Lord of the Sabbath (Mk. 2:18-28)

Introduction

· The Bible is a very special gift. It is a book unlike any other book. These are the very words of God. They help us know God, to know His mind, and we have the privilege of studying it together this morning. Please take it and turn to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 2.

· Change is rarely easy. Change to a new school. Change to having children.

· In the Gospels, we see a change taking place. This will have drastic effects on how the Jews worship God, how they should relate to Gentiles, whether they should require circumcision, whether they should fast, and how they should view the Sabbath. The change is stirring up a good bit of controversy.

· Read 2:18-28

· We are witnessing here the dawning of a New Covenant.

· Old Covenant (Ex. 19) vs. New Covenant (Jer. 31-33)

· NOTICE WITH ME TWO WAYS THE NEW COVENANT IS SUPERIOR TO THE OLD COVENANT.

The New Covenant Brings JOY!

· Dating back to the time of Moses, Jews were commanded to fast at least once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

· Leviticus 16:29–30 “And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins.

· Other fasts are mentioned in the OT, and it seems that by the time the Jews return from their exile in Babylon, they are observing at least four separate fasts per year (Zech. 7:5; 8:19). But what was meant to be a rare occasion of brokenness and repentance turned into a rigid practice of self-denial by the time of the. According to the Pharisees, if you were really spiritual, you would fast twice a week – every Monday and Thursday. No longer was this a private matter between you and God, a time of brokenness and repentance. It had turned into a public spectacle, and a way to compare yourself to others.

· But Jesus and his disciples were not fasting – at least with the frequency of the Pharisees. In fact, it’s quite possible the party with Levi and his friends (vv. 13-17) took place on one of the two weekly fast days. This raised quite a problem. He claims to be a spiritual leader, yet He is not requiring His followers to fast like others were doing?

· Some people approach Jesus (read v. 18b)

· Jesus responds with three short parables, or stories, to explain. As a Master Teacher, He does not merely tell them, He shows them.

· First, he describes a wedding. Read vv. 19-20. Imagine getting a wedding announcement in the mail. You break the gold embossed seal and unfold the fancy stationary. The letter reads, “You are invited to witness the joining together of this man and woman in holy matrimony. Guests are requested to dress in sackcloth and ashes. In lieu of cake and punch, there will be a two hour period of silence and fasting immediately following the service.” You’d be seriously concerned about this bride and groom!

· Marriage and mourning just don’t belong together. They are not compatible. Weddings are a joyful occasion! And so is the coming of the Messiah. Jesus is sometimes described as a Bridegroom, and His church is the Bride. God’s people had waiting hundreds of years for the Messiah to come, and finally he was here! This was not a time for mourning, but gladness. And yet, even here, on this sweet subject, there is a sour note among the song of joy. The mention of a day when “the bridegroom is taken away.” (v. 20) This of course speaks of the day when Jesus will be betrayed and carried off to be crucified. During those long three days, he will be snatched away and the celebration will temporarily end.

· Next, he pictures a cloth. Read v. 21. Today, many of us probably have several shirts hanging up in our closet. Several pairs of pairs folded away in the drawer. In Bible times, a person would often have no more than one or two changes of clothing. Every garment was hand-stitched and took many hours, or came at a good price in the marketplace. You can just imagine how important it was to take care of their clothing. What if your shirt got a tear in it, or just wore it straight through at the elbow? Rather than throwing it out, you might want to patch it instead. One of the most important considerations would be to find a patch that is already pre-shrunk. For if the patch was new material, when that shirt was washed, the shirt was already shrunk, but the patch would begin to shrink and pull at the stitching and make a worse tear. The Jews are quite comfortable in their old shirt of Judaism. They expect that Jesus is a bit of a patch, but Jesus says His ways are new, and cannot just be patched over the existing garment of Judaism. His words and works usher in a new covenant. This is no patch job. It is like an entirely new pair of clothes!

· How often today people try to ‘add a little Jesus’ to their current lives, like sprinkling a bit of seasoning on their dinner. They go to church when it’s convenient, but live just like the world the rest of the week. They put a fish on the back of their car, but drive like the devil. They pray to God for help when they’re in trouble, but never bother to thank him . They put a little offering in the plate a few times a year. But it doesn’t work this way. Jesus says, “I am not a patch. I must be your Lord, or I am nothing at all to you.” I wonder if any of us here are treating Jesus like a patch. Just a small repair job. O friend, you don’t need a patch. You need an entirely new set of clothes. Let go of the old. Surrender completely to Jesus. Let him wash you clean, to remove your filthy rags of sin and clothe you with his own white robe of righteousness.

