Jesus and the Sabbath

Scripture Reading: Mark 2:23-3:6

Welcome

Welcome, everyone!

My name is Cassidy Hastings, and I’m one of the pastors here, and I’ll be sharing out of the Word this morning.

Series

This morning, we’ll be continuing our series in the Gospel according to Mark. We’ll be taking a break for Advent, but we have a few more weeks in this first part of Mark

If you’re just joining us, Mark is writing this account of the Gospel primarily to Roman readers. The fact that Christians would follow and worship someone who had been crucified was super scandalous.

However, Mark is writing to explain to his Roman readers that the cross wasn’t an interruption or an accident. Jesus knew exactly what He was doing and where He was heading.

Mark Series Big Idea: The cross was not a detour but the destination.

Today we’ll be in Mark 2:23-3:6, which you just heard Jeff read.

It’s on page 786 in the pew Bible.

If you don’t have a paper copy of the Bible, please take that one with you. It’s our gift to you.

Opening Illustration

Opening question: Have you ever had someone explain the rules of something to you but still did things your own way?

Illustration: Taking an algebra test in high school. Teacher said it was a timed test, it would count towards our grade, to read all the instructions, and to finish as many questions as you could.

The instructions were super long, there were a ton of questions, so when the teacher started the timer, we immediately got going.

I wrote my name, skimmed the instructions, and jumped down to the questions. I worked as furiously as I could, but I could only finish a little over half of the problems.

When the timer went off, the teacher asked everyone to show our papers. Only a couple of people in the whole class passed because it wasn’t a math test.

Buried in the paragraph of instructions, there was a section that said, “This is not really a test. Simply put your name on your paper, don’t answer any questions, and wait for the timer to go off.” The couple of kids who did that passed. Everyone else failed.

To be fair, the teacher did tell us clearly to make sure we read all the instructions before starting. We just didn’t listen, and because of that, we failed the test.

Similarly in our passage today, the Pharisees had a certain way of doing things when it came to the Sabbath. And when Jesus tried to correct their understanding, they would not listen.

Their minds were made up, their hearts were hardened, and they refused to let go of their interpretation of the Sabbath.

They not only wouldn’t listen to Jesus, but by the end of our text today, they were plotting to destroy Him.

Big Idea: Jesus defines the rules for my relationship with God.

Context

As a reminder, Jesus had begun His ministry in Galilee. He got super popular, but he also began catching the attention of some Jewish leaders called Pharisees who weren’t big fans.

Starting in chapter 2, there are an increasing series of 5 initial conflicts with these religious leaders:

Healing of a paralytic (but really the conflict was Jesus claiming to forgive sins)

Hanging out with tax collectors & sinners

Redefining fasting

Today’s text will cover the 4th & 5th conflicts Jesus has with these Pharisees, both centered around their understanding of the Sabbath.

Let’s look at the first Sabbath conflict, which takes place in a field.

Sabbath Conflict #1 (in the field) (Mark 2:23-24)

Vs 23-24

Pharisees Venerating the Sabbath

In order to understand this, we need to unpack how much the Sabbath meant to these Pharisees.

The Sabbath was a law given by God to Moses in Exodus 20:8-11. You may recognize it from the 10 Commandments. Further instructions were given to Israel in Exodus and Deuteronomy about how it was to be observed.

The purpose of the Sabbath was for rest & refreshment…for Jews, slaves, animals, & even vegetation. It was a reminder that God, not man, was Israel’s provider.

The Pharisees really liked the Sabbath. They almost venerated it.

Jesus had ruffled some feathers by talking about fasting, which we learned about last week, but observing the Sabbath was a HUGE deal to these leaders. Along with circumcision, it’s one of the “do not touch” doctrines of Judaism.

