Jesus: Lord of the Sabbath, Life Cut Short Series #2

One sabbath while Jesus was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.” On another sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would cure on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him. Even though he knew what they were thinking, he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” He got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?” After looking around at all of them, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

INTRODUCTION

ON THIS BEAUTIFUL PENTECOST SUNDAY, WE OPEN OUR NEW TESTAMENTS TO ST. LUKE, THE ONLY WRITER WHO

WROTE SO INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFULLY ABOUT THE DAY THE JESUS SAW FIT TO WORK IN TANDEM WITH OUR

CREATOR GOD TO BIRTH THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH....IT IS IN VOLUME 2 OF HIS WRITINGS, THE BOOK OF ACTS THAT

THIS IS RECORDED:

Acts 2:1–4 (ESV)

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

ST. LUKE IDENTIFIES THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE MINISTRY OF OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.....THE SPIRIT

IS AT WORK IN OUR SCRIPTURE FOR THIS MORNING WHERE JESUS IS DEBATING WITH THE PHARISEES ABOUT THE

SABBATH......

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS AT WORK IN YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW AS YOU WORSHIP AND PRAISE AND HONOR GOD TODAY.....

I’D LIKE TO PROPOSE TODAY THE HOLY SPIRIT IS ALSO ALIVE AND WELL AND WORKING IN SABBATH PRACTICES AS

WE ADOPT AND USE THEM AND LIVE THEM OUT IN THE MIDST OF THESE STRESSFUL TIMES......

SABBATH PRACTICE

IN HER BEAUTIFUL RECOLLECTION OF HER FAMOUS FATHER’S SABBATH PRACTICES SUSANNAH HESCHEL, THE

DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL, THE PROMINENT RABBI WHO WORKED SO CLOSELY WITH THE

REVEREND DR MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. RECALLED THIS:

WHEN MY FATHER RAISED HIS KIDDUSH CUP ON FRIDAY EVENINGS, CLOSED HIS EYES, AND CHANTED THE

PRAYER SANCTIFYING THE WINE, I ALWAYS FELT A RUSH OF EMOTION. THE SENSE OF PEACE THAT CAME

UPON US AS WE KINDLED THE LIGHTS WAS CREATED, IN PART, BY THE HECTIC TENSION OF FRIDAYS.

PREPARATION FOR A HOLY DAY, MY FATHER OFTEN SAID, WAS AS IMPORTANT AS THE DAY ITSELF.

THE SABBATH COMES AS A CARESS, WIPING AWAY FEAR, SORROW AND SOMBER MEMORIES.

MY FATHER RARELY WENT TO THE SYNAGOGUE ON FRIDAY EVENINGS, PREFERRING TO PRAY AT HOME, AND

OUR DINNERS WERE USUALLY QUIET, SLOW AND RELAXED....

TODAY, AS YOU REFLECT ON JESUS, LORD OF THE SABBATH.....REFLECT ALSO ON WHERE IN YOUR LIFE YOU ARE

CULTIVATING WHAT THE RABBI SOUGHT TO ACHIEVE EACH FRIDAY...

WHERE ARE THE QUIET, SLOW AND RELAXED MOMENTS AND EVENTS, TIMES AND PLACES IN YOUR LIFE RIGHT

NOW?

WHERE AND WHEN ARE YOU FEELING THE TRUE CARESS OF OUR SAVIOR, THE LOVE HE SEEKS TO SHARE WITH YOU

WHERE AND HOW DO YOU TAKE A DIFFERENT PATH AWAY FROM THE HECTIC TENSION OFFERED BY LIVES FULL OF

RESPONSIBILITIES, FULL OF MORE AND MORE VOLUMES OF INFORMATION, FULL OF MORE OF THE SORROWS AND

SADNESSES OF THE WORLD?

ONE COMMENTATOR LOOKING AT JESUS’ PURPOSE IN HIS STATEMENTS ABOUT THE SABBATH NOTICED THESE KEY

THINGS I HOPE YOU WILL TAKE HOME OR TAKE FORWARD WITH YOU INTO THE REST OF YOUR LIFE:

Jesus says that the Sabbath was made for humankind. It is meant to be life-giving, not life-draining. It is

meant to be a gift, a time apart from the relentless demands of daily life, a time to rest in God’s presence, a

time to savor the goodness of God’s creation and celebrate God’s deliverance, a time to do what is good and

what gives life.

JESUS BROUGHT ALL HIS JEWISH HERITAGE AND EVEN ONE OF THE GREATEST HEROES OF ISRAEL INTO OUR TEXT

THIS MORNING SAYING:

“Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God

and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and gave

some to his companions?”

WHEN JESUS SEIZED HIS OWN PATH WITH THE SABBATH, IT WAS A DEPARTURE FROM “THE WAY IT WAS DONE

BEFORE”.....IT WAS JESUS POINTING TO A NEW WAY TO SEE IT, FOR THE PHARISEES OF HIS DAY AND FOR US, A NEW

WAY TO APPRECIATE IT AND A NEW WAY TO USE IT.....

SO PASTOR, YOU MAY ASK, HOW DOES SABBATH PRACTICE FIT IN FOR US? CAN IT HELP US KEEP OUR LIVES FROM

BEING CUT SHORT? CAN SABBATH PRACTICE LENGTHEN AND ENHANCE MY LIFE AND STRENGTHEN MY SPIRIT?

