Lord of the Sabbath Luke 6:1-11

Transcription

1 Lord of the Sabbath Luke 6:1-11 In the late 1700s, the London fruit and vegetable peddlers told Lord Shaftesbury that their donkeys, if they were rested one day in seven, could travel 30 miles a day with their loads. In contrast, those donkeys that worked seven days a week could only travel 15 miles a day. The peddlers, whose livelihood depended on their animals, discovered that they lost 75 miles of travel each week by working the donkey every day; and they also had a sick, seedylooking donkey in the bargain. But, by using the donkey according to the Ten Commandments they gained 3,900 miles of travel in a year, and had a sleek, nice-looking donkey. Now you may wonder what a donkey has to do with the Ten Commandments. Well, let me read what it says in Deuteronomy 5:14? The seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. God who made both man and donkey knew what was good for them and put both into the Commandments. An infidel doesn t know enough to run a donkey without killing it; and as for man, in Paris, France, where there was no Sabbath observance during this time, there were more suicides in proportion to the population than in any other city in Christendom. Interesting! In our continuing study of Luke s Gospel we move into chapter six. Up to this point, Luke s record shows a lot of curiosity about Jesus and who He is. The common people from all over the region flocked to hear His teaching and to experience His healing. The Pharisees, while skeptical and reserved, have not yet reached a point of open opposition; but that all changes in the opening events of this chapter. The parables that end chapter five, which we looked at last time, were an indication of the growing differences between Jesus and the Pharisees. His teaching, when compared with traditional Jewish belief, was like a new garment which will replace an old one, or like new wine that will burst old wineskins. And so in the beginning of this chapter, rather than try to placate the opposition between Himself and the Pharisees Jesus seems to throw down the gauntlet. He clearly confronts them with the statement that HE is the One qualified to decide what constitutes keeping the Sabbath, not them! 1

2 Several words from His statement become the title for our study; Lord of the Sabbath. Now I will read our text, Luke 6:1 to 11. As we reflect on the words, Lord of the Sabbath we learn several things. First, the word, Lord, establishes authority. And the word, Sabbath, establishes the sphere or area in which that authority is exercised. So then, as we study this text we want to see how Jesus, in His authoritative position, understood and defined the original intent of the Sabbath. His Argument from Scriptural Precedent The picture Luke creates for us in the opening verse of this chapter is one that must have been quite common in that day. The Law, according to Deuteronomy 23:25 permitted those passing by the grain field, olive grove, or vineyard the right to pick and eat what was needed to satisfy their hunger. The only prohibition was you couldn t put any in your basket to carry home. Picture Jesus and His disciples walking beside a field of standing grain. As they walk, the disciples strip the heads of grain from the stalk, rubbing the kernels together in their hands to remove the outer husks. You know, I remember doing that on the small farm where I spent most of my childhood. You can strip the head off the stalk of wheat or barley in one smooth motion. Then, rub the kernels together in your hand to remove the husks, blow gently so those husks float away, and viola, you have a ready-made snack - not very tasty, but certainly nutritious! OK, that s what the disciples were doing; satisfying their personal hunger. The Pharisees immediately accuse them of doing something that was not lawful for the Sabbath. How so? Well, in their minds, there were three simultaneous violations: reaping, threshing, and preparing of food! In fact, the Pharisees had come up with 39 specific kinds of activities that were prohibited on the Sabbath. It seems to me that the simple act of walking took more work, more effort, than the process of eating a few kernels of grain. And of course, the Pharisees had figured out exactly how far you could walk on the Sabbath too. Who said that the actions of the disciples violated the Law? It was the Pharisees. They saw themselves as the final arbiters of the Law. But Jesus had something to say about that. Now before I look at Jesus response, I want to say just a bit about the Pharisees and their relationship with Jesus and the people of that day. First, while Jesus was sharply critical of the 2

