The Hard Sayings: The Sabbath is for Man

We’re looking at the Hard Sayings of Jesus, and this is one of them. The “hard part” of the saying is actually verse 28 where Jesus claims that the “Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

The Commandment

The Condemnation

The Conflict

The Correction

I. THE COMMANDMENT

““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, ... .” (Exodus 20:8–10, ESV)

“One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.” (Mark 2:23, ESV)

1. the passage opens by setting the scene for us — it is the Sabbath

a. Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Synagogue for Shabbat Services

b. the word Shabbat derives from the Hebrew verb shavat and simply means rest

2. to this day Jewish people consider Shabbat as their first and most sacred institution, and remains Judaism’s most distinctive and characteristic practice

a. a day of rest is one of its most pervasive and long-lasting gifts to Western civilization

b. it is a 25-hour observance, from just before sundown each Friday through the completion of nightfall on Saturday

3. it is important for several reasons

A. SHABBAT COMMEMORATES GOD RESTING AFTER CREATING THE WORLD

1. the story, of course, is found in Genesis — for six days straight God is creating heavens and the earth

a. all that exists; all that we see and experience with our senses, and all that we can’t came into existence by the word of God

1) He spoke the word let there be ... and there was

2) and our Lord Christ, who is the Living Word, was right there by the Father’s side as the instrument of that creative effort

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15–17, ESV)

2. on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done (Genesis 2:2-3)

a. God then blessed the seventh day and made it holy

B. SHABBAT CELEBRATES GOD’S DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL FROM SLAVERY

1. Shabbat is not merely a day of physical rest, but also a day of spiritual delight

a. it is a day of worship and includes singing, and prayer, and Scripture reading, and fellowship, and preaching

2. Shabbat serves as a memorial to God‘s act of rescuing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt

“he said to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’ ” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” 27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.” (Exodus 16:23–30, ESV)

3. the Christian overtones in Shabbat are obvious

a. Shabbat is the immediate predecessor of the Christian Lord’s Day where Christians worship by singing, and praying, and Scripture reading, and fellowshiping, and preaching

1) it’s our day for physical rest and spiritual delight

c. Shabbat is also the foreshadowing of our deliverance, as the Lord's Day serves as a memorial to God's act of rescuing sinners from bondage to sin

C. SHABBAT COMMENDS WORK AND REST

1. the Sabbath points us to two fundamental truths of life

a. 1st the commandment teaches that work is an essential part of life

1) God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to tend it

2) God created us for work, blessed us with abilities, and calls us to glorify Him through our vocation

3) according to Martin Luther, we respond to the call to love God and love our neighbor by fulfilling the duties associated with our everyday work

a) there is a sacredness to work because to do so is to imitate the God who made us in His image

ILLUS. Right now we are living in a strange time. There are millions of job openings across America — something like 10 million. Hourly pay has risen, in some sectors by more than 10% in a year for two years in a row. On the surface, conditions seem ripe for a boom in the U.S. labor market. And yet, large numbers of Americans are choosing not to go to work or even look for work.

In September 2021 alone, 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in a continuation of what is known as The Great Resignation, which has seen Americans resign enforce throughout 2021, putting a severe strain on companies’ ability to staff up their workforce.

A report that came out yesterday revealing that a full 23% of employed Americans plan to quit their jobs in the next 12 months. (Better working conditions, higher pay, and burn out were the top three reasons given).

4) part of being made in the image of God means that we are made for work

a) God worked for six days, and saw everything He had mad as “good” ... indeed “very good”

5) after the Fall, however, sin changed the nature of work

a) no longer was work the joyful tending of a perfect Creation … mankind’s disobedience changed work to a struggle not only to provide sustenance, but a struggle against the impact of sin on that perfect Creation

6) the Fall may have changed the nature of work, but it did not diminish the importance of and necessity of work

b. 2nd, the commandment teaches that rest is an essential part of life

1) science has discovered what God new about us all along — we need a day of rest

2) a day of rest reduces stress, reduces inflammation and the risk of heart disease, boosts your immune system, adds years to your life, restores mental energy, makes you more creative, improves short-term memory, makes you more productive

