Did Jesus change the Sabbath?

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to Wednesday in the Word. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. This is the final talk in a four-part series on the Sabbath. Today we'll look at various aspects that address the question of whether or not Jesus changed the Sabbath. Because this talk was recorded before a live audience, the audio contains some background noise. Lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below this podcast. Lecture notes are the information I would give you on a handout if I were teaching you in person. You can also find those lecture notes by going directly to wednesdayintheword.com slash Sabbath 4. Thanks so much for joining us. Well, this is our fourth and our last week on this in our series on the Sabbath. So today we're going to look at the Gospel of Mark and we're going to look at two stories where Jesus discusses the Sabbath and see what we can learn from his actions. So let me just review where we've been. The first week we talked about rest as a reminder of our dependence on God. We focused on why we rest and that we rest to remember who God is and what he's done for us. So the Sabbath is about God. It's not about us or us being more productive or us doing what we need to be healthy. It's something that we do to remember that God created us, God chose us, and God redeemed us. And so it's to remind us that we find our complete dependence on Him. The second week we look at, okay, so how do we do that? And we talk about what to do and what not to do. The one sentence summary of that is cease striving and know that He is God. So the simple command is stop working, and we defined work as everything you do that sustains your life. So we stop those activities and instead we do the things that nurture our faith and our rest in God. And so we also talked about how Sabbath is primarily an issue of the heart and that it's going to look different for different people, and that God is much more concerned with what you're doing on the inside. In other words, who you're trusting on the inside rather than what you're doing on the outside. So last week we talked about when, when do we get to enjoy the Sabbath? And we looked at Hebrews 3 and 4, and we talked about the fact that Sabbath is really a rest that is yet to come, and that we defined rest as entering God's presence, and that what we do now is a shadow of the time when we will fully and finally enter his presence free, completely free from sin. So we Hebrews makes very clear that rest is given to those who believe, and it is denied to those who do not believe, and that belief is saving faith in Jesus Christ. So we define saving faith as four things. Realizing I'm sinful, realizing I cannot free myself from my sin. That's the second one. Third, God is not required to free me from sin. And then finally, the fourth one is trusting God to make me holy, to free me completely from sin because of the work of Jesus Christ. So that's the belief that he's talking about that's required to enter God's rest. And it's vitally important that I have faith because without that I have nothing. So a lot of what happens in our lives is not designed to give us easy lives, it's designed to make us people of faith, to strengthen and nurture us. Okay, so now we're gonna look at, today we're gonna look at the Gospel of Mark, chapter 2, and we're gonna look at two stories where Jesus deals with the Sabbath and try to figure out how this adds to our understanding. How did Jesus change what we know about Sabbath? And I hope what we're gonna see today is that Sabbath is a rest that is given to us as a gift, not something we earn. Okay, so turn to Mark chapter 2. We're gonna start in verse 23 and go through 3-6. And there are two Sabbath stories here back to back. In the first one, the Pharisees are accusing Jesus' disciples of breaking the Sabbath. And in the second story, Jesus turns around and accuses the Pharisees of breaking the Sabbath, or saying, No, you're the real Sabbath breakers. And he's going to he asked them a question in the second story: what would please God on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil? To give life or to take a life? And when you think about that question, that should not be hard to answer. So in fact, if we went downstairs to the Sunday school and we found the lowest level of Sunday school and we asked the kids, what would God like better, to do good or to do evil? We would expect that all of them would know the answer to that. And they, if we said, would God prefer that you give life or that you take a life, they would all say, Of course, give life. But the Pharisees refused to answer the question. As we'll see, not only do they refuse to answer, by the end of the passage, they are plotting to kill Jesus. They're completely not only not answering the question, they are choosing both evil and death. Okay, so turn to Mark chapter 2, verse 23, and this is where we're going to start. One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grains, and the Pharisees were saying to him, Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? Actually, let me set this up for you for a minute before we go farther. What I want you to see in this exchange is the Pharisees are asking a real question here, and they're getting a real answer. In the second exchange, it's a much more hostile confrontation. They are