3 Pharisees, He also realized that theirs was a sincere attempt to obey the law. If that were not the case, then why did He say things like, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not after their works: for they say, and do not. That s Matthew 23:2 and 3. There are numerous other places where Jesus said similar kinds of things. The Jewish historian, Josephus, says [in the time of Jesus] the Pharisees comprised only about five percent of the nation and numbered just over 6,000 full-fledged members. They were regarded as the most accurate interpreters of the Law and were held in such esteem that all Jewish prayers and religious services were brought into conformity to what the Pharisees taught. Even the Sadducees made some concessions to Pharisaic practices. Jesus did not fault them for their study and application of the Law. He faulted them for giving their interpretations equal weight with the Scripture. In fact, at one point, Jesus said to them in Mark 7:9; You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! So, because Jesus and His disciples did not keep the law exactly the way the Pharisees thought it should be kept, they were guilty of violating the law. Now, let s look at how Jesus responded to them. He appealed to the Scriptures. Two things stand out here; first, God s Word is authoritative. It gives direction for living. Second, the Pharisees accepted and studied the complete Old Testament, not just the Torah as the Sadducees did. Because of this, they should have been familiar with the fact that, in some cases, personal needs preempt the law. Jesus takes them back to the experience of David in First Samuel chapter 21. There, as you may recall, David was fleeing from Saul and came to the town of Nob. This was the location of the Holy Tabernacle during the reign of Saul. David was hungry so he asked Ahimelech, the priest, for five loaves of bread or whatever was available. Ahimelech told him the only thing he had on hand was showbread, the hallowed bread, The Bread of the Presence. The Bread of the Presence was 12 loaves, one loaf for each tribe of Israel. It was a symbol of God s desire for fellowship and communion with His people. The loaves were placed on a golden table in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle and remained there for one week. Then, they were removed and fresh loaves were put in their place. The only bread Ahimelech had on hand was what had been removed to make room for the fresh bread. That hallowed bread, 3

4 according to the Leviticus 24:9 was to be eaten by the priests. While the text in Leviticus doesn t specifically state that this bread was forbidden to others, Jesus says it was for the priests alone. So what was Jesus getting at with this illustration? First, there does seem to be a bit of a dig at the Pharisees; a rebuke by Jesus. Most of our English translations don t communicate it very well because it s hard to capture in English. The closest we can come is something like, have you not read even this? After all, these guys were the scholars and had a high regard for the Hebrew Scriptures; they should ve been familiar with what happened here. Jesus makes it clear by this illustration that human need trumps the letter of the law. Now, that statement can be taken, and some have done it, as a license to do whatever they want. But that violates the spirit of what Jesus taught here in our text. The key is human NEED. This illustration isn t about convenience; it s about need. It s not like this imaginary letter to God that I came across in my studying. You see, God, it s like this: We could attend Church more faithfully if your day came at some other time. You have chosen a day that comes at the end of a hard week, and we re all tired out. Not only that, but it s the day following Saturday night, and Saturday night is one time when we feel that we should go out and enjoy ourselves. Often it s after midnight when we reach home, and it is almost impossible to get up on Sunday morning. And you must realize that you have picked the very day on which the morning paper takes the longest to read the day when the biggest meal of the week must be prepared. We d like to go to church, and know that we should; but you have just chosen the wrong day. The problem with the reasoning of this imaginary letter is, it doesn t matter what day of the week God would ve chosen; some people would still have a problem with it. Jesus wasn t making excuses for His followers to do whatever they felt like doing; He was defending a legitimate need. Today, within the realm of Christendom there is considerable debate about how this principle of one-day-in-seven should be observed; Sabbath or Sunday, or if it should be observed at all! Those who argue for a Saturday observance point back to Genesis 2:2 and 3. These verses record how God rested on the seventh day of Creation and set that day apart as a day of rest. They make a valid point. 4

5 Those who advocate for Sunday point to the Resurrection of Christ and the fact that the early church met for times of worship and fellowship on the first day of the week, Acts 20:7 and First Corinthians 16:2. They too have valid points for their belief. And then there s another group that says there s no need for any special day of the week to be set aside as a worship day. They argue that every day should be a day of worship. They point out that the observance of the Sabbath and feast days were only shadows of things to come, and when Jesus died, rose again, and ascended to heaven those shadows and types contained in the law were all fulfilled. So now, no one particular day of the week is more holy than the others. They quote Galatians 4:10 and similar verses. Their argument has some valid points too. So what do we make of these different ideas and of Jesus teaching? Well, one thing seems clear; don t reject out of hand those who see thing differently than you do! At the same time, remember that there are biblical commands like those in Hebrews 10:23 to 25. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. I conclude that those who use the argument that no one particular day is to be set aside for worship, fellowship, and inspiration are at the greatest risk of becoming self-absorbed in their business and pleasure. There is something valuable about structure and discipline in our lives. But then there s also the risk of becoming a Sunday-Christian. You go to church and observe the day of rest; but the rest of the week those who don t know you went to Sunday service could never tell that you claim to be a follower of Christ. So in reality, this whole issue becomes a matter of what s in your heart. As I reflect on my own childhood, one of the blessings I had was my parents view of the importance of regular worship and fellowship with other Believers. My parents had a very simple, yet strong practice; when there was a meeting in our home church, we were there! That was certainly not always convenient, but to them, it was a commitment. As I mentioned before, we had a small dairy farm. The day of rest for us was a welcome respite from the daily toil of the farm. It gave us a chance to attend worship services, fellowship with family and friends, and enjoy family time. 5