Adding to the Sabbath

While it was commanded by God in the Mosaic Law, through the years, the Pharisees added additional conditions to observing it. They really wanted to make sure no work was happening, so they added on many specific scenarios to avoid. Some of my favorites are:

No kneading dough

No tying permanent knots

No loosening permanent knots

No sewing more than one stitch

No repairing a fallen roof (though it might be temporarily propped up)

There are at least 39 kinds of work that are forbidden on the Sabbath.

These things were fine, just not on the Sabbath because it was considered work.

This is at the heart of this first Sabbath conflict.

Their issue wasn’t that Jesus’ disciples were plucking heads of grain and eating them. In fact, that was permissible by the Mosaic Law in Deuteronomy 23:25.

Their issue was that Jesus’ disciples were doing this on the Sabbath, and that was a huge no-no. So they question Jesus about why His disciples are doing it.

Jesus responds by appealing to a Biblical story about David from the Old Testament that would give some precedent.

David’s/OT Precedent (Mark 2:25-26)

Vs 25-26

David’s Story

Ok. What is Jesus talking about here?

This is a story that can be found in 1 Samuel 21:1-6.

David was on the run in the wilderness as he was being chased by Saul. David was recognized as the anointed king of Israel, and Saul is pursuing him trying to kill him.

So David & his buddies show up to this town called Nob, which was a priestly city at the time. As they’re rolling in, they are famished, and the High Priest comes out to them.

So the High Priest comes out to David, and David said, “We’re so hungry! We need 5 loaves of bread or whatever you’ve got!”

The High Priest looks in the cupboard and doesn’t have any common bread. The only bread he has is “holy bread,” or what’s known as the Bread of the Presence.

The Bread of the Presence

It’s important for us to understand what this bread is because God gave some very specific rules about how it should be made & eaten.

You can read more about this in Leviticus 24:5-9, but to summarize, it was 12 loaves that were made & placed in the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the place where God met with Israel until the temple was built.

God gave very detailed instructions on the recipe for this bread, the placement, the purpose, and how to switch it out.

Important to our text today, 1) it was an ongoing reminder to Israel of God’s presence and provision and 2) only priests could eat it and only when they’re in a holy place. These were the parameters God set up.

However, when David & his buddies show up to Nob, that’s all the bread they can find on hand. So what does he do? David grabs the bread, eats it, and gives it to those who were with him.

David Breaking the Law

David is a huge hero to the Pharisees, and Jesus wants them to sit in the awkwardness of this situation.

Did David break the letter of the law? Yes! Only priests were supposed to eat this bread, and David wasn’t a priest.

However, did God at the time or Jesus now condemn what happened? No!

Why? Because He’s trying to show the Pharisees that sometimes the spirit of the law is more important than the letter of the law.

The Bread of the Presence wasn’t an end in itself. It was a gift to Israel as a reminder of God’s presence and provision. When a greater need came up (e.g. David’s hunger), it was ok for him to eat something that was normally only meant to be eaten by priests.

After sharing this story, Jesus highlights the principle at play in David’s story and what’s going on with His disciples.

**Sabbath Intent (Mark 2:27-28)

Vs 27-28

The Intent of the Sabbath

Jesus is using this Old Testament example to parallel how the Pharisees were misusing the Sabbath.

As I mentioned earlier, the intent of the Sabbath was for rest & refreshment.

The Sabbath isn’t an end in itself. It was a gift to Israel as a reminder of God’s presence and provision. When a greater need came up (e.g. the disciples’ hunger), it was ok for them to eat some grain.

It was ok for human need to take priority over religious law.

The Sabbath was created:

As something to be enjoyed, not something to enslave

As something life-giving, not life-draining

It was intended for their good, not their groaning

It was intended to be a blessing, not a burden

Jesus is trying to correct the Pharisees’ understanding of the Sabbath because unfortunately, the way they approached it, man was serving the Sabbath instead of the Sabbath serving man.

Man came first, and then God gave the Sabbath as a gift.

In the priority of things, man is greater than the Sabbath, so the Sabbath serves man, not the other way around.