looking for a way to trip Jesus up. But in this exchange, it appears that they're asking a very real question. They want to know what's going on, and Jesus gives them a very thoughtful, a real answer. What's going on is that Sabbath had become extremely important to the Jews at this time. As we've seen, Sabbath was tied to creation, God rested on the seventh day, and because his work was done, and we rest to remember that, and then Sabbath was tied to the Exodus, that we were rest to remember that God redeemed us from slavery. And now we're past the Babylonian exile and we've come back. And when the Jews came back from exile, the Sabbath took on even greater significance. Because following the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah, the scribes developed this rigorous code of what it meant to work and not work and what you could and could not do on the Sabbath. And I think there was this sense of we don't want to go through that exile again. So this time we're going to get it right. And part of getting it right is keeping the Sabbath, and so it became very important what you did and what you didn't do. So to make sure that everyone was doing it right, the rabbis and the scribes begin to develop these painfully minute and complicated sets of rules about what was okay and what wasn't okay, and it was an attempt to preserve the holiness of the Sabbath. So they were like they were building a fence around the law so they could make sure that they possibly kept it. And in fact, it became so important that if you broke the Sabbath, it was punishable by stoning. And at the time of the Maccabean Revolt, which is around 168 BC, the Sabbath was so important that the Jews who were defending themselves chose to die rather than go to war on the Sabbath. So when their enemies attacked them, they refused to pick up their swords and let themselves be slaughtered. That's how important it had become. It was like a litmus test of his credibility at the time of Jesus. So there was a lot of emotion around it. There were a lot of do you follow this rabbi's teachings or that rabbi's teachings or this sets of laws or that sets of laws? And so what any particular teacher thought about the Sabbath was important. You might think of it the way we use abortion, or some people use abortion, as a litmus test for politicians. People want to know where do you stand on that because it can you kind of figure out where their views are on other things. And that's what's going on here with Jesus. They want to know where he stands on the Sabbath because it kind of points out what kind of a rabbi is he. Where does he stand? And at this point, he's not just an ordinary citizen. He's been teaching, he's been preaching like a prophet, he's healed people, and he's making bold claims about forgiving people's sins, which was something only God can do. He's claiming the kingdom of God is at hand. He's not just any ordinary teacher that's come along down the pike and they want to know what do you think about the Sabbath? Does he follow these scribal interpretations or not? Which rules, if any, does he think are important? So as his disciples are going through the grain fields and they're plucking off the heads of grain, they are breaking any number of laws depending on who you're following, because there were all kinds of laws against reaping, winnowing, threshing, and preparing a meal, and they could be accused of doing all of that. So their actions provoke a reaction from the Pharisees, so they asked Jesus, Well, why are you doing this? So that's what's going on. So let's go back to Mark 2 23. So one Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, the disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? And he said to them, Have you never read what David did when he was in need and was hungry, and he and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the priest, and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat, and also gave it to those who are with him. And he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. Okay, so that sounds confusing. But as good Bible students, when we see Jesus say something like, Have you never read? We should go read it. So keep your finger in mark. Turn back to 1 Samuel 21, because this is what Jesus is referring to. This is a story of King David. He is he is not yet on the throne when this takes place. He has been anointed king by Samuel, but Saul is still ruling, and Saul has now become jealous of David as his fortunes rise, and it's apparent God is with him, and he is now trying to kill David, and David flees for his life. So this is 1 Samuel 21. I'm going to read 1 through 6. Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling and said to him, Why are you alone and no one with you? And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you. I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever is here. And the priest answered David, I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread if the young men have kept themselves from women. And David answered the priest, Truly, women have been kept from us, as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy, even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy? So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the presence, which is removed from before the Lord to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away. David is fleeing for his life. It's become apparent that Saul is trying to kill him. The first place he goes is to the tabernacle at Nob, where he meets Ahimelech the priest. So he's about to go out on this journey. He has no provisions. At this point, he has lost everything and he is desperate. He can't go home because he will endanger his family. He's lost his wife. She's been taken away and given to another. He loses his position at court. He has no army with him, no fighting men with him. He can't just kind of fade into obscurity because he's too well known at this point. People would recognize him wherever he goes. And if they recognize him and help him, he is putting them in danger because they could be accused of treason. And if anyone he meets could potentially hand him over to Saul and tur, or, you know, turn him. So he's a fugitive in his homeland. And this has to be a pretty low point for him. He is completely and utterly alone. And yet he's not alone. God's going to provide for him. So just as an aside, you'll notice that Jesus says at the time of Abiathar, and the story says that David goes to Ahimelech. This is just a side, but it this is one of those places where people go, aha, this is an error in the Bible. See, it's got errors. So let me just explain to you why that's not an error, or at least I don't think it is. Abiathar and Ahimelech are contemporaries, and later in the story, Saul will, in a murderous fit of rage, kill all the priests, and only one escapes, and the one who escapes is Abiyathar, and he goes to David, and is now spends the rest of his days with David. And he had become the more famous of his contemporaries because he was the one who escaped. So it would be like us saying, in the time of Obama, when I'm speaking about George Bush, well, you could say, well, Obama is really the one president now, but they were contemporaries, and maybe one was more famous than the other. So he's using that as a locator. It I don't in fact think that he was misspeaking. He was just saying the person you would know from that time period is Abby Athar in that time. So follow me there? But that's one of the places where people will look at this and say, see, Jesus made a mistake. I don't think that was really a mistake. There you go. Okay, back to the story. So what's going on here is David goes to the priest, he has no provisions, he has nothing for his journey, and he asks for bread, and the only bread available is the show bread. So now we have to know, okay, what was that? So this is in Leviticus 24. So if you have another finger, you can turn back to Leviticus 24, 5, and then we'll figure out what's going on with the bread. The commandment is in Leviticus, this is 24, 5 through about 8 or 9. You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it. Two tenths of an epha shall be in each loaf, and you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile on the table of pure gold before the Lord, and you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion, or as a food offering for the Lord. Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly. It is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever, and it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord's food offerings, a perpetual dew. So this was called the bread of the presence or the show bread. There was one there were twelve loaves, one for each of the tribes of Israel, and they were placed on the golden table in front of the Holy of Holies every Sabbath day, left there, and then the next Sabbath they were taken away and replaced with fresh hot bread. And when they were taken away, at that point they were given to the priests, and the priests were allowed to eat them. That's the bread that they're talking about, and only the priests are supposed to eat it. But David and Ahimelech have this discussion about whether David and his men are clean, and he says, Well, if your men are clean, you can eat it. Well, Leviticus doesn't say that. Somewhere between Aaron and David's time, the practices had changed a little bit. That's an interesting wrinkle as why they were even allowing that, because technically, according to the law, it didn't matter whether David's men's were clean, they weren't allowed to eat it anyway. But David responds, Truly, men have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy, even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will be will their vessels be holies? This is the turning point of the scene in Samuel. This is apparently the logic that's David using, and as we'll see, this is the logic that Jesus commends him for. Because his response is, I am doing what I need to do to obey God. So I am acting out of obedience to God, therefore my journey is clean. Uh-huh. Speaker 1: Oh, I'm sorry, I just don't. Do you think that the the priest in this case was not maybe going off some kind of change in the law about asking if the men were clean, but maybe just trying to find out if he was trying to, you know, keep these men alive who were acting in a holy way, or if he just didn't want to help them if they were acting in some way that was going to be a good thing. Krisan Marotta: I'm not sure. It I think my suspicion is it's probably had become that twelve loaves with a lot of bread to eat, and there might not have been, you know, what do you do if there's not enough priests to eat them? Then what do you do with it? So it became a practice of you can't really