Question

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JESUS IS LORD OF THE SABBATH

Luke 6:1-11

Key Verse:6:5

1. Read verses 1-5. Where were Jesus and his disciples on Sabbath day? What were the disciples doing? Why did the Pharisees criticize them? What was their intention?

 

2. How did Jesus respond to the Pharisees’ criticism and expose their poor Bible study? How and why David violate the religious law? (1 Sa 21:1-6) What should the Pharisees have learned from him?(5, Mt 12:12, Mk 2:27, 3:4, Lk 18:15,16) )

 

 

3. What does it mean that “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath”?

 

4. Read verses 6-11. When Jesus went to the synagogue on another Sabbath, who was there? Why was this man’s shriveled hand a serious life problem for him? ( Put yourself in his place.)

 

 

5. How does the Pharisees’ attitude toward this man and toward Jesus reveal their evilness? What did Jesus to challenge them and expose their evilness?

 

6. What command did Jesus give to test and build the man’s faith? Why might it hard for him to obey Jesus? When he obeyed, what happened? What can we learn from Jesus?

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• JESUS IS LORD OF THE SABBATH-questions.doc

Message

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Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath

Luke 6:1-11

Key Verse 5: Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Last week we learned that we should become like new wineskins, flexible and elastic to receive the good news of Jesus. God wants us to have learning minds like disciples, so we can experience real joy and hope in Jesus. Today, we are gathering here for worship service. Let me ask you a question: why are you here on Sunday? Is it because it’s our tradition and custom to gather on Sunday? What do you think? In today’s passage, we learn that Jesus’ gospel is something different from man-made tradition and religion. Today’s two incidents proclaim that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. May God bless each of us to appreciate the good news of Jesus who is Lord of the Sabbath!

First, Jesus breaks the legalistic view of the law.

One Sabbath, Jesus was passing through some grain fields. It was not uncommon for a road to pass through grain fields. As Jesus’ disciples walked through the field, they were hungry. In Jesus’ day, there were no McDonald’s restaurants to stop by to pick up a quick bite to eat when you were hungry. So hungry people would pluck off a few grains, rub off the outer shell and eat the kernels. As the disciples were chomping on natural whole-grains, some Pharisees appeared. Look at verse 2. They asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” The Pharisees evidently had been dogging them and had witnessed this act, so they confronted them with accusations of breaking the law.

There was nothing wrong with disciples’ activity in and of itself. According to the OT law, travelers could eat freely as they walked through a field, as long as they did not harvest (Dt23:25). So, the issues for the Pharisees were about picking grain on the Sabbath. The law was very strict about Sabbath observance. Jewish tradition had so multiplied the requirements and restrictions for keeping the Sabbath that the burden had become intolerable. Mishnah, which is a rabbinic interpretation of the OT law, lists 39 categories of activities that a person is not allowed to do on the Sabbath. As a result, harvesting on the Sabbath eventually came to mean even plucking a few grains on the Sabbath. To the eyes of the Pharisees, the disciples were in triple violation of the Sabbath law: picking heads of grain is harvesting on the Sabbath; rubbing the grains is threshing on the Sabbath; and furthermore, the disciples were preparing food on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were zealous for the traditions and criticized the disciples: “Those men are Sabbath breakers!” The disciples might have felt intimidated and become fearful of the consequences.

How did Jesus respond to their criticism? V.3 “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?” Jesus referred directly to the Scripture. He asked them whether they had read about David’s story in the Bible. According to 1 Samuel chapter 21, David was running for his life from King Saul. He and his men were hungry. And so he went to the high priest and said, “Do you have anything to eat?” And the high priest gave him bread that was only lawful for priests to eat. From a legalistic point of view, David would now not only be in trouble with Saul, but also with God for eating bread that was lawful only for priests to eat. However, David and his men ate it without incurring guilt.

This story gives us God’s perspective of the law. David teaches us how to follow God’s heart, not just the letter of the law. God’s law never intended to exclude people from meeting basic needs like eating, so David becomes an example of what the law really intended. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus adds, “If you had known what these words means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”(Mt12:7) So, the disciples were not those who were in violation of the Sabbath law. It was the judgmental attitude of the experts in law which was in violation of the law. Men have a natural tendency to fault-find, criticize and condemn. It is easy for us to become legalistic when we have knowledge of the law. We criticize and condemn others by the high standards of the law. However, God is much different. He desires mercy. The Spirit of the law is mercy. It is not sacrifice but mercy God desires. “Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom13:10). When God gave a day of Sabbath rest, he did not intend to burden you, but to bless you. By listening to Jesus we are encouraged to put aside our legalistic attitude toward the law. How wonderful it is to know that going to church on Sunday is not one more demand on our limited time. How blessed we are to know that the day of rest is a merciful gift of God for us.

Second, Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.

After reminding us of David’s story, Jesus went one step further. Jesus said: “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”(5) Jesus referred to himself as the Son of Man and used it as a Messianic title (cf. Daniel7:13-14), which means that Jesus has all authority from Almighty God. Jesus, as the Son of Man, has the authority to overrule human regulations concerning the Sabbath. This teaches us that Jesus is the central figure of the day.