3) for the Christian, we recognize the importance of a rest day, but also the importance of a worship day

... the Commandment, Men Need to Observe a Day of Rest That Involves Worship

II. THE CONDEMNATION

“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?”” (Mark 2:23–24, ESV)

“Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. 2 And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.”” (Mark 3:1–3, ESV)

1. the Pharisees are accusing Jesus’ disciple of breaking the laws of the Sabbath by picking and eating grain

a. this seems like such a minor thing to us, but it was obviously a big deal at that time

A. YOU SHALL NOT WORK ON THE SABBATH

1. it’s the fifth commandment, and pious Jews were not to break it

a. the commandment, of course, begs the question, What is work?

ILLUS. Even today, the rules of Sabbath-keeping among Orthodox Jews is a tangled web of dos-and-don’t’s. Current Jewish Sabbath day rules forbids driving on Shabbat or turning on a switch that ignites a stove. A pious Jew is not to carry even their keys or a handkerchief. But that can be gotten around by converting something carried into something worn. So is the key becomes a necklace it’s now permissible. None of us would regard those things as work, but Jewish law does. On the other hand, the law does not forbid moving a heavy piece of furniture inside one’s home on the Sabbath, but moving it from the home to an unattached garage is work. Abraham Chill, one of the leading Orthodox Rabbis of the 20th century, wrote that “ ... work is the production, creation, or transformation of an object. You may spend the entire Sabbath opening and closing gook until one drops with exhaustion and yet not violate the Sabbath. On the other hand, the mere striking of a match, just once, is a desecration of the Sabbath because it involves creation.”

2. Sabbath-day rule keeping in Jesus’ day was just as (in our view) convoluted as present-day rules

a. the Torah nowhere tells which labors are forbidden on the Sabbath, and so over the centuries Jewish Rabbis would discuss among themselves what was work and what wasn’t and pass those traditions down orally

1) in the third century all of those oral traditions were finally written down in the Mishna

2) the Rabbis designated thirty-nine forbidden labors, including: plowing, reaping, baking, dyeing wool, weaving, tying a permanent knot, sewing, slaughtering an animal, building,, and pulling down a structure

a) the thirty-eighth forbidden labor is striking with a hammer which came to mean putting the finishing touches on a project

3. Jesus and his disciple are plucking heads of grain and sacking on them which means that they are reaping, threshing (separating the grain from its hull), and winnowing (blowing the chaff away from the grain, and assuming they crushed the grain by chewing it, they were grinding

a. there you go ... four strikes and you’re out!

b. in one innocent action the disciples have broken the Law in four different ways

4. the Pharisees demand an accounting from Jesus, Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?

a. their saying, Look Jesus. These are your disciples. You’re responsible for them because they are obviously doing what you’ve taught them to do. It’s irresponsible, and you’ve got to make them stop!

b. Jesus defends them by appealing to an incident in King David’s life ... “Have you never read?”

1) Jesus basically says, “You pride yourselves in being the very people who uphold the law, and your scribes deem themselves to be so thoroughly versed in it as to be able to teach others; yet are you yourselves unacquainted with the fact that this very law you’re convinced my disciples are breaking allowed its ceremonial restrictions to be ignored in case of need. Have you not read about David and the showbread?f”

ILLUS. This showbread consisted of twelve loaves placed on a table three feet in length, one and a half feet wide, and two feet, three inches high. The table was overlaid with pure gold, surrounded by a molding of gold, and equipped with four rings of gold, a ring at each corner, through which poles were passed, so that the table could be carried. The twelve loaves represented Israel’s twelve tribes and symbolized the constant fellowship of the people with their God.

Every sabbath the old bread was exchanged for fresh loaves. The old loaves were eaten by the priests. They were “for Aaron and his sons,” and forbidden to anyone else.