6 I remember times when we had hay laying in the fields and rain in the forecast. But we also had revival meetings (in those days they lasted a whole week). The hay was left in the fields and we went to the service. If the hay got rained on, that was unfortunate, but not catastrophic. I never felt like my parents made that commitment in order to look good in the eyes of other people or to appear as being more spiritual than others. They simply made a good-faith attempt to live out biblical principles in a practical way. As a result of that commitment there were certain activities that were off-limits for us on Sunday. I did not necessarily agree with them on all those areas. But I still see great value in keeping one day a week as a special day unto the Lord. But that special day should be a blessing, not a burden. I well remember, in the aftermath of Hurricane Agnes in 1972 going to the town of Gibraltar, Pennsylvania on a Sunday afternoon to help with the clean-up in the aftermath of that massive storm. It was hard, dirty, exhausting work shoveling several feet of mud and muck out of basements. Yet we did it as an expression of our love for the Lord and concern for our neighbors. I believe that is, at least in part, what Jesus was trying to teach the Pharisees. Their rigid enforcement of rules and regulations turned what should have been delight into drudgery; not only for them, but for those who looked up to them as spiritual guides. If only they would have read and understood the words of Isaiah 58 they would ve known that God intended the Sabbath to be a time of great joy; a time of blessing and rich fellowship. And one thing you ll notice is that the focus of that chapter is on God first, and then on blessing others. There are many professing Christians today who see God s commands as drudgery. They think God is out to spoil their fun and to make their lives monotonous. They feel this way because their focus is on themselves and what they want, what they enjoy. But Jesus said that joy in life comes by learning to serve others. If anyone should have been offended by the disciples behavior, it should have been Jesus! As God in the flesh He understood perfectly the need of His followers, His children. He still understands today. And so He said to the Pharisees, I m the Master of the Sabbath, I helped write these laws; I ll show you how to interpret them. Here we have the Living Word appealing to a precedent in the written Word to establish His authority to interpret the Law! 6

7 His Argument from Human Predicament The second incident recorded in our text takes place on another Sabbath day. Here, Jesus is teaching in the synagogue. Nothing new with that, it was something He did regularly. In the congregation that day was a man with a withered or shrunken hand. Here again we see Luke s medical training come through because he is the only one of the gospel writers who identifies it at being the man s right hand. This is an important detail because, for most people, the right hand is the predominant one, the one that enables them to work and earn a living. Marvin Vincent, in his Word Studies in the New Testament writes; The [Greek] participle indicates that the withering was not congenital, but the result of accident or disease. So this man was not born with a deformity. Now, notice verse seven. The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Jesus to see whether or not He would heal someone on the Sabbath day. They had been skeptical before; now they re becoming antagonistic. They are watching Him, not just out of curiosity or interest, now there s animosity. They are watching to see what he will do so they can accuse Him of breaking the Law. That would tarnish His reputation in the eyes of the people and give them an excuse to bring Him before the Sanhedrin. But by virtue of His deity, Jesus always had the upper-hand. All-along He knew what they were thinking! Again, Jesus seems to intentionally raise the level of pressure in the situation. He commands the man with the withered hand to stand up and move into the middle of the congregation! Now Jesus has everyone s attention. As everyone is looking at Him, He asks the question; Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to destroy it? In my mind, this is a rhetorical question; the answer is self-evident. I m fairly certain Jesus intended it to be so. After asking the question, Jesus pauses to give them time to reflect on His question. As they ponder His words He takes time to slowly and deliberately look over the entire audience. Then He says to the man, Stretch out your hand. The man obeyed and immediately his hand was restored to wholeness like his uninjured one. How would you have responded if you d been there? I know I d have been very glad for the man who was healed. I would ve rejoiced with him in the miracle of his restoration. After all, 7

