TAKE YOUR REST: THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT PART 02

Jesus and the Sabbath

As a Torah-observant Jew, Jesus certainly recognised the Sabbath; after all, He was regularly in a synagogue on that special day. Like a normal rabbi, He ‘worked’ on the Sabbath by reading the Law or teaching in the synagogue. Yes, Jesus observed the Sabbath day, but not the tradition of the elders.

Healing on the Sabbath

 In the famous incident in Mark 3:1-6, Jesus healed the man with a withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath. While most reasonable, normal people would rejoice at such a great miracle; indeed, the pious could view this as a sign that Messiah had come. Yet the Pharisees had a different view. Threatened and jealous over His success, they saw their power base eroded by this unordained rabbi from Galilee. They were losing the warm glow of the spotlight. Therefore they watched with suspicion if He would healed the crippled man. If the miracle occurred, they would use it as a basis to accuse and silence Him.

Jesus puts His critics on the spot: Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath, or evil? To save life or kill it? They simply said nothing, thus incurring His anger because of their hardness of hearts. No longer willing to wait for the slightest sign of compassion, Jesus gave the command to the man to stretch forth His hand and as he did, the healing occurred. Glory to God.

While most people were impressed, perhaps to the point of believing in Jesus as Messiah, the Pharisees and a rival Jewish sect called the Herodians, were incensed. They conspired together on a simple goal: How they could destroy Him (Mark 3:6)?

Other ‘Sabbath violations:’ Jesus healed the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:10) and the blind man at the Pool of Siloam (John 9:14); both of these miracles were on the Sabbath day. The legalistic interpretation of the 4th Commandment blinded the Pharisees and others from Messiah’s glory.

Theology of the Sabbath

Jesus’ theology on the sabbath was very simple: The Sabbath exists for the benefit of man; man is not there to serve the Sabbath. We will learn more about this soon.

We would do well to examine Matthew 12:1-8

Of course, it is the Sabbath day. Jesus and His followers are walking through the grain fields and they were feeling peckish. So they picked the heads of the grain and ate them. This would appear to be a harmless and understandable action for 13 hungry men. Yet, from the view of the Pharisees, they were ‘sinning by working’ on the sabbath.

How could this be? Their Sabbath work included harvesting, threshing, winnowing, and preparing the grains for consumption, all in one mouthful.

Over the centuries, the rabbis developed elaborate traditions on how one could and could not keep the Sabbath. There were regulations on how to carry objects, which hands to use, whether you could tie a knot, and even how to draw water from the well (or go thirsty), light a candle … the list goes on.

In defence of His conduct, Jesus uses two illustrations: one of David (I Samuel 21). The other was how the priests violated the Sabbath every single week and yet are blameless.

In the case of David, he and his followers were fugitives, fleeing from the murderous machinations of a frenzied Saul. They arrived at Nob and met with Ahimelech the priest, father of Abiathar (I Samuel 22:20). David asked for bread yet the only loaves are consecrated. Yet the once reluctant priest gave them the holy bread to eat. Even if the meeting was on the Sabbath day, which it possibly was, the surrendering the consecrated bread was justified because it was a humanitarian gesture; not to mention the fact that David was anointed as the next king.

What about the priests profaning the Sabbath on a regular basis? They lift up the animal sacrifice, slaughter, clean, remove, burn on the altar, sweep the ash, and other tasks. Sacrifices may have been twice as many on the Sabbath, hence twice the work. Yet no Pharisee, Sadducees, or chief priest would dare utter a word of criticism of the ‘work’ that was done at the temple. It was most necessary.Jes

Son of God

Quoting Hosea 6:6, which says, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ Ahimelech’s gesture to David regarding the shewbread was an act of mercy. For that matter, so was the plucking of the grain. Then Jesus makes two audacious statements:

1.        Temple: ‘But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple’ (Matthew 12:6). Considering how important the temple of Herod was to pious First Century AD Jews, this statement would have been an outrage, if not a sacrilege. Beautiful a building as it was, the temple lacked several things:

A.      The ark of the covenant: representing the throne and presence of God, His law and word;

B.       Shekinah: The glory was not there, either;

C.       Urim and Thummim: This may have been precious stones on the breastplate of the high priests in the Old Testament, actually representing ‘lights’ and ‘integrities.’ Not there in Jesus’ day.

D.      Holy fire: None from heaven, either.

E.       Found in Jesus: Yet all these things that Herod’s temple lacked, can be found in Jesus Christ - presence, glory, light, integrity, and fire.

2.        Lord of the Sabbath: Like the previous statement, Jesus is attesting to His divinity and prerogative. Rule One: As Lord of the Sabbath, it is He, not the rabbis, who set the rules. Rule Two: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). The Sabbath is our servant, not our master, and was made for our well-being.

An obvious point that totally escaped the Jesus’ blind critics: if God was displeased with Jesus healing on the Sabbath, there would have been no miracles of healing on the holy day. Yet, on the contrary, healings abounded on the Sabbath because that was the day people were found in the synagogue, as well as the open air meetings. These healings were a sign of divine approval and validation of Jesus’ Messianic claims.

For the Christian, the Lord of the Sabbath has a higher and more glorious way besides the countless rules and regulations that were demanded in His day.

TO BE CONTINUED