Healing of a Man on the Sabbath
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
Beloved, the Word of God uses a litany of graphic expressions to describe this particular group of individuals...
As I share with you the following list of expressions, I would like to to think of which group is being described.
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Let’s begin:
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They are called blind men who know nothing.
Mute dogs unable to bark.
Dreamers lying down who love to slumber.
Demented fools.
Reckless
Treacherous men.
Ravenous wolves.
Blind guides of the blind.
Hypocrites.
Fools.
Whitewashed tombs full of bones.
Serpents
A brood of vipers.
Thieves and robbers.
Savage wolves.
Slaves of their own appetites.
Hucksters peddling the Word of God.
Deceitful workers.
Servants of Satan.
Purveyors of a different gospel.
Evil workers.
Enemies of the cross of Christ.
Those who are conceited and understand nothing.
Men of depraved minds deprived of the truth.
Men who have gone astray from the truth.
Captives of the devil.
Deceivers.
Ungodly persons.
And finally, unreasoning animals.
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Well, that was not a very flattering list...
So, who does the Word of God describe here?
The answer...
False teachers!
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As you can see the Bible uses very vivid and powerful language to denounce false teachers.
The reason for this is that no one in this world has the potential to do you worse harm than a false teacher that can lead you directly to Hell.
In other words, Scripture harshly condemns false teachers because of the deadly danger they pose to people’s eternal souls.
They lead many astray from the truth of God’s Word...
Especially in the area concerning the need for repentance from sin
Unfortunately, sometimes those false teachers are presenting themselves like genuine religious leaders...
However, they are truly nothing more than a servant of our enemy...
And in Jesus’ day the leading false teachers where none other than the religious elite of the day...
The Pharisees!
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 14 and focus on verses 1 through 6.
Our message this morning is titled “Healing of a Man on the Sabbath.”
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As you are turning to our passage today please keep in mind this fact...
The the event we cover today will be yet another confrontation between Jesus and the religious leaders...
The very people who proclaimed to be servants of God could not tolerate the teaching of the long-awaited Messiah...
Even though He truly was God in the flesh.
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So, this morning we will cover three main points:
1) The Setting
2) The Miracle
And...
3) The Challenge
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
You are the Great I Am!
Please, help your servants to spread the Good News to the farthest reaches of the world...
And soften the hearts of the people we are ministering to.
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Thank You for drawing your children to a saving knowledge of who You are.
Thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to comfort us and guide us...
And thank You for sending Jesus into our world so He could save all of His children from the sting of death.
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Help us when we fall short...
For we fall short every day.
Help us when we are meet with various challenges in our life...
For we ant to fallow You faithfully for all the days of our life.
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And it is in Jesus’ name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
1 One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.
2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.
3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
4 But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.
5 And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”
6 And they could not reply to these things.
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) The Setting
1) The Setting
Verse 1: One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.
Beloved, our passage starts off at the house of a person who invited Jesus to dine with him...
Specifically, this was the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees...
As a leader or ruler of the Pharisees, it was possible that he was the ruler of the local synagogue or even a member of the Sanhedrin.
As the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament on Luke says:
“The miracle’s setting is described simply: a leader of the Pharisees has Jesus over for a meal.
Luke’s general terminology makes it impossible to be specific as to the leader’s exact position:
He might have been a synagogue official, a synagogue head, or a higher official, a ‘chief priest.’”
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Regarding the meal itself, it was the midday Sabbath meal...
This meal took place after the morning meeting in the synagogue...
So, it was like a meal after church on Sunday for us today.
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Now, Luke’s note that this event took place on the Sabbath was critical to our understand of what is going on in this passage...
For the Pharisees and Jesus have had many past encounters on the Sabbath day debating what should and shouldn’t be done on that day...
And in our passage the debate will revolve around preforming the miracle of a healing on the Sabbath.
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Jesus healing someone on the Sabbath is something we covered a few times already in our study...
You see Beloved, Luke shows Christ healing on the Sabbath more frequently than any of the other gospels.
Christ seems to have favored the Sabbath as a day for doing acts of mercy.