8 what if the roles had been reversed? What if I were the one with the withered hand? How would I want him to respond to my blessing? Think of what this meant to him, not only physically, but also spiritually and emotionally! If he were a day-laborer he would be much more likely to be hired now because he was a whole man. He could once again provide for himself and for his family, if he had one. He no longer would replay over and over in his mind the circumstances that led to his disability. Instead, he would relive the miraculous moment when his hand was restored and along with it his life was restored! He could now hold his head high and walk with confidence. Oh, but notice the response of the Pharisees. Our text says They were filled with senseless rage and began to discuss among themselves what they might do to Jesus. Yes, senseless rage indeed! This incident reminds me of one that s recorded later on in Luke s Gospel. It s in chapter 13, verses 14 to 17 where Jesus healed a woman on the Sabbath. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, You hypocrite, do not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him. You know, there is a time and place for anger, for righteous indignation. When we see the helpless and the innocent being exploited by the powerful we should be angry. When we see children abused and abandoned by those who brought them into this world we should be upset enough to act. But that wasn t the kind of anger the Pharisees had. No, they had a blind and senseless rage; a violent reaction to someone who made them look bad in the presence of their peers. It was pure hatred for a person who was truly holy! I ve never seen that kind of rage that will actually lead to murder like theirs eventually did. But I have seen the rage of people, when their hypocrisy has been exposed; lead them to bitterness and character assassination. 8

9 Their hatred is so sad, because in their desire to obey God s law and keep the Sabbath, they had come to the place where they missed the basic reason why God created the Sabbath. God didn t create the Sabbath because He was tired and needed a rest. No; He created the Sabbath for the benefit of His creation. It is interesting to note that man was created just as (what we might call) God s weekend was beginning. Had God s plan proceeded as it should have, the whole of human history would have been spent in the joyous Sabbath rest for the people of God Hebrews 4:9. But sin entered the picture and man s days are now spent in wearisome toil. After the sin of our first parents, the seventh day, or the Sabbath is not mentioned again until the celebration of the Passover in Exodus. When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, before receiving the Law at Mt. Sinai, they were forbidden to gather manna on the seventh day. And of course, the command to keep Sabbath is part of the Decalogue. John Stott writes, The Sabbath day became a very important feature of Jewish religion, and when their vision was clearest the Jews understood that the weekly day of rest was a ritual anticipation of the advent of the messianic age - a kind of picture, in the form of a religious observance, of what the whole of life would once again be like when God s Messiah came into the world to set things right and therefore a thing of delight. But as we seen in this text, that truth is easily obscured and the promise can become just a lifeless form. It s obvious to me that Jesus was not denigrating Sabbath observance, He was objecting to the rigid rules of the Pharisees that made the day a joyless drudgery. The Sabbath, or Lord s Day, or Sunday, or whatever day of the week you use as a day of rest and reflection on God s good gifts should be a time of joy and blessing for you and others. One implication of the Genesis story is that a Sabbath day s rest, one day in seven, is a pattern which has been built into creation and into human life from the start. It is not merely a Jewish or a Christian observance; whatever a man s religion, his constitution as a human being needs a rhythm of this kind. In my opening illustration I mentioned about the pack animals and their improved performance with a rest period of one day in seven. There have been studies that show even inanimate machinery functions better and lasts longer if it has one day of rest per week. I m told that specialist Dr. Haegler, of Basil, Switzerland, shows by an ingenious chart that the night s rest does not balance the day s work. A workman, for example, breathes thirty ounces of oxygen during Monday s work but uses thirty-one. At the close of the day he is one- 9

10 ounce short has tired body and is that much in debt to nature. He goes to sleep and breathes more oxygen than he uses, so that in the morning he has gotten back five-sixths. The night s rest does not balance the day s work. On Sabbath morning he is six-sixths of an ounce in debt to nature, a whole ounce short, a whole day behind, so that he must rest a whole day to get a square ledger balance with nature. Thus week by week he is restored. But if he neglects to take this weekly rest he runs down and dies before his time. And so it seems clear that God gave man a day of rest to the benefit of all creation! So what conclusions can we draw from these scenes Luke records for us. First, that the Old Testament, even though its laws are no longer binding, has much to teach us if we are willing to examine the spirit and not be bound by the letter. Even when examining the Law with its many prohibitions, we must understand that these were all given by God for the protection and blessing of His people. They were never intended to make life joyless and dreary. As those who live today under New Testament grace we must also realize that the requirements of godliness are much greater than under the Law. Now, our thoughts, attitudes, and motivations are under the searchlight of the Word and the Holy Spirit, not just our actions. According to Hebrews 12:14 purity of heart and holiness of life are requirements for those who desire to see God at work in their lives today, and ultimately in His eternal presence. We should also learn to exercise patience and forbearance with those who have a different view of the Sabbath than we do. As human beings, we all lack in understanding; we all see through a glass darkly. Let s encourage one another to keep our focus on why we re here and on our eternal reward. Let s Not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhort one another: and so much the more, as we see the day approaching. Let s use wisely the wonderful gift of a day of rest we have. It is meant for our good and for the edification of others. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath; therefore the Sabbath was never intended to be a day of drudgery! It was meant to be a day that honors God and blesses and refreshes His people. 10