Rest For His Subjects

The Lord of the Sabbath is Your Savior

6.6.20 [Mark 2:23-28] River of Life (2nd Sunday after Pentecost)

Thank God it’s Friday. Friday is such a good day, that even those who think little of God, sometimes even those who reject his very existence, will pause for a moment and thank God for its existence. Friday is such a good day that when people say Today is my Friday, we don’t think they’ve lost their minds. Friday is a good day because it’s the beginning of the weekend and weekends have so much potential. But Friday’s glory is earned by Monday’s melee. You can’t get to the weekend without slogging your way through the work week. You cannot rest and relax until you achieve and accomplish. In our world, rest is earned. The longer your work-history, the greater amount of vacation time. You get to retire early if you work hard.

As a society, we still admire most diligent and dedicated people. People who have earned their time of rest. In Jesus’ day people admired those who were diligent and dedicated to their work and their God. In many ways, our world is not totally different from Jesus’ world. The titles have just changed. Our society respects the entrepreneurs, the self-starters and the hard-workers. In our minds, they’ve earned a good life. The people in Jesus’ day honored the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. They devoted themselves to studying God’s Word and disciplined themselves to live according to many laws. In the minds of first-century Jews, these religious leaders have earned a good life. They believed it too. Which is why they had such a problem with Jesus. Because Jesus didn’t do things like the law teachers and experts did them. He did not attend Rabbinical school, but the people still called him Rabbi. He did not follow their many rules, yet he was more admired and respected by the people.

That tension is the backdrop for Mark 2-3. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees had a problem with how Jesus did things. He spoke about forgiving sins--which to them was blasphemy. He ate with sinners and tax collectors. Even John’s disciples fasted, but not those who followed Jesus. All of this was problematic for the Pharisees. So they hounded Jesus and pestered him to fall in line.

Now in a situation like that, most of us would become rather snippy. We would grow dismissive of our doubters & combative with our critics. But that’s not how Jesus responds. Mark tells us it was the Sabbath and he was traveling with his disciples. They became hungry and began to help themselves to some grain growing nearby. To the Pharisees, this was yet another example of the lax leadership of Jesus.

We might wonder why this was a problem. The Jewish leaders took resting on the Sabbath very seriously. They developed 39 different categories of Sabbath prohibitions called the melachot. A God-fearing Jew would not do anything productive or creative on the Sabbath. So that meant limiting your steps. That meant you couldn’t pick fruit from a tree. You couldn’t write something down. You couldn’t mend a garment. You couldn’t start a fire or even extinguish one. The only exemption was if someone’s life was in danger.

So as the disciples were snacking, the Pharisees pounced. Mk. 2:24 Look, why are your disciples doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath? Jesus reminds them of a story they knew well about David. They would never dream of indicting king David. And that’s precisely Jesus’ point. Your problem is with me, not with what I’m doing or what my disciples are doing. But Jesus makes a bigger and broader point. Mk. 2:27 The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

What does that mean? Jesus was telling the Pharisees that with all these extra laws they’d come up with, they’d lost sight of why God gave them the Sabbath in the first place. The Sabbath was God’s gift to mankind, not his assignment. Really, the same could be said of all of God’s Law. The Law was made for man, not man for the law.

There are two sinful reactions to the law. One view dismisses it entirely. This is what is known as licentiousness. Since God’s law is too much for me to do, I might as well not do any of it. We can all easily see the wickedness in this. It so often leads to immorality.

But there is a second sinful reaction. Legalism. On the outside, legalism seems much better. It takes God’s Word seriously. It strives to abide by every command. The problem with legalism is not so much with what it does, but why it does it. The problem with legalism isn’t so much its actions, but its motives. The legalist believes that by doing the good thing, they will earn the good life. By doing the right thing, they will be justified before God.

In Mark 2, Jesus confronts legalism. Jesus forces good people to ask a philosophical question. Why do I do the right thing?

Is it because of society? Do you work hard because you’re driven by what others think? Do you avoid prejudiced language because you’re afraid of the cancel culture? How many of the good things that you do are motivated by your reputation, or your desire for power or respect or praise? Are you motivated by fear? Fear of loss? Fear of embarrassment? Fear of shame or weakness?

Do you do the right thing because it benefits you? Do you speak the truth because it makes you feel better? Do you honor your marriage vows because a divorce would be painful or expensive? Do you obey the laws because you don’t want to face fines or jail time? Do you take care of your body because you don’t want to have to rely on someone else later on in life?