Jesus said, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” This means that Jesus has the authority to regulate what takes place on the Sabbath. Therefore, we should keep this day Jesus-centered. Keeping the Sabbath is not merely following rules, but worshiping and celebrating the Lord of the Sabbath. We Christians do this on Sundays. Christ rose from the dead early Sunday morning. Christ appeared to his disciples on Sunday. So the early Christians held worship services on Sunday to honor the Risen Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath. In the course of time, Jewish elements fell away. Now, Christians throughout the world gather on Sundays to worship and celebrate the Risen Christ.

When we think of the Sabbath, we should remain Jesus-centered. Pharisees missed the point, because they missed Jesus. The legalist will miss the point even as we come to worship. Without Jesus, you will miss the point in understanding the law, because Jesus Christ is the Spirit and center of the law. The word “Sabbath” means “rest.” Today Jesus Christ himself is the Sabbath. Jesus Christ gives us rest for our souls, because he is the author of the Sabbath. He fulfilled the meaning of the Sabbath. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” People get weary and tired from restless working in the world. People think as if they could earn rest for themselves by hard working. “I earn rest for myself by working diligently.” But this is a fatal delusion. We cannot find rest for our souls by sleeping longer, drinking alcohol, playing games, going on trips and so on. It’s because these things do not solve our sin problem, which is our broken relationship with God. However, Jesus can heal our broken relationship with God. When we accept Jesus’ blood, shed on the cross for us, it cleanses us from all our sins. He can heal our wounded souls. Jesus fills our souls with joy, wisdom, and strength. The Holy Spirit indwells us and assures us of God’s love and his good will. This gives us true rest. As we gather on Sundays, we celebrate the Lord who gives us a true rest for our souls. As we gather together on Sundays, we break the vicious cycle of our sins in the name of Jesus. We do not live on our working and effort, but we live on the rest which comes from Jesus.

Furthermore, the Sabbath points to a future rest in Christ’s kingdom. Jesus will wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. We will dwell in Jesus’ kingdom forever. So when we gather on Sundays, we taste the future glorious rest which has begun on earth in Jesus. Praise Jesus, who gives us true rest!

Third, Jesus saves and restores.

The second event in today’s passage also took place on a Sabbath. This incident demonstrates that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus went into the synagogue and taught the word of God to people. Among those in the congregation was a man whose right hand was shriveled. This man must have enjoyed Jesus’ teaching. However, his practical life was full of agony due to his shriveled right hand. The right hand is a symbol of a man’s strength, especially in a right-handed culture. But this man had no strength in his right hand. He could not work hard like others. He dared not look for a marriage partner. In people’s eyes, this man was a poor guy who had an unattractive shriveled right hand dangling from his torso. Because of his deformity, others would despise him, and he must have felt ashamed. Most likely, he had withdrawn from society. This man, in deep emotional agony, was in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Any other time, the religious leaders would not have paid any attention to him. But this day, they watched closely to see if Jesus would heal him. According to the Jewish tradition of that time, you may give aid to the sick on the Sabbath only when the person’s life is threatened. The man here was not so endangered. The religious leaders were not interested in the man’s suffering, but they wanted to use him as bait to catch Jesus in the act.

When Jesus saw this man, his heart went out to him, and he wanted to heal him. But Jesus also knew what the religious leaders were thinking. Jesus could have finished his message and told the man to come back the next day for healing. But it would have been sending away a needy person. And it would have been yielding his divine lordship of the Sabbath to the legalistic criticism of the Pharisees. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” To the man, it was a great challenge. He felt the eyes of everyone fixed on him. It was a kind of awkward to become the center of attention. However, he obeyed Jesus’ word and got up and stood in the middle of congregation.

Look at verse 9. “Then Jesus said to them, ‘I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” Jesus’ question cut through all the complicated legal rulings of traditions. Jesus made the issue very clear and simple. It became obvious who was guilty of breaking the law. The religious leaders wanted to destroy life to keep the Sabbath in their own manner. Jesus exposed their evil and foolish intent in order to liberate helpless people from their oppression. Jesus really wanted them to repent.

Jesus looked around at all of those gathered in the synagogue. He looked into the eyes of each and every one of the religious leaders. Then, Jesus turned his attention back to the man with the shriveled hand. Jesus said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. Suddenly, his right hand was strong and healthy. His lifelong ailment was healed. The man could make a new beginning in life. His soul found rest as never before.

However, Jesus paid a high cost to give him rest. The religious leaders were furious. They gathered among themselves and began to plot what they might do to Jesus. Eventually this became a factor which led Jesus to his death on the cross.

We see here that Jesus is truly the Lord of the Sabbath who saves. He is full of compassion to save us and restore us. Jesus brings us into God’s rest, restoring us spiritually and physically. Here is my question: How do you celebrate the day of worship? Do you have any expectation from the Lord? When we gather on Sundays to worship, we may expect Jesus’ liberating work among us. Jesus is setting us free from all bondage and shackles in which we are bound. When we come together on this day, we should expect from the Lord great restoring work in our lives. Isa 40:31says, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” We can expect the Lord’s transforming work in us. We can expect healing. When we gather on the Lord’s Day, we proclaim a new creation in Jesus’ name.

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. He breaks all our self-centered, legalistic, merciless views of the law. Our Lord Jesus is full of compassion and restores us into a perfect relationship with God. On this day he invites us and restores us into a true rest and joy! May God bless you to claim rest and strength by faith in Jesus’ name!

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