One principal of the Bible Institute in South Africa that hailed from Scotland told me that his father, a Presbyterian Clergyman, would wash and dress on the Saturday night for Church on Sunday to prevent “working” on the Sunday. This might have been extreme, yet those who were “old school”, coming through a revival were different in their religious make up to our Christianity today. Today were err on the lax side. Maybe to get an understanding of the Sabbath Day we need to visit what Jesus taught!
Mt 12:1 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.”
1) In this passage we see Jesus exposing the burden of superimposing legalism onto the Sabbath Commandment. Seeing Jesus’ disciples pick some heads of grain to meet their hunger needs, the Pharisees declared this work … on the Sabbath Day. God provided permission in the Law that permitted what the disciples did.
Dt 23:24 If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. 25 If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to his standing grain.
Ironically, the rabbis drew up a catalogue of thirty-nine principal works which they divided into further categories so that as an example, plucking grain was seen as reaping and rubbing out the grain was seen as threshing. The disciples complied with the Law yet the Pharisees charged Jesus for His disciples plucking and eating as reaping and harvesting … and it was His fault. Where was mercy? Surely the intention of the Sabbath was to keep man healthy, happy and holy! Should someone struggle with hunger or ought mercy not to be offered?
2) It’s easy to misinterpret the Sabbath Commandment. Jesus now reminds them of an incident, well documented in their Scriptures about David, who was on a secret mission, with his men when hunger came their way. 1 Samuel 21:1-9 tells us the story. David was a “type” of Christ, in the Lord’s service. He and his men required food and the only food available was the consecrated bread that only priests could eat. Assuring Ahimelek the priest that he and his men were “holy” (not having been with women for the past few days), even when on an unholy mission, the bread was handed over.
How much more when, not a “type of Christ” but the Christ Himself and His men ought to find leniency when in need and when on the Lord’s business? What really upset these religious legalists was Jesus’ words: “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” You see, Jesus’ point was simple when He said, “if you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”
Here He openly declared His Messianic Role (Son of Man and that He is Lord of the Sabbath), showing them they misinterpreted the Sabbath Commandment, for if they got this right they would have shown mercy to those hungry. Jesus is Messiah and He is Lord of the Sabbath. He honored it. He attended synagogue services … He even participated in these services. He performed acts of mercy and healings on the Sabbath. He used it correctly and Biblically because He gave it, kept it and never abuse it by displaying religious legalism as did the Pharisees.
3) Jesus, as Lord of the Sabbath went even further:
Mk 2:27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath knows why the Godhead gave the Sabbath Day in the first place. It was made for man … man was not made for the Sabbath. This means the Sabbath was a distinction between life under the rule of God compared to the rule of Pharaoh. In Egypt life was a grueling seven days a week hard labor. Under the rule of God life was six days of reasonable work with one day to rest from labor and worship God in which He provided physical, emotional and spiritual healing. (I say reasonable work understanding the punishment for sin placed upon the man—
Ge 3:17 “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
God is not unfair, even though man rebelled against Him. Grace is extended through the Sabbath Day.)
4) How does all this affect Christians today? Do we as Christians have a Sabbath Day? When do we as Christian worship God? Do we break the Ten Commandments if we worship on a Sunday? Ought our worship day to run from Friday at night fall to Saturday at night fall like the Jews? There are many questions associated with Biblical Christianity’s approach to the Sabbath Commandment and the Lord’s Day. How are we to make sense out of all this and honor God correctly? This answer will take longer than just today to answer. The first matter to understand is “which calendar was used in the First Century”? The Julian calendar! It was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC and used throughout the Roman Empire and in the time of Jesus and the Early Church. Why is it important to know which calendar it was? Because we need to know when Jesus died and when He rose from the dead because this influences when the Christian’s Day of Worship is. Jesus said:
Mt 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
In fact, Jesus predicted His death and resurrection many times in the Gospels. Here are two:
Mk 8:31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
Mt 17:22 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. 23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.
Try to search the Gospels and find which day Jesus died and which day He rose from the dead.
Father we need to understand how the Sabbath Day affects Christianity so that we as followers of the Lord Jesus do not become legalistic fanatics like the Pharisees nor so lax that we ignore the provisions You instituted for our physical, emotional and spiritual benefit. Amen.