Do you do the right thing just to impress God? Do you struggle with feelings of owing God something? Do you attend worship out of duty? Do you give offerings with a twinge of resentment, or with thoughts about how else you could use that money? Is your desire for River of Life to grow based on expanding our financial base?

Each of these motives is sinful and dangerous. If we only do the right thing because of society, we will find ourselves doing the unimaginable when we think no one is looking. If we only do the right thing because it benefits us, we will soon wander down a path of wickedness when we think it won’t make much of a difference. If we only do the right thing to please God, we will grow weary when we feel like his blessings don’t match our efforts. If we only do the right thing because we are self-conscious, self-centered, or self-righteous we will grow weary and go astray. We will live just like the Pharisees. Carefully scrutinizing the behavior of others all the while missing the Lord of the Sabbath who’s standing right in front of our faces. God’s law will always remain a Sisyphean assignment, a burden too much for us to bear.

Only when we see that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, can we see how the Law is a gift and a joy. So what does this mean? Jesus is telling us that he created the Sabbath. He made it. That’s why he had no problem living in perfect obedience to the Sabbath. Mt. 5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Jesus came to be and do everything Moses commanded Israel to do. That’s why Jesus was Lk. 2:21 circumcised on the 8th day. As soon as he could he went Lk. 2:41 to the Temple for the Passover. It was Lk. 4:16 his custom to go into the synagogue on the Sabbath and Jn. 10:20-25 to journey to Jerusalem for the festivals. Mt. 17:27 He paid the Temple tax like the rest. When he healed lepers Mt. 8:4 he made a point of sending them to the priest just as Moses commanded.

In fact, Jesus lived such a good life, that even his own enemies couldn’t pinpoint a single fault. They accused him of being a drunkard and a glutton, but that was more an indictment on the company he kept. Even when they were trying to put him to death, they struggled to agree on one single thing he had done wrong. Why? Because Jesus did everything that God demanded perfectly. Jesus left no good undone.

But his obedience didn’t stop there. He humbled himself & became Php. 2:8 obedient to the price our sins demanded--death. He placed himself under the law, and under the curse of sin, for you and me. Though he was perfect, he suffered for our iniquities. He died the death our sins deserved. Your Lord lived and died for you to have rest.

Especially on a day like today, when we remember D-Day, we ought to have an even deeper appreciation for a person’s willingness to sacrifice themselves for the good of others. On D-Day, thousands stormed Normandy knowing what was almost certainly awaiting them. They looked to secure a peace and rest that was desperately needed, but could never last. Only Christ’s perfect sacrifice could secure the peace and rest that sinful people crave most deeply. That we all truly need.

Only by looking at Christ can we see the law as a gift and a joy. The law is a gift because it reveals that, on our own, we can never be perfect. The law brings us to the important conclusion that we need another to be perfect for us. The law is also a gift because it helps us identify that Jesus is the Son of Man, the Lord of the Sabbath, and the Savior of all sinners. Only though the law do we learn what real obedience is in thought, word, and deed.

But God has given us a greater gift than the law--the good news of Jesus. Through his Rm. 5:19 obedience we’ve been made righteous. This one who has fulfilled the law’s many requirements, is the Lord of the Sabbath. He designed rest for us. Mt. 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. That’s the beauty of the Sabbath. Rest is a gift from God. Not just so that we can recover enough to go back out there and produce again. Rest isn’t about enjoying ourselves, but enjoying our God’s grace. We rest in God’s house and in his Word so that we can understand the eternal implications of Jesus’s declaration Jn. 19:30 It is finished.

Yet, even as we rest and keep the Sabbath holy, the law is a gift. The law gives us direction and purpose. Just as the Law guided Jesus‘ life, so it guides ours. But now we can rest. We don’t have to be good enough to justify ourselves. Rather we do what is good and right so that even unbelievers may recognize the goodness of what we do and glorify our God. God’s law is a lamp for our feet and gives us instructions on how to let our light shine in a world of darkness.

You see, all those reasons the legalist has to do the right thing, are actually blessed repercussions that God designed. When we do the right thing, it is good for society and our reputation. When we do what is good, it is for our good too. When we do what is noble and praiseworthy, we bring glory to God’s name. This is why we gather in God’s house. We need to constantly be reminded of what and why God speaks with us. He gives us his law, not so that we can earn his favor, but so that we can see our need of a Savior. Only in Christ are we forgiven. Only in Christ do we find mercy. Only in Christ do we find rest for our souls. Thank God it’s Sunday. Amen.