· To further show how the OC and NC are completely incompatible, Jesus tells a third parable– about wine and wineskins.

· Read v. 22.

· Apart from water, the ‘fruit of the vine’ was one of the only beverages available. It helped disinfect water of harmful bacteria, and was often drank at a diluted level to something more like grape juice. Sometimes served a medicinal purpose. But without glass bottles, people had to find other ways to store the wine. One of the most common was a wineskin – a kind of flask or bag made out of animal skin. -- New skins were soft and pliable and would stretch when wine that had not yet completed fermentation was put in them. Old wineskins that were already stretched would become brittle and unable to stretch further. The gas from the new wine fermenting in them would burst them, thus destroying both the wine and the wineskin. (EBC)

· In all three of these parables, Jesus is not saying never to fast, but that the dawning of the new age, the inbreaking of the New Covenant is not a time for fasting, but a time for celebration. The king is here! A Savior has come!

· The OC could bring only sorrow, but the NC brings joy! Not to say OC saints were gloomy people. But in the end, the covenant itself was insufficient. It was like a medical diagnosis. It could show that the patient was sick, but could not deliver the cure.

· As the angels announced to the Shepherds, Luke 2:10–11 A…“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

· A family took a trip to visit Carlsbad Caverns. When the tour reached the deepest point in the cavern, the tour guide turned off all the lights to demonstrate just how completely dark and silent it is below the earth’s surface. A young girl, suddenly enveloped in utter darkness, was frightened and began to cry. Immediately her older brother replied: “Don’t cry. Somebody here knows how to turn on the lights.”

· John 10:10 ... I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

· >>The issue of fasting created tension and controversy. But there was another issue that was even more offensive to the Pharisees. At the very heart of what it meant to be a Jew. An issue that arose time and time again. It was the issue of the Sabbath.

The New Covenant Brings FREEDOM

· Read vv. 23-28

· Side note: Lord of Sabbath ≠ Lord Sabaoth (Lord of Hosts, or the Lord’s Angelic Army)

· Doctrine of the Sabbath.

· Gen. 2:1-3. Modeled by God Himself, part of the created order.

· Ex. 16:22-30. Gathering of Manna. God’s Provision so they would not need to break it.

· Ex. 20:8-11. One of Ten Commandments.

· Num 15:32-36. Steep consequences. Gathering of sticks.

· But now here in Mark ch. 2 are the disciples, tired after a long day of ministry, stomachs are growling, walking through a grain field. Likely the wheat harvest. A slight breeze blows, amber waves of ripe, brown grain. As they walk along, they swipe a few heads of grain and kernels.

· Disciples are ‘harvesting’! Standing on the sidelines are the Pharisees like referees in their black and white uniforms, blow the whistle and throw the flag out on a technicality.

· Read v. 24

· Jesus responds with an incident that occurred in 1 Samuel 21. Somewhat obscure text. David on the run. Goes to the tabernacle. Meets Ahimelech. Asks for holy bread, usually consecrated just for the priests. Ahimelech asks the Lord, and is given approval to share some with David and his men, as long as they are ritually pure. Proves how well Jesus knew the scriptures and could use exactly the right text for any occasion. His point was this: God’s laws were never intended to be a burden but a blessing. The spirit of the law, and the attitude in which we obey God’s law, was always more important than the strict law-keeping, as though just jumping through a lot of hoops and checking off boxes was what God was after.

· And then we see the Authority of Jesus in verse 28.

· Bondage under the Law vs. Freedom in Christ

· See Galatians 4:3–7 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

· Raises a legitimate question - Which laws do apply to us today?

· I was accused of not taking the Bible literally/seriously enough by Seventh Day Adventists, Anderson University.

· What is our approach to the Sabbath? Moved from Saturday to Sunday (Lord’s Day). A day of rest, fellowship, service to the Lord. Perhaps not high enough.

· An area of Christian liberty in Romans 14.

· Preview of our rest in Christ in Hebrews 4. (vv. 8-11).

Conclusion

· The NC is clearly superior to the OC.

· Failure to understand the relation of the OC to NC can have devastating consequences! Let us praise Christ and the blessings of the New Covenant.