SABBATH PRACTICE FOR THE FAITHFUL CHRISTIAN

IT WAS ST. IGNATIUS, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH, ONE OF OUR EARLIEST CHRISTIAN WRITERS WHO DIED IN THE 2nd

CENTURY GAVE US A PATHWAY TO CONSIDER.....A WAY TO PERCEIVE WHAT SUNDAY MEANS FOR US, HOW AS THE

LORD’S DAY, ESTABLISHED FROM THAT VERY FIRST EASTER/RESURRECTION DAY IS MEANT TO BE USED AS A TIME

FOR SPIRITUAL PURSUITS........

HERE ARE HIS REFLECTIONS TO EMBOLDEN YOUR HEARTS AND PRACTICES, BELOVEDS:

Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner…But let every one of you keep the

Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring

the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and

walking within a prescribed space…And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep

the Lord’s Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days [of the week].

THIS SPIRITUAL MANNER NAMED BY ST. IGNATIUS RINGS OUT IN THE VERY WORDS OF THIS PRAYER AROUND THE

GIFTS OUR GOD HAS SHARED WITH US......FOR THESE GIFTS ARE NOT OURS FOR OUR BENEFIT

ALONE.....REFLECTION ON THESE GIFTS CAN BE A WAY OF KEEPING SABBATH AFTER A SPIRITUAL MANNER…FOR

THE PRAYER SAYS THIS:

IF OURS IS THE GIFT OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION, OR COOKING, OR ADMINISTRATION, OR CLEANING OR

ORGANIZATION, OR DESIGNING, OR BUILDING OR PLANNING, OR WRITING, OR TEACHING ----WHATEVER OUR GIFT,

HELP US, O LORD, TO BRING TO FULL FLOWER OUR GIFTS TO BLESS OURSELVES, THE CHURCH AND ALL THE

WORLD WITH A SPIRITUAL BOUQUET, FRAGRANT AND BEAUTIFUL. IN CHRIST’S NAME WE PRAY. AMEN.

ST. LUKE DID SOMETHING ELSE HERE IN THE TEXT AND THESE 2 STORIES ABOUT HOW JESUS WORKS.....IT WAS

SOMETHING SUSANAH HESCHEL ALSO POINTED OUT IN HER STORY ABOUT HER SABBATH PRACTICES WITH HER

DAD....WHAT IF IN OUR OWN SABBATH PRACTICES WE COULD EMBRACE SUSANNAH’S BEAUTIFUL LINE:

THE SABBATH COMES AS A CARESS, WIPING AWAY FEAR, SORROW AND SOMBER MEMORIES.

CONCLUSION

THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND, IN OUR TEXT THIS MORNING, RECEIVED THE SABBATH SPIRIT AND CARESS

OF JESUS......JESUS SPOKE, “STRETCH OUT YOUR HAND”, HE SAID, AND THE MAN’S HAND WAS HEALED

IN THE OTHER STORY OF JESUS AND DISCIPLES, HIS WORDS DEFENDED THEM SO THEIR HUNGRY BELLIES COULD

KNOW THE SATISFACTION OF SOME GRAIN...HIS WORDS AFFIRMING THEM BEFORE THE PHARISEES WERE A CARESS

AND LIKE THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND, THE DISCIPLE WERE READY FOR JESUS’ INTERVENTION, READY FOR

HIS CARESS....

ARE YOU, TOO, READY FOR CHRIST’S CARESS TODAY? WHAT CAN CHRIST HEAL FOR YOU THIS, QUEEN OF ALL

SABBATHS/QUEEN OF ALL LORD’S DAYS? THIS PENTECOST SUNDAY.......

-IS IT YOUR GRIEFS OF THIS LIFE THAT REQUIRES CHRIST’S CARESS? MAY HE HOLD YOU TIGHTLY

-IS IT YOUR BITTER DISAPPOINTMENTS? MAY CHRIST’S TENDER CARESS BE YOURS

-IS IT YOUR STRUGGLE WITH A DEBILITATING DISEASE, OR THE DISEASE OF A LOVED ONE? CHRIST CARESS

-IS IT YOUR CONSTANT PHYSICAL PAIN? CHRIST CARESS

-IS IT THE LONELINESS NOBODY KNOW YOU’RE FEELING? CHRIST CARESS

-IS IT JUST MISSING A SPOUSE OR LOVED ONE? CHRIST CARESS

-IS IT FINANCIAL DISTRESS OR DEFEAT OR EVEN UNEMPLOYMENT? CHRIST CARESS

-IS IT FRIENDS WE’VE LOST TO DEATH OR LOST TOUCH WITH ALONG THE WAY? CHRIST CARESS

CHRIST IS A HEALER, CHRIST IS A REDEEMER, AND OF HIS MERCIES, WE PRAISE GOD THERE IS NO END......

GET QUIET WITH HIM, ALLOW HIM TO CARESS AND HOLD YOU....CHRIST’S LOVING WAYS ARE YOURS FOR THE

RECEIVING AND SHARING BELOVEDS.......COME TO THE TABLE BELOVEDS AS WE PRAISE AND CELEBRATE OUR