Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath; Part One

Introduction

Out of all the Ten Commandments, originally given in Exodus 20 and repeated in Deuteronomy 5, there has been none that has sparked more confusion and controversy among Christians than the fourth commandment (which was just read in the Scripture Reading). “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” God commands. The controversy and confusion typically center on the question of “How do Christians keep the Sabbath today?”

While this commandment concerning the Sabbath and the Christian’s responsibility may be controversial and confusing that does not mean this commandment is any less important to keep than the other nine. In fact, you’ll notice that this fourth commandment is the longest and most detailed of the ten and thus it could be argued that God takes this commandment very seriously. Certainly God takes all His commandments seriously. It is just interesting that He devotes so much more space to this one about the Sabbath. Clearly, God wanted to stress the importance of this commandment as one that should not be overlooked or set aside.

Indeed, throughout the history of God’s people, beginning with the Jews to Jesus and then to the Church, the importance of the Sabbath has been evident. For the Jews, there were two observances above all else that defined them as a people and set them apart from the Gentiles, namely circumcision and the Sabbath. In all the Old Testament, the observance of the fourth commandment is mentioned more times than any of the other nine. It occurs 11 times in the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, and then over 100 times in the rest of the Old Testament.

According to Exodus 31, the LORD commanded Israel to keep the Sabbath because it was a sign of His covenant with them. Just as the rainbow was a sign of God’s promise to Noah and humanity that He would never again destroy the earth by flood, so the Sabbath was God’s promise to Israel that He is trustworthy and will take care of them. According to Exodus 20, the Sabbath was to remind the Israelites of God’s work in Creation, how He rested after making all things setting a pattern for His people to follow. And according to Deuteronomy 5, the Sabbath was to remind the Israelites of God’s work in Redemption, how He delivered the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt through the exodus. They were to rest on the final day of the week to remember and worship their Maker and their Redeemer! God takes this command so seriously that He warns:

Exodus 31:14 ESV

You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

So, this was an important command for the Jews.

Also, the Sabbath held importance to Jesus. Much of Christ’s ministry, as we’ve begun to see in Mark already, was done on the Sabbath. He taught and healed people on the Sabbath. He came not to abolish this commandment concerning the Sabbath, but to fulfill it. And so Jesus, contrary to the accusations of the Pharisees, never broke the fourth commandment, but remembered it and kept it holy.

The Sabbath has also held importance to the Church. Historically, you can read all sorts of Church documents, confessions, and catechisms which all emphasize the importance of keeping the Sabbath. These historical documents may differ on some aspects about the Sabbath, but it is obvious that all of them stress the importance of God’s people resting, God’s people worshipping with one another as a gathered assembly, and God’s people doing works of love in the church and community. So, unless I’ve missed something, Christians presently still require rest, are still required by God in Scripture to assemble for worship, and are still commanded to stir one another up to love and good works, especially and emphatically on the Lord’s Day!

Obviously, honoring the Sabbath is significant, which is really what makes the fourth commandment so controversial. All Christians generally affirm that the Sabbath, or Lord’s Day, should be observed and set apart from the other days of the week. The confusion and controversy comes in typically concerning what is permissible or not permissible for believers to do on the Sabbath. We want to know what is allowed and what isn’t. What are our limitations?

As we turn to the end of Mark chapter 2 this morning, Jesus was not concerned with addressing the limitations that the Sabbath brings; what we are bound to do or not do. We can find guidance on those matters elsewhere in Scripture. On the contrary, Jesus addressed the liberties that the Sabbath offers. Jesus’ intent in Mark 2:23-3:6 is to teach us that the true purpose of the Sabbath for His people is to bless them, not burden them. The Sabbath is designed by God for our good, not to make us groan. Its purpose is to help us, not to hinder us.

Therefore, God’s people should desire to honor the Sabbath (or Lord’s Day if you prefer to call it that), not profane it. When we recognize God’s design and purpose for the Sabbath, we will want to keep it!

That may prompt us to circle back to that controversial question, “How do we honor/keep the Sabbath today?” I like how one catechism answers this question, which I’ve included under the study questions in your outline.

