Sabbath Shalom: The Restoration Power Of Rest

Mark 2:23–3:5 (NLT)

23 One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat.

24 But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?”

25 Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

26 He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.”

27 Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.

28 So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” 3 Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand.

2 Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.

3 Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.”

4 Then he asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But no one answered him.

5 He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored!

We have said previously that sabbath is the shalom of God built into creation;

Shalom is the ancient concept of peace…the reality of nothing missing and nothing broken

And sabbath is a divine rest that is not due to fatigue but is the outcome of completeness, harmony, fulness, and satisfaction.

But, I cannot speak very long about sabbath before my mind goes back

…to the woman named Maria I met working at FedEx as a package handler

Back breaking work…Hourly pay

I was working there to earn some extra cash, but for Maria this as her primary income…she needed more shifts…rest might put her risk of missing a rent payment or not being able to provide for her daughters.

…The twenty-something newly weds I met this week in Washington D.C.

Working in important roles with the government and civic space

But in a city that demands all of your time and skill…ignores the fact that you have a soul let alone a family.

…to my own wife who was at home with our 6 children, serving other families, and volunteering in ministry.

…to the DoorDash delivery driver who brought our lunch during the staff retreat a couple weeks ago, but was also carrying the burden of not knowing how she would provide a Thanksgiving meal for her own family.

For too many people in our world…for too many people in this congregation, a sermon series about sabbath can feel like an exercise in extreme cruelty.

For them, to speak of sabbath is to hold up as a virtue and a divine gift something that seems completely out of reach.

We live in a world in which corrupt economic interest, coercive religious dogmas, morally compromised social norms, and power-hungry political structures are involved in a demonic conspiracy to crush the human soul.

Something is missing…something is very broken.

AND SO WE ARE LEFT FACING THE QUESTION, “WHAT DOES THE JESUS OF THE SABBATH HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE BONDAGE OF OPPRESSION THAT GRIPS SUCH LARGE SEGMENTS OF THE HUMAN COMMUNITY?

A sabbath that is silent on suffering is a terrible antagonism against the human spirit.

A sabbath that is silent on suffering is a horrible mockery of our benevolent God.

Our culture and the church has embraced a false dichotomy… a false separation is between Conviction and Compassion

Conviction is a firmly held belief rooted in divine truth that governs one’s actions and decisions. It is a moral certainty that compels us to act in alignment with God’s will, even in the face of opposition.

Conviction is a dedication to holiness.

Conviction is a devotion to time spent with God.

Compassion is an empathetic response to human need, expressed through a desire and action to alleviate suffering. It reflects God’s heart for humanity and moves us beyond mere emotion to tangible acts of kindness and justice.

Compassion is providing food for the hungry.

Compassion is getting between a human person and a person, institution, or system that seeks to harm them.

And the devil has taught this generation to imagine that Compassion and Conviction don’t mix.

That they are like oil and water.

That they are cut from different cloths.

That the serious worshiper and justice warrior belong to separate teams

We have broken apart the life of personal holiness and the ministry of practical help.

That if we give ourselves to meaningful time with God, that we must ignore how the devil is ravishing humanity all around our city and nation.

In the text before us today, we see that this sabbath is a kind of hinge joint that holds together love of God and love of neighbor.

And in this text we see the corrupting outcome of separating conviction from compassion.

Jesus models for us that sabbath is always pregnant with the possibility of liberation for the captive, deliverance for the oppressed, and the restoration of all things.

He demonstrates that when we connect these sacred streams of the Spirit (compassion and conviction), we give over to the Lord all our weakness and receive power to do the works of God upon the earth.

So I want to preach a sermon called “Sabbath Freedom: The Restoration Power Of Sabbath”

PRAYER

There are two scenes recorded in this section of Mark’s gospel. Each presents a powerful counterexample to how Jesus pursues the Shalom of the Sabbath

Counterexample #1: Grains in the Field - The Pharisees Pursue Shalom Through Conviction Without Compassion

Make no mistake, the Pharisees were in pursuit of Shalom

arose during the late Second Temple period, likely in the second century BCE, following the Maccabean revolt

stressed Torah observance as a way to prevent further judgment and captivity, thus promoting a vision of communal shalom rooted in covenantal obedience.

They only had one trick up their sleeves: enforce the rules.

They point the finger as soon as the disciples “began” to pluck. They were not out harvesting grain, just grabbing a snack.

They were like an overzealous youth football referee.

So into enforcing the rules that he misses the point of the game.

Youth athletes are out there to have fun and learn the lesson of team sports.

Jesus tells the story of David to illustrate the point.

David’s actions were much worse according to the moral logic you want to apply here:

David’s actions took place on the sabbath (same as the disciples)

David went into the temple (rather than in the field)

David was supervised and assisted by the High Priest (rather than lowly rabbi)

David ate the bread of the Presence (not just some raw grains)

Their faulty moral logic would not only make the disciples criminals, but also David, the greatest King in Israel’s history.

But still they couldn’t get it.

They didn’t have access to another way to think about it.