The Lord of the Sabbath

Not only is Jesus trying to correct their understanding of the Sabbath, He also makes a bold claim about Himself: that He is Lord of the Sabbath.

In the minds of the Pharisees, there’s not much that’s above the Sabbath. So for Jesus to put Himself above it and to claim He is Lord over it is essentially him equating Himself with God.

Jesus has sovereign authority over the Sabbath. Jesus is the one who defines the rules of how the Sabbath is to be understood.

“I’m the captain now.”

This goes along with His authority that He’s exhibited up to this point to call disciples, teach, heal, drive out demons, forgive sins, hang out with sinners, and redefine fasting from the preceding conflicts.

Not Antinomianism

It’s important to see that Jesus is not saying the Sabbath is bad or that it should be done away with or God’s law doesn’t matter.

In response to their burdensome legalism, Jesus isn’t saying, “There is no law. God’s commands don’t matter anymore.”

Instead He’s correcting their misinterpretation and misprioritization.

Jesus has the authority to interpret the Law

Jesus’ claim to be the Lord of the Sabbath will be tested in the next Sabbath conflict starting in 3:1

Sabbath Conflict #2 (in the synagogue) (Mark 3:1-2)

Vs 1-2

Setting Up the Conflict

The first Sabbath conflict was in or near the field; this second Sabbath conflict was in the synagogue, which was like the Pharisees’ home turf.

Jesus walks in and there is a man with a withered hand. This just means it was “dried up” or “shriveled,” and he wasn’t able to use it or to stretch it out. There wasn’t a known cure for this type of disability.

The Pharisees knew the man was there, and they knew that there was a high likelihood of Jesus healing the man.

Like with the previous conflict, the Pharisees didn’t have a problem with people being healed, They allowed for healing on the Sabbath but only in the case of a life-threatening condition.

A withered hand was not a life-threatening condition.

Malicious Hearts

The Pharisees cared nothing about the condition of the man. They only were interested in seeing what Jesus would do.

The second half of verse 2 gives us a glimpse into their heart motivation: “so that they might accuse him.”

The idea with the word accuse is to mount a legal case by collecting evidence. They’re setting a trap for Jesus and are waiting to pounce.

Why would a Jewish person go to a synagogue? To worship God. However these religious leaders enter the synagogue with hearts of hostility, not worship.

There’s an irony here that they were balking at Jesus doing good on the Sabbath while they themselves were plotting evil on the Sabbath.

Picking a Fight

What does Jesus do? He doesn’t cower or hide; He goes straight at them.

Do you remember in the movie Braveheart where William Wallace gives the great “Sons of Scotland” speech? After he’s done, his friends say, “Fine speech. Where are you going?” William Wallace replies, “I’m going to pick a fight.” This is exactly what Jesus is doing in these next verses.

**Jesus on the Offensive (Mark 3:3-5)

Vs 3-5

Jesus’s Question

Do you feel the tension here? I imagine Jesus staring intensely at the Pharisees during this encounter.

In 4 conflicts that occur in chapter 2, the Pharisees initiate the questions. In this conflict, Jesus initiates.

Jesus doesn’t try to appease the religious leaders; He invites the man up in front of the whole synagogue!

Then He asks the Pharisees a question: “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?”

The first part of the question makes sense: do good by healing the man or do harm by leaving him as is? The assumed answer is “to do good.”

If I were Jesus, I would have been thinking, “Guys, we just talked about this! Human need supersedes the letter of ritual law. Remember the David story? This is the same thing! This man has a need, and that’s more important than strict observance of the Sabbath!”

The second part of the question is a little weird. The man’s condition was not life-threatening, so why would Jesus say “to save a life or to kill?” It’s partly to call out the malicious hearts of the Pharisees, hearts bent on evil.

What is their response? Silence.

Pharisees’ Silence

Again, the correct answer to Jesus’ question should be, “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath and to save life.”

But if the Pharisees answered that way, they’d be approving “working” on the Sabbath, and because they venerated the Sabbath above most other things, they couldn’t say that without losing face.