293. How did Jesus teach us to keep the Sabbath?

As Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus taught us to keep it not merely as a duty, but as a gift of God to be received with joy and extended to others through acts of love and hospitality. (Mark 2:23–3:6; Luke 13:10–16) - To be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism

You’ll notice that our text in Mark for today is used as a reference to support this answer, so it is a helpful way to understand the main idea of our text this morning. I’m going to paraphrase this a little for our purposes as the theme of our text. As Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus teaches us to...

Theme: Honor the Sabbath as a good gift from God to be enjoyed and extended to others through good acts of love.

While keeping the Sabbath is a duty for God’s people, God has not designed it to be a restrictive day, but rather a restorative day. Not a day of drudgery, but of delight!

This morning, and Lord willing, next Sunday morning we are going to take our time walking through Mark 2:23-3:6. As you look at the outline, you’ll notice that there is only one main point with three sub-points. This single point will emphasize the first half of the theme to our text today: Honor the Sabbath as a good gift from God to be enjoyed. Next week we will add a second main point to this outline that will incorporate the second half of the theme: Honor the Sabbath as a good gift from God to be extended to others through good acts of love.

Looking in our Bibles now in Mark chapter 2 verses 23 and even through chapter 3 verse 6, you’ll notice, with the help of the paragraph and chapter breaks, that Jesus had two conflicts over the Sabbath with the Pharisees. The first conflict is in Mark 2:23-28 in the grainfields. The second conflict is in Mark 3:1-6 in the synagogue. Let’s examine the conflict over the Sabbath with the Pharisees in the grainfields.

Beginning in Mark 2:23, we read:

Mark 2:23–24 ESV

One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

Mark 2:25–26 ESV

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: 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?”

Mark 2:27–28 ESV

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever. May He bless it to us this day.

1. Jesus defines the heart of the Sabbath (2:23-28)

So far in Mark chapter 2, we’ve witnessed several confrontations that Jesus has had with the Pharisees. Now at the end of chapter 2, Jesus is confronted again by the Pharisees; this time over the Sabbath. In the grainfields, Jesus defines the heart of the Sabbath to the Pharisees.

Verses 23 to 28 can easily be broken down into three pieces which will help us grasp the point Jesus is driving home about the Sabbath. In verses 23 and 24 there is the scene described. Then in verses 25 and 26 there is the scriptural defense. And finally in verses 27 and 28 there is the significance defined.

A. The Scene Described (v. 23-24)

First, in verses 23 and 24, we have the scene described.

Jesus and His disciples are traveling by foot through some grainfields on a Sabbath. As they were walking, the disciples were plucking heads of grain. Luke adds in his account that not only did they pluck the heads of grain, but they began to “rub them in their hands and eat the kernels” (Lk. 6:1 NIV). To us that seems like a rather effortless and harmless act. No big deal, right?

But, the Pharisees were lurking about near by. They were playing the detectives, not following Jesus as disciples. They wished to inspect and scrutinize Jesus, once again. And so, the moment they see what the disciples do they instantly turn on their sirens. Like a referee, they toss their yellow flags, blow their whistles to stop the game, and run up to the group to announce a Sabbath infraction. “Ha!” they think, “Now we’ve caught you red handed, Jesus!”

Despite the fourth commandment being the longest and most detailed of the 10 Commandments, the religious sages and scribes of Judaism determined, that in order to rest from work to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy, they needed to better clarify which work was permissible and which was not. So, according to the Mishnah, which is an authoritative collection of material embodying the oral tradition of Jewish law, they recorded 39 specific categories of work that are prohibited on the Sabbath.

Some of these cover major acts of work: 1) Sowing seed, 2) plowing, 3) reaping, 4) binding sheaves, 5) threshing, 6) winnowing, 7) selecting fit from unfit produce, 8) grinding, 9) sifting, 10) kneading, 11) baking.

Then others seem rather mundane and minute: 21) tying [like knots or sandal straps] 22) untying, 23) sewing two stitches, 24) tearing in order to sew two stitches, 32) writing two letters, or 33) erasing in order to write two letters.

The Mishnah was written a couple hundred years before Christ, so in Jesus’ day it was the DNA of Jewish culture. Think about how the traditions of the United States over 200 years ago have shaped us as a nation and are apart of who we are today (mostly!) and you’ll be able to somewhat see the impact of the Mishnah on the Jews.