throw it away because it was an offering to the Lord. So I think they made these provisions for, well, if you're clean, if you've been following the laws, they'd share it. So that's my guess. I don't really know for sure. Okay, so so the question becomes is are David and his men clean? And he's his answer is I'm obeying God. Therefore, the mission I'm on is clean, therefore it's holy, and uh Ahimelech concurs and gives him the bread. Following this exchange, David then asks for a weapon, and the priest says, Well, the only weapon available is the sword of Goliath. Now, the interesting thing about this is that sword should rightfully have belonged to David, because typically after he slew Goliath, it would have been given to him as a trophy of war and kind of a memorial to his valor and his courage. The interesting thing is that it's in the house, it's of the Lord, it's in the tabernacle. And a lot of the scholars I read on this said this is an indication of David's heart, because rather than keeping it for himself as look what I did in slaying Goliath, he returns it to God as look who delivered us from Goliath. It was God. So the memorial, uh the trophy, if you will, the war trophy belongs to him. And now what we're gonna see is is God gives it back to him for this journey. This is the priest turns around and gives him not only the bread but then the sword. Okay, so David makes this statement that he is clean and the journey he's on is is holy because he's obeying the the Lord, and that raises a couple of interesting questions because it looks like he just lied to the priest. How can he claim to be clean if he just kind of fudged the truth for a Himelech? He says in verse 2 that the king has commissioned him, and the and in verse 8 that the king's matter is urgent, when in fact he is fleeing from Saul. Saul knows nothing about his journey, so was he being truthful? So it's a little bit of an aside in terms of the Sabbath, but I wanted to deal with it because it always comes up. So, first you have to remember the context of this event. There's a civil war going on here, and people's lives are at stake. And it's not just David's life, but Ahimelech's life is at stake as well. You'll see if you keep reading through the chapter, there is a spy present for this exchange, an Edomite spy who is listening to everything David and Ahimelech say. And David is very careful not to place all his cards on the table, because if he had walked in and said, Okay, Ahimelech, I'm fleeing from Saul, choose. You're gonna follow me, you're gonna follow Saul. Now, Ahimelech has a choice of treason, in which he will get killed, or turning David in, in which he also might get killed. And so he's forcing him to choose a side and knowing there is a spy listening, and we are told later that David knew there was a spy listening. David spares him that choice. He refrains from telling Ahimelech he's a fugitive, so Ahimelech can legitimately claim later on, I was innocent. I did not know I was helping an enemy of Saul. And in fact, that's exactly what happens in ch um is it 22 or 24 when Saul finds out and he accuses Ahimelech of treason, Ahimelech says, Look, it was David. He's your son-in-law, he has a high position in your court, he's one of your leading generals. I have helped him many times before as a priest. How would I know that something had changed? I had no way of knowing that now David has become a fugitive. Of course, Saul doesn't listen to him and he massacres not only a Himelech, but all the priests he can get his hands on at the same time. David is protecting not only himself, he's protecting a Himelech. He is giving him cover, if you will, by not forcing him to take a side. So his statements, first, you have to consider the context. There could have been a very pure motive in it. And the second is it's not a direct lie, it's ambiguous. He says he's sent by the king, so we would assume he means King Saul, but he could very well mean the King of Kings has sent him on this mission. And his mission is secret and her and urgent, but it's he's letting uh those listening believe it's Saul when in fact it's really Yahweh, the king he's referring to, I think. His statement is true but not complete. So, did he lie or not? Well, I think the principle here, at least, is in time of war, being truthful does not mean you have to put all your cards on the table. You don't have to tell those who are trying to kill you everything you know. And I think we can at least draw that from him. So keeping your confidence could be the wisest course, especially when not only is your life at stake, but other people's lives are at stake. So, in either case, though, the text neither condemns nor condones David's words, it's his actions that Jesus is referring to, and that's both in Samuel and then in Jesus' words, that's what he comments on. So the larger question is what's God doing in this exchange, and why does Jesus commend David for it? Because I think that raises the question, when David says he's cling, and it raises the question, which king is truly clean? You've got Saul and you've got David. And you've got Saul sitting on his throne, presumably following all the rituals, and you have David fleeing for his life, breaking the rules. But who was doing what God wanted them to do? Obviously, I think the answer is David. You have Saul, even though he's king, the throne, he's already been told by