Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
When you hear that you ought to keep the Sabbath Day holy,
what does it mean to you?
I know for many
the first response is
we ought to go to church.
Sunday is the Lord’s Day
so let that be a day dedicated to the Lord
and go to a worship service.
And while going to church on Sundays is a good habit,
it’s not the strict answer to following the third commandment.
Are you ready for the answer?
The simplest correct answer to honor the Sabbath Day
and keeping it holy unto the Lord
is to rest.
Sabbath Day equals rest.
God made the heavens and earth in six days
and on the seventh day
he rested.
If God can rest we can rest.
And God fed the Israelites manna and quail in the desert for forty years,
but on the Sabbath day
on Saturday
the seventh day
they were to rest.
They were to not collect any manna or quail for that day.
They were to eat Friday’s leftovers
or else bad things would happen.
If God can take a day off from working
then so can his people.
Do you see this habit in the followers of God today?
Maybe some.
There are several reasons why this has changed.
One obvious change that we now see
is a worship service to God on Sundays
and not Saturdays.
Why is that?
Well, imagine you are a second-century Christian
and Easter celebration is coming.
What day are you going to celebrate the day of the Resurrection of Jesus?
Jesus didn’t rise from the grave on Saturday.
He rested on that day.
He rose on Sunday,
the following day.
So why not celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on Sunday?
And if every Sunday is a celebration of Jesus defeating death once and for all
then why not celebrate this exciting thing Jesus has done for us
every Sunday.
It is believed that by the end of the second century
Christians have begun setting aside Sunday as their one day of the week
to dedicate to the Lord.
Even the book of Revelation celebrates Sunday
by calling it the Lord’s Day.
But back before Jesus has risen from the grave,
Saturday was still known as the day of rest.
And so in our Gospel lesson
during Jesus’ ministry
the followers of God were making a good effort
to make Saturday the day of rest
--especially the most excellent Jews.
Those who were desiring to honor God
showing the world just how great their God was
that God would still take care of them even if they had a day off
they would do whatever they could
to make Saturday as their day of rest.
And so when the Pharisees see Jesus’ disciples harvesting grain from the fields,
they ask
“Why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
meaning,
what kind of leading Jews are these?
Jesus,
hearing the Pharisees’ remark
challenges them
with a story that is written about their beloved King David
when he ate the bread of the Presence.
You’ll find this story in 1 Samuel chapter 21.
Why is this story important?
This bread was to only be eaten by the priests
and not for the general public
--in this case
David and his army.
But despite what was supposed to happen
the priest made sure that the men who ate this bread
were living in a godly manner.
And they made sure that the bread that was eaten
was replaced before the next Sabbath day.
In the end,
no one from this moment had been condemned.
God did not punish anyone for improper bread handling.
Now,
this wasn’t supposed to be the norm for handling the bread of the Presence,
but in terms of being good stewards with the situation at hand
the decisions that were made were for the better of everyone.
Those that were hungry
were fed.
And in this moment with Jesus
those that were hungry
were on their way to being fed.
One other thing that is fascinating about Jesus’ answer
is the order of authority being used in this lesson.
Jesus is teaching this understanding to the Pharisees
about what King David had done.
So then what is Jesus saying about himself and who he is?
Jesus is saying he is greater than King David,
and he is also saying that he is greater that the Pharisees,
--as Jesus says about himself in third person,
“The Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
How do you imagine the pious and prudent Pharisees taking Jesus’ answer?
“How dare this man from Nazareth place himself greater than us religious experts.”
But Jesus held to his authority
as he said,
“The Sabbath was made for man,
not man for the Sabbath.”
Jesus is saying that people ought not to make a career out of taking a day of rest.
Celebrating the Sabbath isn’t supposed to be a chore.
It’s supposed to be a blessing.
Now, I’d like to take another look at what Jesus had sad,
“The Sabbath was made for man,
not man for the Sabbath.”
I’ve learned that with Scripture
you can read something and comprehend with a strict literal meaning
and there are times when you can comprehend with a wider understanding.