So by the Pharisees reckoning, the disciples had specifically profaned the Sabbath by reaping grain and by rubbing it in their hands, essentially sifting it. It’s important to point out that they had profaned the Sabbath according to the Mishnah, man-made tradition, and not according to Moses, the written law of God. Really, it’s rather ironic. The Sabbath was supposed to be a day dedicated to rest from work, but by compiling and enforcing these additional Sabbath prohibitions the Pharisees were causing people to work harder at avoiding work than enjoying a day of rest from work! They had turned a day that was designed to bless God’s people into a day that actually burdened them. Thus the Pharisees, not Jesus and His disciples, were the ones guilty of profaning the Sabbath.

There’s a story about a pristine golf course that was so magnificent that the club owner wanted to preserve its beauty. So, he constructed a fence around all of the fairways and required the players to hit their shots from the rough, the tall grass, rather than make divots in the immaculate mown fairways. The course remained in beautiful condition, but it was not a delight to play for the players!

That’s what the Pharisees had done with the good gift of the Sabbath. They determined that the fences God had set up for the Sabbath weren’t enough. So, they built more. To be sure, the Sabbath remained a duty for the Jews, but it was no longer a delight. God had constructed His fences for the protection of His people’s joy. The Pharisees constructed their fences that essentially prohibited any joy. God told His people to rest, but the Pharisees scolded the people to, “Stay off the grass!” The Pharisees had missed the point of the Sabbath by instituting and implementing all of these limitations.

So, that’s the scene. The Pharisees thinking they’ve caught Jesus and His disciples in the act of profaning the Sabbath.

B. The Scriptural Defense (v. 25-26)

And this is when Jesus steps in between the Pharisees and His disciples with a Scriptural Defense in verses 25 and 26.

Mark 2:25–26 ESV

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: 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?”

Jesus, like a good defense attorney, brings up a precedent in Scripture that would clear Him and His disciples of any guilt.

“Have you never read...” Jesus begins. There’s some sanctified sarcasm in the Savior’s words! The Pharisees prided themselves on their understanding of the Scriptures and religious traditions. They were the experts! “Psh! Of course we’ve read,” they would have retorted. “Don’t you know who we are!?” But, Jesus’ point in asking “have you never read” is not so much have you read, but do you rightly understand what you’ve read.

Jesus references 1 Samuel 21:1-6, the account of David and his men eating the bread of the Presence on the Sabbath. David and his men were fleeing from Saul. They were hungry and had no provisions left. David asked the priest for the consecrated bread in order to satisfy their hunger. According to Leviticus 24:5-9, this bread was to be devoted to and eaten by the priests and their family. Amazingly, the priest interprets that it would not violate the Levitical Law by sharing this bread with those in need. Technically, the bread was the priest’s to use as he saw fit. So, the spirit of the law was honored even if it appeared that the letter of the law had not been.

To the Pharisees, David was a great king, a blameless man after God’s own heart, whose line would bring forth the Messiah. Jesus defends Himself and His followers by using David as a precedent. If David was blameless in his act, which appeared to have broken the Mosaic Law (although it technically didn’t), then how much more blameless is the One who is great David’s greater Son, who only broke the Pharisees’ man-made laws. Jesus used Scripture to argue from the lesser to the greater. If the anointed king David was off the hook for what he did, then what about David’s heir, God’s anointed Son, King of kings, Lord of lords, the Messiah, God in the flesh, Jesus Christ!

The Pharisees offer us a word of caution when it comes to Bible study. It is possible to read the Bible and yet walk away either not understanding it, or worse, misinterpreting it; and therefore carelessly misapplying its truth! That’s what they did not only with the Sabbath but with so many other doctrines and prophecies. I mean they couldn’t even recognize the Messiah who stood right in front of them!

We need to be rightly handling the Word of Truth. We must be able to understand the heart of a passage. Often times we can be so concerned with the literal meaning of a text and completely miss the point. We spend so much time focusing and studying the bark of a single tree, which don’t get me wrong has its uses, but then we can miss the forest; we miss the main idea the passage is actually communicating! We need to closely observe the text; what does it say? We need to correctly interpret the text; what does it mean? And we need to carefully apply the text; what does it matter?

When we can rightly handle the Word of Truth then we can better avoid constructing unnecessary fences. We will be able to delight more fully in our obedience to the commands of God when we understand that they aren’t just for our protection but to provide us with an abundant life! Which takes us to the third piece of our text.