Samuel that the kingship has been taken from him, and he is now trying to kill someone, clearly against God's law, but yet he is outwardly keeping all the rules, and yet you have David who's breaking the rules, fleeing for his life, and yet he is the one who's clean. Which one is right? What's more important to God? Keeping the rules on the outside, or are you trusting on the inside? And it's interesting, I think, what's true of the showbread is true of the two kings, because Saul has been removed from the presence of the Lord in order to put a new king in his place. So I think there's another little level of symbolic kind of actions going on. And Saul is clinging to a throne that is no longer his, and David is waiting patiently for God to give him a throne that's been promised, but he does not yet have. And God not only protects him, through the priesthood, he gives him both bread, a holy bread, and a holy sword, essentially for his journey. So, in other words, he says, look, I'm c I am right because I am doing what God wants me to do. I'm on a mission from God. It's more important that I obey God than that I obey these religious rituals of the Sabbath. That's his logic, and Jesus commends him for it. Jesus says, He was right. Haven't you read what David did? And that should tell us something about the rules. I just want to point out, let's go back to the New Testament now. Matthew 12 has the same incidence, and in this incidence, he gives us a little more detail. In that answer, he adds these additional things. Let's see if I can find the right verse. It's Matthew 12, verse 3. He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who are with him? How he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who are with him, but only for the priests. Have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? And then notice these verses I tell you something greater than the temple is here, and if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless, for the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. So I think he's reiterating the point we were just talking about. This I desire mercy, not sacrifice. What's more important to God? Following the rules on the outside or throwing yourself on his mercy. So as we just asked the question, which king was doing right, Saul clinging to the throne that had been taken from him, yet following the religious rituals of his day, or David who was breaking the rules, but waiting for God to give him the throne that was promised to him, and trusting God to protect him even when he was at this low point of having nothing, still not taking matters into his own hands. So which king was right? Which one was God pleased with? And we can tell obviously it was the one who was offering his humble and broken heart, not the one who was clinging in pride to the throne that wasn't his. Okay, and then notice how Jesus applies the story. Now I'm back in Mark. Mark 2 27, when he says the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. Okay, so that's the statement we're gonna have to try to understand if we want to understand what's going on here. And one option is that this is a legal ruling. And this is a valid interpretation, it's not the one I lean toward, but the idea that human need takes precedence over religious observers. So this understanding would say, well, David was hungry, and hunger is a basic human need, and that takes precedence over the rules of following the Sabbath. So he his actions were permitted because he was hungry, and so it's kind of a legal ruling of when you've got all these laws and needs, what takes precedence. The rabbis did make allowance for that. If you look through all their kind of scribal notes on what was and wasn't allowed on the Sabbath, they had these detailed prescriptions of when a life was in danger what you could do. Interestingly, it was only when an Israelite's life was in danger you could do these things. If it was a Samaritan, especially, or a heathen, you could, you're supposed to let them die. In many of the rabbis. So, but at least they made some exceptions of their rule in their rules to preserve life. Okay, so that is one possibility. I don't think that's what's going on because that's not the logic that David gives. When David responds to a Himelech, he doesn't say, Well, I'm starving and I have to have bread to continue my journey. He makes a theological argument saying the mission I'm on is holy. And I think that's what Jesus is commending him for, his theological understanding, not a legal one. So when he says the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, he's saying the guidelines are there to teach us something. They are there to teach us something about God. So they're not a bar that we have to kind of achieve or a goal we have to achieve, they're not a burden for us to bear. They're a shadow of a reality that is to come, and that's what we're supposed to learn, that understanding. And David had learned that, and he is commended. So he knows that he can break the rules because he has done the greater thing of understanding his dependence on God. So likewise, here Jesus' disciples, they're following Jesus, they don't have time to go through the religious requirements of washing themselves and preparing food to prepare for the Sabbath, but they are acting in obedience to God by following the Sabbath. So now obeying God's put them in conflict with the