The Lord of the Sabbath

Introduction

It is good to see each an every one of you here tonight in the youth room. This week will be our last week in the Gospel of Mark before we take another break an jump into the book of Ephesians yet again. Over the last few weeks, we have seen Jesus heal people, forgive people of sin, and even call out the falsehood of the Pharisees.

Last week, Jesus answered questions about what? Fasting. Does anyone remember what Jesus taught on? The Gospel being the only saving message. He revealed the exclusivity of the Gospel meaning that the Gospel is the only saving message. All other religions fail. What were the analogies He used last week? Wedding terminology and wineskins illustration.

This week, Jesus and His disciples are travelling yet again, and the Pharisees come to rain on the parade yet again. The Pharisees were those kind of people that followed Jesus around just trying to find a way in which He would mess up. This time, let’s look at what happens.

Mark 2:23–28 ESV

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.”

Pray.

Here, we see that Jesus and His disciples are walking again and are confronted by the Pharisees. This leads us to point 1.

As Jesus stands on God’s Word, Christians are to be obedient and hold to God’s Word as well.

We see in these verses that Jesus and His disciples are confronted by the Pharisees as they walk through a grainfield. This was pretty common back in first-century Israel. Oftentimes, a road would have crops or plants on both side of the walkway and people would cut through fields to get to wherever they were going. So, Jesus and His disciples were walking through this grainfield. However, they were walking on a particular day. Jesus and His disciples were walking on the Sabbath day. This was a big problem for the Pharisees.

In the Old Testament, God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites. The fourth commandment is:

Exodus 20:8–11 ESV

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.

So, on this day, Jews were not to do any work. However, over time the Pharisees in their self-righteousness had added a whole bunch of manmade laws to the Sabbath day. Here are just a few of those manmade laws the Pharisees had added to the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy.

MacArthur, “a person was not allowed to travel more than 3,000 feet away from his or her home. If you tossed something in the air, it had to be caught with the same hand. No candle or flame could be lit or extinguished. Carrying anything heavier than a dried fig was forbidden. No insects could be killed. No bathing was allowed. No furniture could be moved. You could not boil an egg. And it was not even permissible for women to look in a mirror, since they might be tempted to pull out any gray hairs they spotted.”

I mean, you cant make this stuff up. This is how ridiculous the Pharisees had become. The whole point of the Sabbath day was for the Jews to rest and worship God. It was not to be a day of undue burden and absolute nothingness. The Jews were supposed to honor God by resting and worshipping Him. However, the Pharisees had made the Sabbath a day of burden in which all these manmade rules had to be followed.

As Jesus and His disciples travel, they are first caught travelling and then the disciples are caught picking the heads of grain. The disciples were probably picking barley or wheat. The Pharisees seeing this called out Jesus the leader of these disciples. In calling them out, the Pharisees were pointing to the disciples breaking the manmade portion of the law to rest on the Sabbath. They called out the disciples for simply picking the head off of a plant and eating it. Again, these Pharisees were simply looking for ways to find error in Jesus.

However, I want to ask, if a person was not to leave his or her home for more than 3,000 feet, why were the Pharisees permitted to follow Jesus and His disciples around? Just a thought.

You see, the Pharisees considered themselves to be over the Sabbath; therefore, they were taking the place of God Who is actually over the Sabbath day.

Back to the point. As these Pharisees call out Jesus and His disciples, I want you to notice how Jesus responds.

Mark 2:25–26 ESV

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?”

We Jesus’s response to the Pharisees comes directly from Scripture. Remember the Pharisees were the religious leaders that were supposed to be highly knowledgable in the Old Testament Scriptures. Knowing this, Jesus draws these Pharisees back to Scripture to point out that the law was violated for David and he was not punished because human need comes before ceremonial law.

As John MacArthur points out, “Jesus’ point, as illustrated by the Old Testament account, was that showing compassion, in God’s sight, always trumped strict adherence to the ritual and ceremony.”

What Jesus is talking about in this passage is King David when he was running from Saul.

Look with me at

1 Samuel 21:1–6 ESV

1 Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” 2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” 4 And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5 And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

David was fleeing for his life during this time and was in need. Ahimelech seeing this gave David the bread of Presence that was only to be eaten by priests after it was offered to God.