C. The Significance Defined (v. 27-28)

In verses 27 and 28, Jesus blatantly defined the significance of the Sabbath so that there could be no more confusion. Having stated His case from the authority of Scripture, now Jesus will play the trump card. His own authority.

Mark 2:27–28 ESV

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

There are two things we should see, one from each verse, that I want to stress.

Number one, in verse 27, Jesus clarified the meaning of the Sabbath. “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”. In other words, the Sabbath was designed to liberate, bless, and help man; not limit, burden, and hinder man. God had instituted the Sabbath and the regulations that went with it so that His people could find relief, rest, and refreshment. But over time, the Jews kept adding more rules that almost would have made any common Jew resent the upcoming Sabbath.

In our culture, we dread Mondays when the work week kicks off again. But for the Jews, they probably looked forward to Sundays, the day after the Sabbath, because they were no longer burdened or worried about everything they did! Instead of entering the work week refreshed in mind, body, and spirit, the Jews were left ragged and weary, maybe not physically, but certainly psychologically. That’s not what God had in mind for His people. The Sabbath wasn’t designed to drain them, it was meant to recharge them. A day of resting and worshipping turned into a day of regulations and worry.

Jesus clarified that the heart of the fourth commandment, honoring the Sabbath day to keep it holy, is a day for delighting in a good gift from God. Enjoying a time of reprieve from work with your family, enjoying a time of remembrance of your Creator and Redeemer through worship, and enjoying a time of recreation with God’s people through fellowship.

Number two, in verse 28, Jesus clarifies the Maker and Master of the Sabbath. He addresses what the Pharisees were probably about to voice, “By whose authority do you make these claims?” Jesus says, “Mine”.

In the Greek, Jesus’ point in verse 28 is even more emphatic. Kurios, the word for “Lord” is placed at the beginning of the sentence highlighting the emphasis, the weight of the sentence is on Jesus’ Lordship. Literally it would read, “So then, Lord is the Son of Man also of the Sabbath.” Jesus is claiming that He has the right to define the heart of the Sabbath because 1) He is the Creator of the Sabbath and 2) He is the Commander of the Sabbath. He has the authority to establish the terms of the command. He has the right to interpret the design of the Sabbath!

In a single sentence, we have the profound mystery of the union of Christ’s two natures: full deity and full humanity. As Lord, He is over the Sabbath. He made it, mandated it, and mediates it. But also, as man, Jesus humbled Himself under the command He created, honored the command He mandated, and obeyed it perfectly. I don’t know about you, but that blows my mind!

The Pharisees believed that Jesus did not think very highly of the Sabbath since He was breaking their traditions and restrictions. But Jesus, on the contrary, proves that He valued the Sabbath more than they did or could. If there was any reason as to why Christians in the 21st Century should still honor the Sabbath it would be because Jesus honored it and because He is Lord of it.

We’re going to see next week, Lord willing, that the Pharisees don’t like Jesus’ claim of divine authority over the Sabbath nor His merciful healing work for a lame man on the Sabbath. If you jump down to verse 6 of chapter 3 for a moment, all of this leads to the Pharisees wanting to put Jesus to death.

Mark 3:6 ESV

The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

I find it utterly astounding that so many people believe that Jesus never claimed to be God, arguing His followers made Him to be God. Yet, one look at Mark chapter 2 alone does away with that silly, nonsensical belief. He forgave the paralytic of his sins; only God has the authority to do that. He essentially says that He came to save sinners; something only God has the authority to do. He refers to Himself as the bridegroom; a reference to Yahweh’s unique authority over and relationship with His people. And now He identifies Himself as Lord of the Sabbath; a title the Jews would have understood to be the authoritative title of God alone as Creator and Redeemer.

These two Sabbath confrontations provide the Pharisees with one of two options: Crown Him as their God and King or Crucify Him for blasphemy and false teaching. Submit to Him as Lord and honor the Sabbath as He defines it or Strike Him down as a liar.

Who is Jesus to you? The question isn’t, “Do you accept Him as Lord?” The fact of the matter is that Jesus is Lord whether you accept Him as Lord or not. No, really the question is, “Do you recognize Him for who He already is and claims to be?” And then the next logical question for us who do recognize, hail, and love Jesus as Lord is, “Do we live like He is our Lord?”