Yet when, “in the days of Abiathar the high priest”, David, hungry from his escape from Saul, entered “the house of God” and was given this consecrated bread. He shared it with his equally hungry companions. They all ate of it, even though by divine law it had been designated as food for the priests, for them alone.

c. Jesus point is this: if David and his companions had a right to ignore a divinely ordained ceremonial provision when necessity demanded this then would not David’s exalted descendent, namely, Jesus, God’s Anointed and his companions have a similar right to set aside a totally unwarranted, man-made sabbath regulation?

1) for those there who didn’t get the point he was making, he then gets blunt ... “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.”” (Mark 2:27–28, ESV)

2) Jesus claims Lordship over the Sabbath he created, and command Israel to observe

5. Jesus doubles down in Mark 3:1-6

a. Jesus and his disciple arrive at Synagogue, and there for worship is a man with a withered hand

b. the worshipers are there, watching to see what Jesus will do

1) the Pharisees are keenly interested, hoping Jesus will restore the man’s hand thereby giving them an excuse to accuse Jesus — again — of breaking the Sabbath

c. Jesus brings the man up next to him and asks, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm?

1) Jesus is angered at their refusal to answer and grieved over the hardness of their heart

2) these are self-righteous men who have made allowances for dumb animals

3) in another Sabbath-day incident we hear Jesus telling the Pharisees ....

“Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”” (Luke 13:15–16, ESV)

d. why all the fuss?

1) Sabbath-keeping was called a "sign" of the covenant (Exodus 31:13),

ILLUS. For us it is like wedding ring is to a marriage. Not wearing your wedding ring suggests that you're not committed to your marriage. In the same way, not honoring the Sabbath showed contempt for the covenant as a whole (Numbers 15:32-36). However, if human life was in danger, all rules regarding not working on the Sabbath could be set aside for the reason of saving life. (To this day observant Jewish doctors and nurses go to work on Saturday, because even the possibility of saving a life is enough to set the Sabbath aside.)

2) but in the Luke passage Jesus pointed out that Sabbath rules can be set aside if it alleviates suffering

a) even though a donkey could not be untied to go out to work, it could be taken out to be fed and watered, so that it wouldn’t suffer all day

e. Jesus was not violating the law of God when He healed on the Sabbath. He was surely acting against the Pharisaical interpretation of the law

6. Jesus healing on the Sabbath regularly earned him condemnation from the Pharisees

a. Jesus was not violating the law of God when He healed on the Sabbath

b. he was surely acting against the Pharisaical interpretation of the law

III. THE CONFLICT

1. did God institute the Sabbath for man’s benefit, or did God create man to serve the Sabbath?

a. that’s the question

2. Jesus makes it clear that the Law has a greater purpose than to be followed with blind, careless literalism

a. there is meaning behind God’s law, but caring for our own needs and the needs of others is more important than ceremonial rituals

b. the Sabbath is for man, not man for the Sabbath

3. the hard part of the passage is Jesus’ claim to be Lord of the Sabbath

IV. THE CORRECTION

1. in these verses, Jesus is proclaiming that He is the One who exercises authority even over the rules and regulations that govern the Sabbath day

2. as such, Jesus was proclaiming to the world, especially to the legalistic Pharisees, that He was greater than the Law and above the laws of the Mosaic Covenant because, as God in flesh, He is the Author of those laws

a. unable to keep the Law, however, the Pharisees had instituted a complex and confusing system of Sabbath laws of their own that was oppressive and legalistic

b. Jesus had come to free his followers from this

3. as Creator, Christ was the original Lord of the Sabbath

A. THE SABBATH WAS GIVEN TO REFRESH MAN, AND NOT TO CREATE AN ADDITIONAL BURDEN

1. in John 1:3 it says “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made”

a. if this is true, and it is, then Christ was the original Lord of the Sabbath because he instituted it

b. this passage is a not so subtle hint to the Pharisees that Jesus God come in the flesh

2. as Lord of the Sabbath, Christ had the authority to overrule the Pharisees’ traditions and regulations because He had created the Sabbath and the creator is always greater than the creation

Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath, has all power and authority that He could do with it as He pleases, even to abolish it and re-institute it as the Lord’s Day, a day of worship.

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