A sensus plenior meaning vs. sensus solum meaning.
Might it be true that all of God’s law was made for man
and not man for God’s law?
I mean,
how are we saved?
Is it by our works?
or is it what God has done for us?
As it has been said,
God doesn’t need our good works
but our neighbor does.
Now, have you ever been around someone who seems to enjoy finding the faults in others
and making them aware of their faults
and perhaps trying to bring them down
rather than trying the help the person with their troubling needs?
And try to find a way to build them up?
I mean
usually this is the difference between a friend and an enemy.
This fault-finding attitude is usually not a pleasant experience.
--Someone with a heart of law
rather than someone a heart of compassion.
Some may think of church people as ones who are quick to point out the faults of others.
And in their defense
I know people can think that
if the law is good
then we just ought show them the law
so that they can be good and live well.
But this isn’t always the case.
In fact, it’s usually not the case.
People often learn through compassion and story.
Not by proving someone right.
I can imagine just like with the Pharisees
they might be thinking
if these disciples just tried a bit harder to prepare for the Sabbath day
then they wouldn’t be gathering food on the Sabbath day.
With a little more planning they could have enjoyed the gift
of celebrating this day of rest
that God has created for them.
Well,
there must have been something that has prevented the disciples from enjoying a day’s rest.
When we read the story of Jesus’ three-year ministry
you’ll find that it was difficult for them to get some rest.
There was so much need from the people
that it was difficult for anyone in this ministry to take it easy.
Whenever Jesus would pass by anyone on the Sabbath
people would be asking for help.
And that’s what we have here in the second part of our reading.
Jesus enters a synagogue like any good Jew would do on the Sabbath Day
and there is a man sitting there with a withered hand.
The Pharisees again see Jesus
and Jesus knows what they are thinking
“Is he going to break the Sabbath again to heal this man’s hand?”
And Jesus thinks
“You bet.”
Jesus tells the man with the withered hand to come to him.
Jesus uses this moment for the Pharisees to reexamine their heart.
Jesus says to them,
“Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?”
The Pharisees did not answer.
They knew it was a trick question.
A good Jew doesn’t have a habit to harm or kill anyone.
But by this time
Jesus is fed up with the Pharisees' stubbornness.
Jesus led the example
to help his neighbor be well.
Jesus said to the man with the withered hand,
“Stretch out your hand.”
And the man
was restored.
He now has two fully functional
God-given hands.
While we may be rejoicing with tears of joy for this man,
the Pharisees walked away with an even harder heart.
They even went to go work with the Herodians,
the people the Pharisees don’t even want in power,
they worked with them
to destroy Jesus.
Well,
one day
one Good Friday came.
Their long planning came to fruition.
They were able to get Jesus arrested
and crucified before the end of that day.
The bitterness and the selfish pride of the Pharisees
had Jesus executed.
And truth be told
whenever we get upset that God doesn’t work in the way we might have hoped
whenever we get upset when God makes well the sinful and the broken
whenever we get upset about God’s compassion
these things are also why Jesus had to go the cross.
Jesus had to be the one who would be our perfect substitute in our place.
For none of us are perfect.
And none of us can follow God’s law perfectly.
And in this world where people are burdened by not being able to do everything they're supposed to
people need more grace
not more law.
Now,
I don’t imagine anyone would execute us for helping others become well
at least
not your average person you would work with.
But someone might abandon us
or make our lives difficult
if we aren’t living with a holier-than-thou attitude.
Living out of exclusion
rather than inclusion.
But no matter what comes our way
God will take care of us.
We belong to God
and we have an amazing and eternal home waiting for us
when it is the right and proper time for us to go
all because of
everything Jesus has done for us.
But until that time comes
let us let God lead us to do what is good.
That even though we may have brought harm to others
God still shows us a better way
a way to live in grace
rather than a constrained and stressed life under the law.
As Jesus has saved our lives
let us model his loving example
and help others to live well.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