Conclusion

Jesus said:

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Surely that still includes the Fourth Commandment to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”. And when we feel as if keeping this command is too much for us, Jesus offers some much needed good news for us weary pilgrims:

John 14:16–17 ESV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Obedience isn’t legalism. Legalism says I must obey so that God loves me and will be pleased with me. Obedience, on the other hand, says I want to obey because God already loves me and is pleased with me in Christ. Legalism is burdensome. Obedience is liberty. The Spirit-filled, joyful, abundant Christian life is one of being loved by God through Christ, abiding in the love of Christ through faith, and returning love back to God through obedience to Christ by the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

And that takes us all the way back to the first question we considered at the very beginning. Let me word it just a little differently now: “How can we love Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath, by honoring/keeping the Sabbath?” I want to close with four specific ways that we can do this by God’s grace in Christ with the Spirit’s help.

Number one, we can honor the heart of the Sabbath by resting in the Lord. It is interesting that in Matthew’s Gospel that this confrontation over the Sabbath in the grainfields is immediately preceded by that beloved summons from the Savior:

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

I wish I had time to read Hebrews chapter 3 and 4 for us as well, but I don’t. Instead I encourage you to go home and study Hebrews 3-4 for yourself. The whole idea is that Israel had been disciplined again and again by God because they refused to enter into His rest due to unbelief. The author, toward the middle of chapter 4, encouraged his readers by saying:

Hebrews 4:9–11 ESV

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

The Sabbath is God’s way of calling His people to find rest in His Son. Yes, rest from your physical labor. But also, cease from working to earn God’s favor through good works. You can’t. And even more, the Sabbath is the Lord especially calling His people to find rest in Him from their sinful and wicked works. That is how the framers of the Heidelberg Catechism partly understood the Fourth Commandment.

103 Q. What is God’s will for you in the fourth commandment?

103 A. That every day of my life I rest from my evil ways, let the Lord work in me through His Spirit, and so begin in this life the eternal Sabbath.

So, we can honor the heart of the Sabbath by resting in the Lord of the Sabbath.

Number two, we can honor the heart of the Sabbath by remembering the Lord. When the Lord gave this commandment to Israel, both at Mount Sinai and then before they entered the Promised Land, the people were to obey this command as they remembered the Lord as their Creator and as their Redeemer. And so, the idea is that we can honor the Sabbath by setting aside one day out of seven to dwell upon what the Lord has done for us. In Him we live, move, and have our being. It is right for us to honor the One who not only gave us life and sustains our life, but who also gave us new life and sustains us in our walk with Him. This should drive us to honor the Fourth Commandment in a third way.

Number three, we can honor the heart of the Sabbath by rejoicing in the Lord. As we honor Him in our minds and hearts for all that He is to us, all that He has done for us, and all that He promises to be and do for us, out of the abundance of our hearts should flow songs of praise, prayers of adoration and thanksgiving, and hearts that are generous in proportion to His grace. Paul was so caught up in remembering the goodness and grace of the Lord that he exhorts all believers to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). The teaching of the New Testament is that we should gather with the Lord’s redeemed people as one body in order to rejoice in our Redeemer together with one voice in one Spirit. Rejoice in the Lord in the privacy of your own home with your family, but also rejoice in the Lord in the public gathering of the Lord’s family. So we can obey the fourth commandment by obeying this commandment to rejoice in the Lord!

And finally, number four, we can honor the heart of the Sabbath by relying on the Lord. One of the many reasons that the Lord instituted the Sabbath is so that His people would have a constant reminder of their dependency on Him and would have a way to express their faith in Him. By taking a day to rest from our vocations, we are trusting that the Lord will provide for us and protect us. By honoring the Sabbath we prove we believe He is merciful and loving, gracious and good.

These four ways may seem rather basic, but they are tried and true ways that the Lord’s people can honor the Lord’s Day. Honor today as a good gift from God to be enjoyed. The Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ asserts that it is a day for our enjoyment. Let us rejoice and be glad in it and in Him!

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

Thank You for this day.

A day You have created.

A day You have commanded us to observe.

A day we can rest in You.

A day when we remember Your Redemptive work.

A day we can rejoice in You as Your church.

And a day when we clearly express that we rely on You.

We praise You for this one day of the week that we can especially see and experience Your love for us.

We magnify You for Your grace and goodness to us in this.

AMEN