The Lord Of The Sabbath Series

GOSPEL OF MARK: GOD’S SERVANT IN ACTION

LORD OF THE SABBATH

A. Mark 2:23-24 (READ)

1. Over the years STATES and CITIES have had some very strange LAWS on their BOOKS.

a. In Florida, a woman may be fined for falling asleep under a hair dryer.

b. In Indiana, citizens are not allowed to attend a movie within four hours after eating garlic. (That

seems like a pretty good law to me.)

c. In Iowa, a man with a moustache is forbidden from kissing a woman in public.

d. In Moline, Illinois, ice-skating at the RIVERSIDE POND during the months of June and August

is strictly prohibited. . . . . . (You can ice-skate in July all you want.)

e. In Normal, Illinois, it’s against the law to make a face at a dog.

f. In Wisconsin, it’s against the law to serve apple pie in restaurants unless there is cheese on top.

(Anything to boost the cheese industry in Wisconsin.)

g. And, it’s probably a good thing that I’m not a preacher in Nicholas County, West Virginia because no member of the clergy is allowed to tell jokes or humorous stories from the pulpit. (Or, maybe

that wouldn’t apply to my weird sense of humor.)

COMMENT:

I am pretty sure that these LAWS are not ENFORCED today (although, I wouldn’t take chances with the GARLIC law). However, at one time STATE and CITY legislators thought these LAWS were important enough to be put on the BOOKS, and were probably ENFORCED.

2. Jesus had to contend with something similar when it came to what was known as the Sabbath Day laws.

a. The Sabbath Day Law as was given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai was the 4th LAW of the Ten

Commandments- Exodus 20:8-11 (READ).

b. The Hebrew word for Sabbath is “Shabbat”, meaning: “to cease, to end, to rest.”

COMMENT:

The Sabbath Day was given to the Jewish people as a Day of Rest from their LABOR and to focus on the GRACIOUSNESS of God. It was associated with God’s CREATION of the Universe

in six days and resting on the seventh, which is our SATURDAY.

c. The Sabbath was a GIFT from God meant to RELIEVE the BURDEN of MAN and BEAST.

B. However, the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, to ensure that no one VIOLATED the Sabbath Day Law, added 39 CLARIFICATIONS, with each having multiple SUBDIVISIONS, making for over 1500

PROHIBITIONS on the Sabbath.

1. Here are some of the stipulations that were added to the Sabbath Day Law by these Jewish Leaders:

a. It was unlawful to search your clothes for fleas, or even to kill one if landed on your arm.

b. If an ox fell into a ditch on the Sabbath, it could be pulled out, but if a man fell in, he had to stay.

c. If a tailor accidentally carried a needle with him, he was in violation of the Law because that was

the tool of his TRADE.

d. If someone died on the Sabbath, the body could be washed and anointed, but couldn’t be moved.

e. If a fire was burning in a room, a person can gather clay vessels and stack them to help keep the

fire from spreading, but he could not put the fire out.

2. The Sabbath Day Law became inundated by LEGALISTIC demands turning God’s “Day of Rest”

into a Day of Slavery.

COMMENT:

All of the TRADITIONS and MAN-MADE-RULES that the Pharisees BOUND upon the people were an attempt to “PLAY IT SAFE.” They were so afraid of DISOBEYING God’s LAW that they would CREATE their own LAWS (traditions) and surround God’s LAW with them. These TRADITIONS were known as “SEYAG,” a Hebrew word meaning “FENCE.”

3. Jesus came TEARING DOWN these FENCES and setting people FREE from LEGALISM.

-John 8:36- “If the Son of man sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

MESSAGE:

I. JESUS VS. LEGALISM

A. Picking GRAIN on the Sabbath- Mark 2:23-28 (READ)

1. The Pharisees and Teachers of the Law are ramping up their ATTACKS against Jesus—they are just

LOOKING for something of which to ACCUSE Him.

a. So, when they see Christ’s disciples plucking GRAIN on the SABBATH, immediately they cry

“FOUL”. “Why are your disciples doing what is UNLAWFUL on the Sabbath?”

b. Luke records that “the disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands

and eat the kernels”- Luke 6:1.

COMMENT:

As people were TRAVELING from one destination to the next, it was quite common to cut through FIELDS to get to where you wanted to go. While foreign to us, if you were HUNGRY it was okay to PLUCK the ripe grain, RUB it in your hands to BREAK open the husks, and then EAT