#13 Silly Sabbath Rules Series

#13 Silly Sabbath Rules

Series: Mark

March 22, 2020

Chuck Sligh

NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives

TEXT: Mark 2:23-28 – "And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles. 23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. 24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? 25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? 26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? 27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: 28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath."

INTRODUCTION

Sometimes the people who make our laws get a little carried away and pass some silly laws. I did some research on the Internet and found some examples of some of the silliest laws I have ever heard of.

• In Fairbanks, Alaska, it’s illegal to serve alcohol to a moose. – I wonder if it is legal to serve alcohol to a bear?

• There’s a city in Arizona where it is illegal to drive a car in reverse. – Apparently, they didn’t think about how people would get out of your parking space at the mall?

• There’s a town in Minnesota where a woman can be arrested for impersonating Santa Claus. – Now There’s something I want our elected officials to be concerned about!

• In Oklahoma, people who make ugly faces at dogs can be arrested and jailed or fined. – I wonder if a bulldog can get thrown in the pound for making ugly faces at people?

• In Nicholas County, West Virginia, a preacher is not allowed to tell jokes from the pulpit. – Maybe a better law would be that a preacher has to know HOW to tell a joke.

I think we all agree that those are some pretty silly laws, but this is nothing new. In today’s text we’re going to see some people who were very zealous in keeping God’s laws, especially the Law of the Sabbath. But in their hyper-protective desire to keep people from disobeying God’s laws, they came up with some “Silly Sabbath Laws,” the title of my sermon.

Let’s read our text in Mark 2:23-28 – “And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. 24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? 25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? 26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? 27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: 28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”

Now notice in today’s text three things.

I. NOTICE FIRST OF ALL A SUPPOSED INFRACTION. – Verses 23 – “And it happened that he went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went, his disciples began to pluck the ears of grain.’”

One day the disciples of Jesus were walking through some grain fields and being hungry, they plucked heads of grain as they passed through the field. In itself, this was allowed in the Law of Moses. Deuteronomy 23:25 said, “If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand; but you shall not use a sickle on you neighbor’s standing grain.”

The problem was not what the disciples were doing, it was WHEN they were doing it. Mark tells us they did this on the Sabbath, which is Saturday, the seventh day of creation and extends from sundown on Fridays to sundown on Saturdays.