Jesus and the Sabbath
Matthew 12:1-21
March 26, 2006
Introduction
What do you think of when you think of the word, “Sabbath?”
Do you think of church? Do you think of rest? Football on TV? Some of you might think of Black Sabbath, the heavy metal band of the 70’s and 80’s…
Well, in our American Christian culture the whole idea of the Sabbath seems to have taken a backseat.
Or really, it’s been shoved to the backseat, because we don’t want to be seen as people who are legalistic about stuff that has nothing to do with getting to heaven.
And I can understand that – no one wants be to called a legalist, and observing the Sabbath can become just that if we’re not careful.
We can lay down tons of rules about just how we should do it and then compare ourselves to others, thinking that if they were real Christians or really understood the Sabbath, they’d do it like us, right?
I’m not very legalistic about the Sabbath, as long as it includes a Twins game and/or a John Wayne movie, along with the required nap.
Other than that, I’m pretty flexible!
Today we’re starting a two-part series of messages on the Sabbath. What is it, what does it mean for us today, and that kind of thing.
Today we look at the first of two passages that deal with that subject as we continue our walk through the gospel of Matthew.
I’ve got two main purposes of this message: to show the fact that Jesus is supreme over man-made regulations, and to lay a foundation for what I’m going to cover next week – just what observing the Sabbath means for people today.
Today we’re going to look at some basic Scriptural philosophy about the Sabbath, and next week I want to give you some ideas on just how to be a person who honors the Sabbath without being shackled into some form of legalism.
We’re in Matthew 12, and I’d invite you to turn with me there. If you’re using the Bibles in the seats, this is on pages 689-690.
We’re going to look at a few verses at a time to help us get a grasp on what Jesus has to say about the Sabbath.
But before we do that, I think something needs to be said. While we don’t want to become legalistic about this, we also need to realize that this is important.
It’s important enough for Jesus to set people straight about it so they could observe it in ways that honor God and people.
So please don’t just tune this out. Listen for what God may have in mind for you, okay?
Let’s pray as we get started.
There are two main divisions of this passage that will help us learn about Jesus’ attitude toward the Sabbath. Here’s the first one:
Jesus sheds new light on the Sabbath.
In this first section we see the Pharisees beginning to jump all over Jesus with their understanding of the Sabbath.
Jesus sees that he needs to educate these guys about the Sabbath that they were trying so hard to protect.
And he does this by letting them in on three very important aspects of the Sabbath. First…
1. Mercy trumps ritual. (vv. 1-8)
What I mean here is that mercy “wins” over religious ritual. We start in verse 1 –
1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
3 He answered, "Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread--which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, ’I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
There were 39 types of work prohibited by religious tradition on the Sabbath. This included such things as reaping, which seems to be at the center of the controversy in these verses.
Most of these prohibitions were not in the actual Law, but had been added by the religious leaders over the centuries.
I think it’s important to understand that at the heart of the regulations was a desire to honor God. It was never the intention for these to become the burden that they ended up becoming.
These burdensome regulations had begun to eclipse the Scriptures. What I mean is that following the extra laws became more important that actually following the law of God in many cases.
Over the centuries, arguments were carried on about these law – can a person move a lamp from one part of the house to another on the Sabbath, how far can a person walk from their house on the Sabbath, and so on.
The laws just piled up many were just silly, similar to these laws I found while researching this message:
[Odd Laws Still on the Books, Citation: Robert W. Pelton in The Door. Christian Reader, Vol. 33, no. 5.]
Young girls are never allowed to walk a tightrope in Wheeler, Mississippi, unless it’s in a church.
In Blackwater, Kentucky, tickling a woman under her chin with a feather duster while she’s in church service carries a penalty of $10.00 and one day in jail.
No one can eat unshelled, roasted peanuts while attending church in Idanha, Oregon.
In Honey Creek, Iowa, no one is permitted to carry a slingshot to church except police.
No citizen in Leecreek, Arkansas, is allowed to attend church in any red-colored garment.
Swinging a yo-yo in church or anywhere in public on the Sabbath is prohibited in Studley, Virginia.
Turtle races are not permitted within 100 yards of a local church at any time in Slaughter, Louisiana. (SermonCentral.com. Contributed by: A. Todd Coget)
The religious leaders could reference the law of God, but to them, it could only be lived out through the regulations and rules that were added later.
These burdensome regulations were part of what we addressed last week as we discussed Jesus’ invitation to shed that burdensome yoke and take on his yoke.
(Note: much of this next section is adapted from The Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary)
In pointing out that mercy trumps ritual, Jesus pointed to four reasons it was okay for the disciples to pick the grain.
* David did it. (v. 3-4)
He answered, "Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?”
Jesus says, “Oh yeah? What about David, hmmmm?”
In 1 Samuel 21:1-6, we find the story of David running for his life from Saul. And they come to a place called Nob, where David asks the high priest for some bread to feed himself and his men.
David and his men had been given consecrated bread to eat by the high priest. God did not punish David because his need for food was more important than the priestly regulations.
When Jesus compared himself and his disciples to David and his men, Jesus was saying, in effect, “If you condemn me, you better condemn David.”
The second reason Jesus mentioned was that…
* The priests ”worked” every Sabbath. (vv. 5-6)
5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?
The Ten Commandments prohibit work on the Sabbath. That was the “letter” of the law.
But because the purpose of the Sabbath is to rest and to worship God, the priests had to perform sacrifices and conduct worship services. In other words, they had to work.
And since their “Sabbath work” was serving and worshiping God, which God allowed, God held them guiltless even though they technically broke the Sabbath.
Then Jesus says that, “one greater than the temple is here.” God in the flesh is greater than a stone building of worship, no matter how grand it is.