And because they couldn’t answer “to do harm or to kill,” they were stuck. So they didn’t say anything.

And Jesus is LIVID!

Jesus’ Anger

These are strong, emotional words. Mark uses unique words that don’t appear elsewhere in his Gospel to describe what Jesus is feeling.

“Angry”—Jesus gets angry at other times (e.g. clearing the temple), but this is the only explicit reference to Jesus’ anger in the New Testament. Why is Jesus so angry? It’s because they were so married to their understanding of the Sabbath that they didn’t even want to consider they may be wrong. They wanted to hold tightly to their definition of the Sabbath instead of allowing the Lord of the Sabbath to define the rules.

“Grieved”—This not a compassionate sadness like Jesus is feeling bad for them. It’s better read as frustrated or deeply distressed.

“Hardness” or “stubborn”—They have ample opportunity to change their perspective, but they intentionally choose not to. Jesus’ anger is towards their unwillingness to change, and it boils over, and He heals the man right on the spot.

Jesus Heals

This is the only example of Jesus initiating a healing because everywhere else, the people are coming to Him.

What’s interesting is that Jesus only tells the man to stretch out his hand.

The man didn’t have to do any ritual or say anything; He just needed to take a step of faith and obey Jesus’ command. He does, and he’s healed.

There’s also no indication that Jesus touches the man. He only speaks one command, and the man is healed.

I can see how a doctor setting a bone or binding a wound could be seen as a “work of healing,” but Jesus just heals the man by speaking.

He could easily have told the man, “I can’t do it today, but we’ll touch base tomorrow.” But He truly picks a fight with these Pharisees and isn’t backing down from them.

Jesus doesn’t shy away from this conflict; He initiates it.

And verse 6 gives the Pharisees’ response.

Escalation (Mark 3:6)

Vs 6

The Pharisees weren’t surprised. They knew (and were hoping) that Jesus would heal the man.

Herodians were advocates of Herod Antipas of Galilee. The Jewish people typically didn’t interact with them much because the Jews and Romans didn’t get along. But here, they’re teaming up: because Jesus was a threat to both of their influence and authority.

So the religious leaders team up with some political leaders (who they usually didn’t associate with) in order to figure out how to destroy Jesus.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Jesus has continually shown His authority in each situation He’s been in, and the response of the Pharisees has escalated from silent pondering to ongoing questioning to murderous plotting.

The opposition to Jesus is real, and it will continue to grow throughout the rest of Mark.

It probably makes the reader think back to 2:20 when Jesus said, “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away.” The plan to make that happen is now officially in motion.

Pointing to Jesus/The Gospel

And as we know, the point of Mark’s Gospel account is to show that the cross was the destination for Jesus, not a detour.

It’s through the eventual laying down of His own life that the Lord of the Sabbath ultimately defined the rules on how we relate to God.

Unlike the Pharisees who tried to relate to God through burdensome rules, we now can relate to God through His Son.

Yes, Jesus has rules for us to follow, but they’re for our good.

The call for Christians to obey God’s commands on this side of the cross has a richer, Jesus-centered context: we don’t follow God’s commands in an effort to get right before God; we follow God’s commands because we’re made right before God through Jesus.

Of all the ways Jesus could define how we are to relate to God, this is so beautiful.

Big Idea: Jesus defines the rules for my relationship with God.

For Followers of Jesus

Question: How do you approach obedience to God’s commands?

Legalism or No Rules

I think often as followers of Jesus, we tend towards two extremes when it comes to obedience: legalism or no rules at all.

Legalism says that we approach God through our obedience. God has defined the rules for how I relate to Him, and my relationship with Him depends on my efforts in keeping those. This leads to God’s rules feeling like a burden, and it prioritizes the letter of the law even over people. God’s rules are seen as weights. (Put weight up on podium) This was the problem of the Pharisees.