In fact, the Pharisees’ Sabbath traditions were the issue that most frequently provoked controversy in Jesus’ ministry.
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It wasn’t the Gentiles who provoked the most controversy in Jesus’ ministry...
It wasn’t the atheists or pagans who provoked the most controversy in Jesus’ ministry...
Sadly, it was the Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees who provoked the most controversy in Jesus’ ministry even though they claim to follow the God of the Scriptures...
Yet, their true faith was not in the God of the Bible...
Their faith was in the traditions of man, also called the “tradition of the elders” that they foolishly put above the truth found in the Word of God...
And it was the Pharisees man-made understanding of the Sabbath that led to so much conflict with Jesus’ biblical view of the Sabbath.
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Beloved, let’s remind ourselves of what the Word of God says...
Here is what Scripture says regarding the Sabbath which is found in Exodus 20:8-11:
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,
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.
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and 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.
Beloved, that would seem simple enough, right?
You don’t need a seminary degree or Masters in Theology to understand what God is commanding, right?
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However, the Pharisees and the religious elite of Jesus’ day...
They where not satisfied with this simple command...
Although it could be argued that the Pharisees just wanted to protect the Sabbath Day...
The way then when about doing that was adding additional “rules” to God’s commands...
And that resulted in the Sabbath Day not being a day of rest as intended...
But it became the most burdensome day of the week!
And that was the complete opposite of God’s whole point of the Sabbath!
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Let me give you an idea of the burdensome man-made rules of the Sabbath according to the religious elite...
Again, this is not what Scripture commands...
This is 100% man made...
Just look with me at the Mishnah in Shabbat 7.2.
These 39 man-made laws are still in existence of Jews today:
“The generative categories of acts of labor [prohibited on the Sabbath] are forty less one:
B - (1) he who sews, (2) ploughs, (3) reaps, (4) binds sheaves, (5) threshes, (6) winnows, (7) selects [fit from unfit produce or crops], (8) grinds, (9) sifts, (10) kneads, (11) bakes;
C - (12) he who shears wool, (13) washes it, (14) beats it, (15) dyes it;
D - (16) spins, (17) weaves,
E - (18) makes two loops, (19) weaves two threads, (20) separates two threads;
F - (21) ties, (22) unties,
G - (23) sews two stitches, (24) tears in order to sew two stitches;
H - (25) he who traps a deer, (26) slaughters it, (27) flays it, (28) salts it, (29) cures its hide, (30) scrapes it, and (31) cuts it up;
I - (32) he who writes two letters, (33) erases two letters in order to write two letters;
J - (34) he who builds, (35) tears down;
K - (36) he who puts out a fire, (37) kindles a fire;
L - (38) he who hits with a hammer; (39) he who transports an object from one domain to another.”
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Wow!
Imagine being accused of breaking God’s commands because you wrote your name on the Sabbath!
Or because you tied you shoes...
Or because you used a hammer...
Or because you sowed up a tear in your clothes.
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Imagine you come across a building on fire...
Well, you can’t put out the fire or you will be accused of breaking God’s commands.
However, God never commanded such foolishness!
This is the product of the the minds of mere and fallible men!
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Scripture records many encounters between Jesus and the religious elite and their traditions...
Just look with me at Mark 2:23–28 which says:
23 One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.
24 And 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 was hungry, he and those who were with him:
26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”
27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
The Sabbath Day is a day for rest!
It was never meant to be this huge burden that it eventually became under the leadership of the Pharisees.
Jesus made it clear...
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath!
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However, the religious elite did not take to kindly to being rebuked by Jesus who is truly the Lord of all including being the Lord of the Sabbath!
They especially hated the fact that Jesus performed His miracles on the Sabbath Day.
As John 5:16 says:
16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.
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Luke also records that “the Pharisees...were watching him carefully.”
So evidently, the Pharisee had less than honorable motives for inviting Jesus to a meal...
In fact as we progress in our study of the passage we will see that this whole meal was meant to be a trap for Jesus.
This will continue to be the case even further along in our study as will will cover passages like Luke 20:20 in the future...
