Mark 2:23-28 ESV
“One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.’”
Now this happened during the time period when Jesus walked the earth, so the Jews were still under the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions, including the requirement of circumcision, and including the keeping of the Sabbath Day. But Jesus Christ, in his teachings and in his actions, was moving the people away from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, even though they were not yet released from the Old Covenant.
Jesus Christ, himself, often healed people on the Sabbath Day, and he even commanded the previously lame to take up his mat and walk on the Sabbath Day (John 5:8). And this met often with much rebuke from the Jews and from their religious rulers and leaders and influencers of that day, for they saw that as Jesus Christ breaking the law. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (John 5:17).
So, what was the message that Jesus was conveying about the Sabbath, both in today’s passage in Mark 2 and in John 5? It appears to me to be three-fold: 1) The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, 2) the Son of Man (Jesus Christ) is lord even of the Sabbath, and 3) Jesus was not breaking the Sabbath by doing the work of God on the Sabbath Day.
So, the whole point of the Sabbath Day then was to give the people a day of rest from their hard labors. It was not to restrict them to the point to where they could not eat if they were hungry, or to where they could not do good to others in need, including healing people on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was not to be a burden to the people, in other words, but it was for the purpose to give them rest. And if Jesus was lord of the Sabbath, which he was, and if he took care of meeting people’s needs on the Sabbath, he also gave his people the same freedom to do good on the Sabbath.
Present Day
Now, I find nowhere in the New Testament where we Christians are taught that we must keep the Jewish Sabbath Day rest, now that we are under the New Covenant. From what I read in the New Testament, Jesus Christ is our Sabbath rest, as is our salvation from sin and our eternal life with God, which we have via genuine God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ via dying with Christ to sin and via now living to God and to his righteousness. So, the keeping of our “Sabbath,” would thus be about us obeying our Lord and his commandments under the New Covenant.
For if you read 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Hebrews 3:1-19; and Hebrews 4:1-16, you should see that the “Sabbath rest” is spoken there in terms of our relationship with Jesus Christ and our salvation from sin and our obedience to the Lord now under the New Covenant. For not entering into the Sabbath rest has to do with not entering into a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, and therefore not entering into salvation from sin and eternal life with God. And the reason we will not enter is because of disobedience to God, which God defined as unbelief. Therefore true belief = obedience to God.
So, we are to strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience as most of the Jews did who wandered in the wilderness for forty years. And how did they disobey? Via practicing idolatry and revelry, by indulging in sexual immorality, by putting Christ to the test, and via grumbling against God because he wasn’t performing for them as they thought he ought to, according to their own thinking, and according to their own fleshly and selfish desires. We are not to be those who make a practice of sin or we will not enter that rest. We will not have eternal life with God.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
But what does the New Testament, under the New Covenant, teach us regarding the Sabbath Day rest that the Jews were under when they were under the Old Covenant? Must we practice the Jewish Sabbath?
“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17 ESV). “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (see Romans 14:1-23).
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg
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