laws, and what's more important, that you follow the laws or that you obey God. And Jesus, I think, is saying it's more important that you obey God, which is the same argument that David used. So he's saying, you know, if David's men can violate the laws on the Sabbath because they're obeying the commands of their king, how much more can the disciples violate the laws of the Sabbath when they're serving the King of kings, the Messiah himself? Let's go back to Mark three here, and let's look at the second story, because this is a little more we'll add to the picture. So Mark three, one, again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand, and they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with a withered hand, Come here. And he said to them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill? But they were silent, and he looked around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of their hearts, and said to them, said to the man, Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. And the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him on how to destroy him. Okay, so notice the difference in tone in this story. Here we're told the Pharisees are looking for a reason to accuse him. So they're watching him closely to try to catch him in a trap. He becomes angry with them and then grieved at the hardness of their hearts. So he's in the synagogue, there's a man there with a withered hand. I suspect the Pharisees probably planted the man there and put him front and center to see what Jesus would do, thinking, oh great, if he heals him, then we can accuse him of all kinds of rules that he's broken and get him in trouble with this camp or that camp, who would all disagree on whether he did right or not. And if he doesn't heal him, then we can accuse him of being not lacking compassion, and you know, they figure they've got him either way. He cannot win, no matter what he does. So Jesus takes the bait, he calls the man's sinner stage and asks the question is it lawful to on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm? Now, notice here Jesus is restoring the man's hand while the Pharisees are plotting to kill him, you know, the the irony of that, and they think they're keeping the Sabbath. The irony of that, I think, is amazing. And then consider the parallels to David. David was fleeing for his life, Saul is plotting to kill him, which one's breaking the Sabbath, or the ideas behind it. So the question ought to be obvious. What would God be more pleased with, to do good or to do evil, to hurt people or to save them? Does which one would God take delight in? And remember, rabbinical law made exceptions. When a life was in danger, they had all kinds of rules about what you could do. And when someone was in pain, they had rules about it. So for instance, if you had a toothache on the Sabbath, you'll be happy to know you. Some people thought you weren't allowed to gargle with vinegar because I don't know why that would be work. But if you took what they used for a toothbrush and dipped it in the vinegar and placed it on the toothache, that was okay because you weren't actually working. And then some people said, no, you can do that. You can gargle as long as you don't spit it out, because if you spit it out, that's working, so you have to swallow the vinegar. And then it's okay. You know. So they had all these rules about, well, you could remove a thorn on the Sabbath, but not a splinter, and then they had all these, you know, well, how much how big a splinter is a splinter before it becomes a thorn, you know. It's amazing. All that comes from there's a book called The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, which was written in the 1800s by a Jew who became a believer named Alfred Adersheim, and he has a lot. If you're interested in more of that, you can find a lot of it in his book. So, anyway, they would have debated: was the man with the withered hand seriously ill or not? Did this justify help on the Sabbath? Was this something he could live with until the next day or not? But they would have at least have recognized that this was a problem and some measure of danger is allowable. Matthew adds the following detail in his account. This is Matthew 12, 9. Jesus says, And he went from there and entered their synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? So that they might accuse him? And he said to them, Which one of you has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more value is a man than a sheep? So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then he said to the man, Stretch out your hand, and the man stretched it out, and it was restored healthy like the other. Jesus is adding force to the argument. Okay, if you have a sheep and it falls into the pit, aren't you going to go lift it out? Well, in fact, they had rules about this too. And there were rules about how far down the pit was, and you could maybe, it was better to lower food and drink down to the sheep rather than lift them out, and maybe it's how much the sheep weighed was an issue because you might be lifting too much. Anyway, it it gets you can see how it's getting ridiculous at that point. Okay, so let's go back to the scene. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue, the place is probably crowded. The man with a withered hand has been placed front and center where he can be seen, and the Pharisees are kind of waiting to see what Jesus will do. He asks what ought to be a simple question that they refuse to answer, and then he tells the man to stretch out his hand and the man is healed. Now notice what's happened. He has broken all their rules and he has not broken any of them. Because the man is healed, but he did nothing. He didn't lift him, he didn't move him, he didn't apply any outward force, he didn't apply any remedy like vinegar or anything. He simply speaks and the man is healed. And from their perspective, he has not broken their rules because he did not move. He did not apply any force. He spoke and the man was healed. I think that is that that is just brilliant. So everything they would have said about what constitutes work, he did not do. You know, they had all these rules about you could spit on the ground. You could spit on a rock, but not spit on the ground. Because if you spit on the rock, the moisture would evaporate, but if you spit on the ground, the moisture might mix with the dirt and become clay, and now you've made clay and that's working. Or you could, if you're walking and you have a walking stick, you have to be careful not to drag it on the ground because if you drag it on the ground, it might make a furrow, and then the wind could blow a seed in, and now you're you're uh sowing. So they had all these rules about what constituted work that they were just waiting for Jesus to break and he didn't break any of them. Jesus says nothing, he doesn't move a muscle, he merely speaks, and the man is healed. And I so I think it's significant that he heals him on the Sabbath, and I think it's also significant that he heals a man with a withered hand, because Leviticus 21, 19 says, if you have a withered hand, you cannot be in the priesthood. That's uh the priest had to be whole. And also a man with a withered hand cannot reach out and do good works. So, in a sense, I think he's symbolic of a nation with a withered heart. They cannot reach out and serve, cannot reach out and do good works. And Jesus is physically restoring this man to a position where he can serve, and I think there's some symbolism in that that he is restoring the nation to a place where they have hearts that are toward God and not toward all this rules and regulations. Here in their midst is the one who can heal with only a word, the one who can usher in the rest that the Sabbath is only a symbol of, and he can heal not only their withered hands but their withered hearts and grant them the rest that we don't get not just once a week, but the peace of God that surpasses all understandings. And what is their reaction? They want to kill him. And they plot with the Herodians, who were their arch rivals politically, to put Jesus to death. Alright, let's start putting all this together. So, what have we added to this? By looking at what Jesus does on the Sabbath and what he tells the Pharisees, what have we added to our understanding? I think he's reiterated that Sabbath is ultimately a question of who you're trusting, and it's an issue of the heart. And God is less concerned with what rules you're keeping on the outside than are you obedient? Are you merciful? Are you offering him that broken and humble heart on the inside? So David could take the bread of the presence because he was trusting God, and what he was doing, he was acting out of obedience to God, unlike Saul. The disciples of Jesus could break the rules of the Sabbath that the rabbis had come up with because they were following the Messiah, they were acting out of obedience to him. Unlike the Pharisees, who are keeping the laws outwardly and they're plotting to kill Jesus in their hearts. Ultimately, that's what God wants us to learn. Are we dependent on him or not? Do we live our lives as if that is true? And do we really believe it? Are we people that turn to him in faith with a broken heart? That's what he wants more than sacrifices or outward conformity to a list of rules. So that's the first thing. The second thing is that Sabbath is a rest that is given. It is not something we earn. So, unlike the Pharisees who were trying to build this hedge around the law to make sure they kept every last thing that could possibly be considered work, this is something that God gives to us as a gift. So this is not the pink Cadillac you get, you know, when you sell enough product. This is a gift God gives you to teach you that He is in control of your life, that He will sustain you, that He will provide for you, and you can rest and trust in that. So Sabbath is not a goal we have to reach, or it's not a measure by which we have to measure our spirituality. In fact, if anything, it's just the opposite. It's saying, I don't have to take myself seriously, I don't have to measure my accomplishments. I can trust that it is all up to God and He will give me what I need. May not be always what I want, but He will give me what I need and He will sustain me. Okay, so Sabbath is a question of the heart, it's a rest that's given, not earned. And third, it is to remind us that God is in charge and all our efforts will not change that. And I think that's something we in America need to learn today because we are very much in control of our lives and very much have this sense of the busier we are, the better we are, the busier we are, the more important we are, and we are nobody if we are not busy. And busyness has almost become an idol, I think, in terms of how much you can do and accomplish. If you leave work at five, the world might fall apart. Or at least the your neighbors will think you're strange because you must be doing something wrong. So Sabbath is there to say, God is in control of your life, not you. What you have comes from his hand, and you can trust him for that. And all your frantic effort is not going to change that. You know, if you forget something, it's not gonna upset God's plans or change the course of history, it's not gonna throw him for a loop. He's in control and you can trust him for it. Work doesn't go on forever. Sometimes it seems that way, but it doesn't. You can rest in him. Psalm 127 makes this point, I think, very well. This is 127, 1 and 2. Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. And this verse, in vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat, for he grants sleep to those he loves. Or I think you could also translate that while they sleep, he provides for those he loves. Rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat. That's America, right? We get up early to work, to earn more money, to buy all the things that we need. We stay up late to make sure it all gets done, and the Psalm says, God is the one who's providing for you. While you're sleeping, he will be providing for you. So it's foolish to imagine that we're indispensable to God if He He's the one that makes the watchman successful, the builder successful, He's the one that gives us what we have. So Sabbath is to remind us that He is in charge and we are dependent on Him, and then finally it's given to remind us that He redeemed us from our slavery to sin, and that's the rest that is coming. So the judicial penalty for our sin was satisfied at the cross, but we wait and hope for the future rest when Jesus will come back and one day free us completely, not just from the penalty for sin, but all its presence, all its consequences. Once we were enslaved to that and we're looking forward to the day when not only will our guilt be removed as it was at the cross, but we will be freed from the very presence of sin. And then we will rest. Then all this stuff that is worked for us will that's a Sabbath rest that we're hoping for. So Sabbath is this gift, it's a way of looking to the future, of saying, this is what I'm being called to, this is what I was saved out of, and this is the direction I'm going, and it's living your life in such a way that it is obvious that you build time into your lives to say, this is there is a God who saved me, created me, and redeemed me, and he is in control. One of my uh favorite pastors used to say that work is our drug of choice in response to the pain of the world. And I think he's got it there. It's easier to work than it is to trust. You know, it's easier to try one more thing than to trust that God will save you. Work is our drug of choice in response to the pain of the world. When David Roper said that, you remember him. You may not struggle with whether or not you should do good or do evil on the Sabbath, but I bet you struggle with resting and knowing that God is in control and that you can trust him to be in control. These are the questions I'd leave you with to think about. Are you driven or are you called? Are you doing the things God calling you to do, or are you driven to do everything possible to try to please him or to accomplish everything to live up to some kind of expectations? So do you rest in God or do you want to be God? I mean, for most of us, we want to be God. We want to be in control of our lives. I think Sabbath is a gift to say you don't have to meet every last expectation, you don't have to cross everything off your list. Society, as you know it, will not unravel if you stop and live as if God is the master of the universe, because in fact he is. So that gives a lot of understanding. Now you think to Matthew 28, come to me, all you are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. How can he say that? Because he knows who's in control and who's going to make it happen. Let's uh let me pray to close this and then I'll give you some time to ask some more questions. Father, we just thank you that you are the God who is in control of the universe, and we pray that you would make this real to us in very real ways so that we could live our lives, not laboring incessantly, striving to accomplish every last thing, but trusting that you are the God of the universe, that you know us well, that you have a plan for our lives, and that you will sustain us and give us what we need to become people of faith who trust you and turn to you. We thank you that you sent your son to die for us, to solve the problem of our sin, and we look forward to the day when he will come again to rescue us from its presence. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure it out. You can hear all the episodes in this series on my website at wednesdayintheword.com. There is no chart, no command, and no ad. It's all free to help you improve your title skills and understanding of culture. If you've been blessed by this podcast, subscribe to the podcast or leave a thought of rating or review wherever you listen, and most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and where you learned it. You can listen to more of Reggie's music and find his TVs on heartvelfmusic.org. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.