Jesus takes it even further.

Sabbath, Jesus says, is not an arbitrary set of rules composed to test humanity how strictly they can keep them. Sabbath is a divine gift from God for the continual healing and renewal of humanity.

I should know…I created shalom and I created Sabbath.

But the Pharisees miss the Messiah because they were so focused on enforcing the rules and regulations of the covenant that they lost the heart of the covenant.

From the beginning it was a covenant of love between God and God’s people.

But they could only see how Jesus violated their understanding of the rules, not how He fulfilled their need for relationship.

Counterexample #2: Healing in the Synagogue - The Disciples Pursue Shalom Through Compassion Without Conviction

In this second scene, the counterexample is not the Pharisees, but the disciples.

Jesus leads His disciples into the synagogue and there is a man in the synagogue who is suffering.

It is important to note that Mark does not use an adjective to describe the hand, he uses an indicative verb to describe the man.

Not “A man whose hand was deformed”

But rather, “A MAN LIVING WITH A DEFORMED HAND”.

Mark wants us to feel this.

Everybody knows by now where Jesus stands. And everybody knows where the Pharisees stand.

There is a good chance that He will heal this man.

The Pharisees are watching to see if He will do it on the Sabbath

They are not so much opposed to healing, but you have to do your healing according to the rules.

You can do ministry, just don’t get the carpet dirty while you do it.

But, Jesus is not focus on the Pharisees this time. He calls the man to the front…and asks a public question: Is it lawful to help this man on the sabbath?

Synagogues were local centers for prayer, Torah reading, teaching, and community gathering.

They were not places of centralized authority like the Temple…you did not have to be a priest or a Pharisee or even a rabbi to speak.

Any adult male who was ritually pure and part of the Jewish community could read from the Torah or the Prophets.

Every man in the room had a degree of freedom to answer Jesus’ question or offer an insight, discuss a scripture or at least offer a prayer.

The Pharisees were ready to pounce on the man and on Jesus.

They were ready to get between this man and his relief.

They would rather see the man remain bound rather than give up any of their control.

The question was not directed at the Pharisees, it was directed to the entire community.

Jesus understood that the best weapon in the fight against oppression is sacred community.

The best way to protect a person from injustice is for a group of people to surround them and say “we are not going to let this happen”.

Jesus invited the entire community (the disciples included) into the conversation…he offered them an opportunity to stand up for this man.

Nobody said a word.

They all had their reasons

Immediate social discomfort of breaking the silence

The Pharisees were watching (Religious)

The Herodians were watching (Government)

If they endorse doing good here, would they be committing themselves to further acts of compassion in the future

Even if they wanted to cure the man’s hand, they did not feel that they could actually do it.

Beloved, all of the compassion in the world, apart from the spiritual resources developed through constant, holy devotion will eventually leave you stretched, stressed, impotent, and afraid.

Jesus was more than a little angry.

But, I love that Mark is careful to point out that anger is a secondary emotion (anger always is).

The foundational emotion here is grief.

Mark uses the same literary technique he used to mention the man’s hand when he mentions Jesus’ heart.

Jesus was “EXPERIENCING GRIEF"...

The utter impotence…the unwillingness to even try to come to this man’s aid, it broke Jesus’ heart.

Jesus heals the man’s hand as a demonstration that sabbath is passive “wishing” for peace.

The conviction of sabbath is the reminder that we can rest: take our hands off and trust God’s perfect power.

The compassion of sabbath becomes the corridor through which that power invades our broken world with perfect peace.

Sometimes we won’t allow ourselves to care enough for the power of God to manifest.

It takes compassion and conviction to bring restoration.

When devotion to God’s truth meets with commitment to God’s love, there is a release of God’s power.

We must commit to faithfully incorporate sabbath rhythms in our own lives, but as ambassadors of Christ, we must also be agents of sabbath freedom.

Our world is in desperate need of people who deeply understand this.

When we pursue liberation only through compassion, it leaves us burnt-out.

When we pursue liberation only through conviction, it leaves us bound-up.

When we pursue liberation with compassion and conviction it leads to breakthrough.

My prayer for our congregation and for the church at large that these two streams of the Spirit will flow together into a mighty river of revival.

May we be holy helpers

and Worshipful warriors.

I wanted to end this sermon by calling us to lean into these two great movements of the Spirit:

To give ourselves to compassion in the ways we have been lacking in that area.

To give ourselves to conviction in the ways we have been lacking there.

But, this seemed like more than we could realistically accomplish in our own power.

So, I kept reading the text:

Mark 3:6–8 “The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.”

Jesus is constantly pushing us past our comfort zones into greater levels of sacred conviction and holy compassion.

Some people hate Him for it.

Others want to be with Him because of it.

Which one are you?

The ones who decided to get closer are the ones who became more like Him.

I want to get closer: get saved.

I want to get closer: show me how you want to respond

Interpersonal relationship

Inside the institutions where I am involved

In the systems that impact my life and lives of those around me.

I want to get closer: come into community.