds."

He told the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 that others had reported about what kind of “reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath."

Have you repented and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Have you entered into the true rest that is provided in Jesus Christ?

Hebrews 4:1–3, “1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

Come to Christ

Enter His rest

Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved

I want to urge you to this now as we pray

Let’s pray