That passage says:
20 So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.
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So, how does Jesus respond to the trap that is set in front of Him?
Well, let’s look at our next point for the answer to that question...
And that takes us to our second point of the day.
2) The Miracle
2) The Miracle
Verses 2-4: And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.
So, you may be asking...
What is “dropsy” that this man in our text is suffering from?
Well, in the CSB translation the word is rendered as “a man whose body was swollen with fluid.”
The LEB translation of this text says it was a man “suffering from edema.”
And the NIV puts it as “a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body.”
So, edema is condition where fluid is retained in the tissues and cavities of the body...
In fact, often this was caused by kidney or liver ailments, including cancer.
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Edema was discussed in ancient Jewish material and some rabbis argued that edema resulted from sexual offenses or from intentionally failing to have bowel movements.
In fact, many of the religious elite saw the condition of edema as God’s judgment, either for sin or uncleanness.
So, the man in our passage not only suffered from a painful condition...
He was in a lot of ways seen as an outcast in society.
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Now, Jesus had compassion on this man and his situation and desired to lift his ailment...
However, the fact that it was a Sabbath Day meant that healing this man would be a controversial matter.
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Then, Jesus says to the Pharisees and the Scribes, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
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Now Beloved, did you see how our passage shows Jesus responding to the Pharisees and the Scribes even though no question was said to Him out load?
Although the lawyers and Pharisees are watching and not speaking...
Jesus reads their minds and hearts and again takes the initiative to challenge their restrictive view of the Sabbath.
As John 2:24-25 says:
24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people
25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
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Now, the reason for this question by Jesus of whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath is to make a point that the law of Moses does not forbid healing on the Sabbath...
However, it is the “traditions of the elders” that prohibit medical treatment on the Sabbath unless the condition was life threatening...
Yet, God never said that!
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You see Beloved, the general rule governing activity on Sabbath pertained to necessity.
If something could not be delayed, then it was permitted on Sabbath.
However, if it could be delayed until Sabbath was over, it was forbidden.
Assuming the man’s edema was not life-threatening, it belonged to the latter category, and hence a healing on Sabbath would be forbidden.
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Beloved, consider this note from the Pillar New Testament Commentary on Luke:
“In the Third Gospel, religious leaders are normally opponents of Jesus.
Finally, the presence of a man suffering from swelling or edema seems irregular at a banquet.
Bodily edema is the excessive accumulation of fluid in corporeal tissues and joints, which is usually symptomatic of other (often cardiac-related) factors.
It would seem abnormal for such an individual to be included in a Sabbath meal in a Pharisee’s house, for rabbinic discussions (although somewhat later than Luke’s day) associate edema with vice—sinfulness, fornication, demon possession.
Furthermore, an edematous man would seem to compromise Torah rules related to bodily discharges, or offend guests, or both.
All three clues allow for the possibility, or even probability, that the edematous man’s presence was arranged by the host to test or trap Jesus on matters related to Sabbath observance.”
So, from the context it appears as if the Pharisees, who were now watching Jesus continually with growing hate, intentionally arranged matters in such a way that the man with edema was in the dining-room, so that they might see whether He would not again contravene the Sabbath laws by healing the sick man on the Sabbath day in order to be able to lodge a complaint against Him with the Jewish council.
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Now the compassionless attitude of the religious elite was a theme that is featured in the Gospels...
This was the polar opposite of Jesus’ compassionate attitude to those who were sick and in need...
Just look at what is recorded in Luke 13:10–17 which says:
10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
11 And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.
12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”
13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.
14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”
15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?
16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
The religious elite of Jesus’ day were so caught up in their own man-made traditions that they were not able to judge rightly...
They just saw things with their own foggy lenses and could not see with spiritual eyes for their heart was not right with God.
Just look at how John the Beloved recorded it in John 7:21–24:
21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it.
22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well?
24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
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After Jesus helped the man with edema, Luke records that Jesus “sent him away.”