This demonstrates that in God’s sight, compassion trumps ceremony or ritual. Jesus and His disciples were in the same vote as David. Jesus and His disciples were traveling and in need of food. As they were traveling through this grainfield they took some grain. Also,

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.

The disciples were doing what God’s Word allowed them to do. They were eating what they picked. This reveals to us that it was never about Jesus and His disciples disobeying God’s Word. The issue was about Jesus’ disciples disobeying the manmade law established by the Pharisees.

However, Jesus stood His ground and stood on what the Word of God said. This teaches us as believers that we are to always obey and stand firm in what the Bible says. Our culture seeks to tell us all these philosophies and thoughts. The culture tells us things such as “love is love” as relates to homosexuality; whereas, the Bible teaches that love is between one man and one woman in marriage. Also, the Bible teaches us that all lives matter even those that are in the womb. Our culture finds that it is okay to lie for personal gain or cheat for material wealth. However, God calls us to be honest and glorify Him in all we do. The Bible is counter cultural and Jesus calls us to live according to the Bible.

I am shocked whenever we as sinful humanity think that we can get away with whatever we want. That is not Scriptural, that is arrogance that will lead us away from God and straight to hell. The Bible teaches that man is wicked because of sin, condemned before God, and only through Christ’s finished work on the cross and resurrection can we be saved. Then once we place our faith in Him. We are called to lose our life of sin and live a life that is fully submitted to His Word even in the face of cultural opposition. So, the call for the Christian tonight is for you to buy into the Bible which is God’s Word and contains that live saving message that Jesus died for your sins. Whatever culture tells you and whatever the school tells us, fact check those claims with what the Bible says.

As Jesus was approached about breaking the law, He turned to the Bible and had a biblical defense that revealed He had not broken the law at all. Therefore, in every aspect of your life, the Bible speaks to the aspect and the call is for the believer to follow.

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and the Church.

Mark 2:27–28 ESV

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.”

What we see here is that Jesus reveals to the Pharisee that God made the Sabbath for man. As Danny Akin puts it, “The Sabbath was made to bless man, not man to bless the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man’s enjoyment, not man for the Sabbath’s significance. Jesus’ liberating vision of the Sabbath frees us from legalistic constraints instead of binding us with unbearable burdens.”

The Pharisees had made the Sabbath a burden and not a blessing. The Sabbath was meant to be a day of rest for man in order that man could worship God. However, as the Pharisees placed all these manmade rules on others, the law became an immense burden. The Jews had to be careful of everything they did in order not to break the manmade law. However, the point of the Sabbath was for man to rest, reflect, and worship God.

Aren’t you thankful that Jesus came. Jesus came and fulfilled the Law and established that He is Lord of the Sabbath not man. In revealing that He is Lord of the Sabbath, He also reveals His divinity.

Jesus reveals here that He is God. Notice, He says that He is the Son of Man. Lets start there. Jesus is the Son of Man meaning that He is fully man and fully God. Jesus draws this usage from Daniel 7. Jesus is fully man meaning that He was a human being just like you and me. However, He was different in that He is also fully God. This is what is called the Hypostatic Union. That sounds really fancy doesn’t it? However, this simply means that Jesus is both fully man and fully God.

And remember, the Pharisees were seeking to have authority over the law and calling out Jesus and His disciples as breaking the law. But, Jesus puts these Pharisee in their place when He says, “So the Son of Man is lord of even the Sabbath.” Jesus points out that He is the Lord over the Sabbath and not the Pharisees.

John 1:3 ESV

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Jesus is the One with authority over the Law, and He is the One with all authority and the power to save. Jesus does not submit to manmade laws. These Pharisees thought that they were over the Sabbath, but Jesus is over the Sabbath as He is over all.

This passage reveals to us that self-righteous law abiding get us no where. The Pharisees were self-righteous seeking to condemn others; however, they could looked past their own mistakes. Jesus condemns their self-righteousness and reveals that He is over the law. Likewise, Jesus comes with grace. Man cannot keep the law. Mankind is sinful. You and I are sinful and the law reveals our sin. The law reveals that we need Jesus. That is why He came. Jesus is Lord of All.

Gospel!

Call to stand on the Word of God.