The fact of the matter was that he was the Son of God, and his authority as the Son of God superceded the laws, even the Law of Moses in the Old Testament.
The third reason Jesus gives for mercy trumping ritual is that…
* The prophet Hosea recorded God’s heart in the matter. (v. 7)
’I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’
This is where Jesus is going in these first eight verses.
Jesus is saying that the Sabbath was about people, not ritual.
Next week we’re going to take a closer look at what that’s all about, but the point here is that adherence to religious ritual at the expense of mercy to people is a misplaced priority.
It’s important to understand that in this section of Scripture Jesus was not condoning disobedience to God’s laws. Instead, he was emphasizing real thought and compassion in enforcing the ceremonial laws.
Here’s the third reason Jesus gives for mercy trumping ritual:
* Jesus was the Lord of the Sabbath. (v. 8)
“For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
That is, He controls what can be done on it, and He did not condemn the disciples (the innocent) for their action.
And actually, I want to talk a little more about this as we look at the second aspect of the Sabbath that Jesus addresses, and that is the fact that…
2. He has authority over the Sabbath.
We’re really going to get into that more next week, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time here.
But why could Jesus make such a claim? Because all the laws, including the Sabbath laws pointed in some way to the Messiah. He was the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament, including the Sabbath.
And since he is the “point” of the Sabbath, he has authority over it, and he has the right to decide what’s allowable and what’s not.
Let’s move quickly to the third aspect of the Sabbath Jesus talks about:
3. It’s good to do good on the Sabbath. (vv. 9-13)
Let’s pick up our reading in verse 9 –
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
11 He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
13 Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.
According to Luke, this incident occurs on a different Sabbath than the incident with the grain-picking.
That’s not incredibly important, except that I want to point out that Jesus didn’t just get after these guys about their wrong ideas of the Sabbath and then go to a synagogue to rub their noses in it by healing a guy.
Jesus was regularly at the synagogue, and the Pharisees knew they could find him there.
And so when an opportunity arose, they jumped on it. It says here in verse 10 that they were looking for an excuse to accuse Jesus of doing something wrong – in this case, breaking the Sabbath.
Now we also need to understand that healing on the Sabbath was already allowed – but only in cases where a person’s life was in danger. And that certainly wasn’t the case here.
But that doesn’t stop Jesus. He shows them that they were inconsistent about how they applied the Sabbath regulations.
Jesus points to their concern for their animals and compares that to God’s concern for people.
Actually, he’s not really comparing them, he’s contrasting them. He’s saying, “You care about animals enough to break the Sabbath to take care of them, but God cares about people way more than that and he cares about them more than you do. It’s lawful to do good to people made in God’s image on the Sabbath.”
You would think this would be pretty obvious. After all, you wouldn’t think the opposite, would you? “I think I’m gonna go over to my neighbor’s house and poke him in the eye…”
Mark tells us that just before he heals the man, he looks at these religious leaders with anger, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts.
These people were supposed to be the people who “got it, but it was flying right over their heads. And Jesus’ heart was breaking about it.
Let’s turn the corner now and look not at how Jesus sheds light on the Sabbath, and look at the fact that…
Jesus gets different responses about the Sabbath:
We pick it up in verse 14 –
14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
15 Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, 16 warning them not to tell who he was. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18 "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he leads justice to victory.
21 In his name the nations will put their hope."
Two ways people responded to Jesus and his treatment of the Sabbath:
1. More people came to him for healing.
Verse 15 says that even though Jesus left that place, people kept dogging him for healing. They had seen him in action a number of times and they just kept coming.
But Pharisees weren’t as keen on Jesus. Because unlike the people who came to him for healing…
2. The Pharisees plot his murder.
How’s that for a contrast?
These guys were flat-out tired of Jesus and had come to the point they wanted him dead.
They wanted him out of there, and they meant permanently.
Can you imagine that kind of hate against a person?
And the hard part is that this is the one they had been anticipating for centuries – since the time of Abraham!
Sad, isn’t it?
This is just an example of how people respond to Jesus today, by the way. Some love him, others reject him.
They like him when he’s all warm and fuzzy, but when he starts stepping on toes, they reject him.
So how about you? Do you want more of what Jesus has, like the people who followed Jesus, or do you want less of him?
I’m not saying you’d like to see him dead or even dead in your life, but are you to the point where you don’t want anything to do with Jesus, because he messes with you too much?
If that’s the case, then you have to understand something. He’s not the one who needs to change!
That person’s the one looking back at you in the mirror, baby. God doesn’t conform to you and your ideas.
You need to conform to him and his ideas – and that’s what Jesus was trying to communicate here.
Conclusion
So what’s the bottom-line lesson of these words and actions of Jesus?
The Sabbath was created by God for his purposes and our good.
Jesus couched his words in terms of his authority and how it benefits people.
We’re really going to get into this next week, but I want you to just contemplate the fact that the Sabbath was God’s idea, not ours.
He created it and if we really want to gain the most understanding and benefit from it, then we need to submit ourselves to his teaching about it. And that’s what we’re going to attempt to discover next week.
So today I’m not going to offer a specific challenge. That’ll probably come next week.
But what I would suggest you do is take some time today to thank God for the rest you’re going to get today, or that you got yesterday, or whenever. Rest is a gift from God, you know.
And thank him for the opportunity to worship him today. That’s part of the gift of the Sabbath.
We don’t deserve either rest or the opportunity to worship. These are gifts from God.
Next week we’re going to look at some real practical stuff to help us take advantage of these in God-honoring ways.
But for today, just thank him and give him honor, okay?
Let’s pray.