Regarding this, New Testament theologian James R. Edwards says:
“The Greek verb for ‘sent him on his way,’ apolyein, can also mean ‘to release or set free,’ which recalls a different form of the same word in Luke 13:16, ‘it is necessary for this woman, bound by Satan, to be set free on the Sabbath!’
The Pharisees, who think Torah is honored by scrupulous adherence to its commands, ask what is permitted on Sabbath;
Jesus, who is Lord of the Sabbath, asks what is intended by Sabbath.
From the latter perspective, healing the man with edema is not simply permitted but required on Sabbath.”
Beloved, Love demands those sick being healed without delay...
If you see someone in need...
And if you have the means to help...
Then do not delay...
Help others!
Especially your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ!
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Finally, Jesus challenges the Pharisees one more time and the result...
Well, the result is that the religious elite were completely silenced...
And that takes us to our third and final point.
3) The Challenge
3) The Challenge
Verses 5-6: And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.
Jesus makes His point that to help someone on the Sabbath is not to break God’s command but it is to follow it’s true meaning...
And the statement Jesus said is a reference to Scripture...
So, consider Beloved, what the Word of God says this in Deuteronomy 22:4:
4 You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.
In addition, the healing work performed by Jesus is a wholly unselfish service of love in contrast with His critics’ saving of their animals on the Sabbath, which is often performed not so much out of love for these animals as out of fear of the loss to be sustained should the animals perish.
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Jesus had repeatedly defended Sabbath healings, and His arguments consistently silenced the nay-sayers.
As Luke said, “they could not reply” which emphasizes Jesus’ mastery in debate.
Jesus had once again silenced all the Pharisees’ objections and yet they will not believe in Him or follow Him
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Just look at how this plays out in passaged like Matthew 12:10–12 which says:
10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.
11 He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?
12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Jesus questioned the religious leaders about the legality of healing on the Sabbath beforehand—and still they could give no cogent reasons why they believed healing was a violation of Sabbath laws.
You see, common humanitarianism taught them that it was right to show mercy to animals on the Sabbath.
So, Jesus’ point was that should not the same principles be applied in showing mercy to suffering people?
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Now, as the Pharisees heard Jesus’ response, they had two options...
Repent of their false beliefs and hypocritical ways...
And to surrender and genuinely believe and follow Christ...
Or...
They could double down and plot against Jesus.
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Well, unfortunately, they chose to continue in their hardness of heart...
Just take a look at what it says in Mark 3:4-6:
4 And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.
5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
6 The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like you to consider this:
One of the most sinister and deadly false teachers of recent decades was Jim Jones, founder of the People’s Temple.
Jones was a Communist and atheist (as well as a drug abuser and sexual predator), who deified himself and claimed to be the reincarnation of such religious and political figures as Jesus, Gandhi, Buddha, and Lenin.
Jones ridiculed biblical Christianity, mocked the God of Scripture, and derided the Bible as a “paper idol.”
He cynically sought to further his Marxist socialist agenda by infiltrating the church. Jones eventually led his followers to Guyana, where they founded the now infamous Jonestown settlement.
There, on November 18, 1978, more than 900 people (tragically, at least 200 of them children), died in a mass murder-suicide ordered by Jones.
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The Jonestown incident shocked the world.
Yet the real tragedy was not that so many people died physically in a South American jungle, but that they died eternally.
While few false teachers lead their followers to physical death as Jim Jones did, all lead them to eternal death.
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The leaders of the Jewish people in Jesus’ day were described by Him as making people “twice as much [sons] of hell as [themselves].”
The people trusted them and believed that they would lead them to salvation.
But the truth is that instead, as they had throughout much of the Old Testament history, the leaders of Israel led the people into God’s eternal judgment.
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Beloved, who are you following?
Whose teaching are you building your faith on?
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Let’s pray...
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Heavenly Father...
If anyone hearing this message right now does not know You in a saving way...
Then please, turn stone into flesh...
And make a brand new creation.
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I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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For those hearing this message who already know You...
Then give us the wisdom and the heart to pursue the lost sheep...
For only Your truth can save.
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Again, I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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It is in Jesus’ name we pray all these things...
To God be all the glory.
Amen.