On the other end of the spectrum, no rules says that because of Jesus we don’t need to obey God’s commands. We have access to God through Jesus, so we’re free to pick & choose which of God’s rules we’re going to obey. This believes there is no real letter of the law, and it leads to commands feeling optional. Like Halloween candy, God’s rules are seen as a “pick your favorite”. (Put basket with candy up on podium)

One is trying to walk a razor-thin path and the other sees no boundaries or restraints at all.

Both of these are wrong.

Rules are Gifts

Instead of weights or pick-your-favorite, God’s commands should be seen as gifts. (Put present up on podium)

God’s commands both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament are all intended for our good. God’s rules are always given as a gift & a blessing.

Even with Jesus’ authority as Lord of all, He didn’t eliminates rules. Matthew 5:17 says that Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them. Jesus is the One who gets to define the rules.

So as followers of Jesus, there are still commands God expects us to obey.

NT Commands

What are some of the rules God gives followers of Jesus?

Regularly gather with the church (Heb 10:24-25; Heb 13:17)

Fellowship (1 Thess 5:11; Gal 6:2)

Give generously (2 Cor 9:6-7)

Serve (Eph 4:11-16; 1 Cor 12:7)

Share our faith (2 Cor 5:18-20)

As a follower of Jesus, how do you approach these commands?

Do they feel like weights?

Do you feel like you are failing in these areas and so you’re living in condemnation? Or maybe you feel like you’re crushing it when it comes to these things. Yes, you could do better in some areas, but for the most part you’re doing much better in these things than most of the people around you. That sounds a lot like a Pharisee who didn’t mind rolling over people just in order to obey.

Do they feel like pick-your-favorite?

“I’ll take Bible reading & will serve, but baptism makes me feel weird.” or “I know the Bible says not to be unequally yoked, but that guy/girl who is interested in me at school is really nice even though they’re not a follower of Jesus.”

You’re afraid of commands becoming weights, so you only obey certain ones because of your taste or season of life. Surely Jesus will understand why you’re not doing what He says, right?

Or do they feel like gifts?

Each of these commands are given for our good and to bless us.

How to See Commands as Gifts

Fellow Christian, if you’re struggling to see God’s rules as gifts, my encouragement to you is to remember the Gospel. Change doesn’t come from trying harder or willing yourself into feeling different; change comes from looking to Jesus.

Jesus is the One who defines how we relate to God.

If you find yourself on the weights end of the spectrum, remember that your right standing depends on Jesus’ perfect obedience not your own. You can obey because you are already fully and permanently accepted in Jesus. You can prioritize people over the letter of the law because these commands are made for you, not you for these commands.

If you find yourself on the pick-your-favorite end of the spectrum, remember that if you truly love Jesus, you will follow His commands. (John 14:15) It’s ok to be uncomfortable with some of Jesus’ commands (and should be expected); it’s not ok to disobey them. Jesus, not you, gets to determine which commands you should obey, but that obedience is for your good and for your flourishing…even the commands that are hard or that don’t “taste good” to you.

The Pharisees didn’t allow Jesus to define their rules, and their hard hearts were unwilling to change their perspective. Are you?

For NYB

Question: What rules do you believe are necessary for relating to God?

You may think of Christianity primarily as doing certain good things and avoiding certain bad things…it’s a checklist

This is how the Pharisees approached God: rules.

But the Gospel is that we can’t do enough good (or avoid enough bad) to rightly relate to God

However, Jesus did it for us, and He now defines the rules for how we relate to God…namely coming to Him.

Jesus isn’t looking for your effort; He’s looking for your heart; He’s looking for you.

The way you relate to God is by coming to Jesus. He fulfilled the letter of the law so you could get credit for His righteousness. Come to Him and see how His commands are a blessing, not a burden.

Big Idea: Jesus defines the rules for my relationship with God.

Church, let’s be a people who continually returns to Jesus with soft hearts as we obey Him.

Pray

All the Poor and Powerless