The Sabbath Controversy

                                        THE SABBATH CONTROVERSY

                                                       MARK 2:23-28

 TEXT:

   And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; ²⁶ how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

 INTORDUCTION

  Jesus is Lord.  He is not only Lord of all creation, over all governments, over all lands, over all history, over all planets and galaxies, over all flora and fauna, over all plant life and animal life, over all sicknesses and diseases, over all demons and fallen angels, but He is also Lord of the Sabbath. 
   v. 28, "So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
   He is Lord because He is from above; He is from heaven, He is from the Father.
   There was a young Jewish man who went home and told his parents, "I am in love. I found a woman who is pretty, funny, and charming.  And I will marry her.  She is not Jewish but she might convert."  Mother responded, "How wonderful."  Father responded, "How horrible."   See here a difference of opinion.  In this account we also see a difference of opinion between the Pharisees and the Lord Jesus.
   Pharisees said it is not lawful to do good on the Sabbath.  Jesus said it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath; hence, a difference of opinion.
   What is the 4th commandment?  "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."
   Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.  In other words, it is a day of worship. 
   The Sabbath day is also a day of rest.  Exodus commands us to work six days and rest the seventh day.  But instead of resting, the disciples were picking corn because they were hungry. 
   The problem has to do with this fourth commandment.
   Can you or can you not pick corn on the Sabbath if you are hungry?
   In v. 23, “And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath.”
   The Jewish Sabbath ran from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night.  It was a very sacred day to the Jews.
   On the Sabbath day you are not allowed to work or to carry anything. 
   Backtract to v.11,12 about the paralytic man healed on Sabbath.
   v. 11, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” ¹² And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out.”
   This happened on the Sabbath and the religious leaders said he broke the Law because he carried his beddings that weighed around 5-10 pounds.
   When Jesus healed this paralytic, He was saying, “I have power over disease, I have power over the Sabbath.”  Thus, He healed, and He healed on the Sabbath.
   The religious leaders insisted that you could not do anything on the Sabbath: no work, no play, no buying or selling, no recreation, nothing.
   Not even extended travelling was allowed. 
   The rabbis said you could only travel 2,743 feet on the Sabbath, about half-a-mile.
   But not found in Bible.
   That meant that no once could go to Serramonte mall because if they lived over half-a-mile away.
   The Pharisees were Sabbatarian legalist: the less you do, the more holy and spiritual your were.  So if you stayed in bed all day and did nothing, you were really, really holy.
   So here was the problem: Jesus was not a Sabbatarian legalist. 
   What a big difference between legalism and grace. If your donkey fell in an open pit on the Sabbath, under legalism you could not rescue your donkey; you had to wait till the following day.  Under grace, you could rescue the donkey.
  Rabbis taught that:
    1.          You were not allowed to carry anything that weighed more than a one dried fig.

2.          You could not carry a needle because you might be tempted to sew.

3.          You could not take a bath because that exerted energy, and that was work.

4.          Women were not allowed to look in a mirror because they might see a grey hair and pull it.

5.          Today, if house burned down, you could not fetch water because that was work.

   But these rules were not found in the Bible; they were man-made and unbiblical.

    John 5:18, “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him.”  Kill Jesus for doing good on the Sabbath.

  What was made first: man or the Sabbath?  Man.  Not Sabbath.  So man is lord of the Sabbath.  If Sabbath was created first, than Sabbath would be lord over man.
   Another angle to this same problem:
   To the Pharisees, the Sabbath was a day of rest, regardless;
   To Jesus, the Sabbath was a day of rest except when people need your help.
   To Jesus, keep the Sabbath rest, unless someone needs my help; then, I help.
   Human tradition can be ignored in cases of mercy.  So able to help the sick, feed the hungry, visit widows, and rescue animals in danger.
   So back to the problem.
   v. 23, “And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain.”
   The disciples picked grain on the Sabbath day, rubbed it on the hands, and ate it.
   Matthew added they did this because they were hungry.
  And guess who was walking right behind Jesus and the disciples?  The Pharisees, looking to find fault with Jesus.
   Life is like that: self-righteous people want to find fault with others to make them look good.
   The grain was ripe, so it must have been either spring or summer.  In the Trans-Jordan valley grain ripens between the months of April and August, and harvest would begin on August. 
   In those days there were few roads or highways.  So people naturally took the shortcuts and walked through fields; that was the way it was at that time.      
   Deut. 23:25, "When you enter your neighbor's standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor's standing grain." 
   You can get what your hand can hold.  This provision was made for the poor and hungry.    
   In this Deuteronomy passage it does not restrict it to six days a week.  The implication is: as long as you are hungry or poor, you can get a handful, regardless of what day it is. 
   So the disciples were doing what the OT allowed them to do.
   In Luke they rubbed the grain in their hands so that the husk would fall off and they could eat what was inside the husk. 
   No Mosaic law were broken.  What was broken was the man-made tradition invented by the rabbis and promoted by the Pharisees. 
  V. 25-26, Jesus response, "And He said to them, 'Have you never read what David did when he was
in need and he and his companions became hungry; ²⁶ how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?'”
   In 1 Samuel 21 David and his men were hungry.  All they had was holy bread that only priests could eat.  The priest named Abiathar gave it to David and his men because they were hungry.  The priest gave them the consecrated bread.  Why? They were hungry.
   What good is it to keep the law and have people die of starvation?
    What good is it to keep the law and have people die of illness?
  Mercy triumphs over the man-made tradition.  In a conflict between the two, mercy wins.

  Common sense dictates that nothing is more important than human life.  It is permissible to ignore a man-made tradition for the sake of saving lives and helping the needy.  Necessity rules the day.

   A pastor played hooky one Sunday and decided to play some golf.  He made a hole-in-one.  But he could not tell anybody because he was a pastor and he missed church. 
   So here is the lesson: if David could eat holy bread because he and his men were hungry, so we can feed the hungry, and show mercy on the Sabbath day.
   The Law was given, not to enslave us, but to help us. 
   v. 28, "So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
   This verse confirms Jesus' deity.  Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath because He is deity.
   By the way, is it too much to give to God one day in a week?  After all, He is our Creator, Father, Deliverer, and Good Shepherd.
LESSONS:
    1.          The Sabbath was a day of joy; the Pharisees made it into a day of misery.

2.          The Sabbath day was made to benefit man; not to enslave man.

3.          The Sabbath day is a day to know our heavenly Father. But if we work each and every Sabbath, how can we get to know the Lord we worship?

4.          The Sabbath day is a gift of God.  Let us enjoy this gift and keep it holy.

  Jesus is Lord and Savior.  Is He your Lord and Savior?