Lord of the Sabbath - Audio
Big Idea - Human beings are funny creatures. On the one hand, we don't like being told what to do. We don't like rules and regulations. On the other hand, we can't stop making rules. Our organizations and institutions are full of laws, regulations, and policies which are all made by people. Religion does not escape this problem. All religions are full of rules and laws. In the Old Testament, there are reported to be 613 laws and regulations that the Jewish people were to follow. But, if 613 laws were not enough, the Rabbis made countless more rules intended to help the Jewish people keep the rules! New Testament writers have a very different take on the law. In fact, the Apostle Paul teaches that "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Romans 10:4), and that "We are now released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:6). Jesus coming to earth, bringing the Kingdom of God, and death on the cross all dramatically changed the way things work. But what exactly does it all mean? The Sabbath is a good test case for understanding our relationship to the law and the commandments. It seems that we no longer keep the Sabbath. Only Seventh-Day Adventists still set apart Saturday as a day of rest. Other Churches have kept most of the rules about the Sabbath, they have just moved it all to a different day. Then there are those who have completely abandoned any notion of a day of rest or Sabbath keeping. How are we to think rightly about the Sabbath? How are we to think rightly about all the laws and commands of God? What does Jesus teach about these things?
The Pharisees, who followed the law in the most strict and rigid way, accused Jesus' disciples of breaking the Sabbath because they were harvesting grain on the Sabbath. In this passage, it seems like Jesus is saying it is okay to break the law if it is for the right cause. It is the idea that the end justifies the means. It was ok to break the law in order to meet a human need. It gives the idea that rules are necessary but flawed. So, it is ok to ignore the rules and break them if they get in the way of helping people. But this is not what Jesus teaches here. Jesus' explanation for the Disciple's behavior unfolds in three steps that follow a clear logical progression. First, Jesus says that keeping the law is not an end in itself. The law is not the goal, rather the law is given for a higher purpose. The law has a purpose, but when the law cannot accomplish that purpose, the higher purpose takes precedence over the law. So, must ask the question, what is the goal or purpose of the law? Jesus' second point is to argue that the law was given as a means to care for people. The goal of the law is to care for and protect those under the law. So, the law is good and serves a fundamental purpose. In this case, the Sabbath is a gift from God intended to provide rest for people. The law was not about holding back from us something good, rather it was given as a means of helping us walk in what was good and best for our wellbeing and health! This goal must be set before us when we interpret the law. If the goal of the law is to provide for the well-being of people, then picking a few heads of grain to snack on is not breaking the law, it is actually keeping the law in its true purpose. Jesus defends the disciples' actions, not because they were breaking the law, but because they were keeping it in line with its true purpose. The real problem is not the law but a flawed way of understanding and interpreting the law. When keeping the law becomes the end goal, and we put too many fences around the law for its own sake, it no longer functions according to its purpose. That is the problem and weakness with laws and rules. They must be applied and used by people who twist and distort the law according to their own sinful purpose and thinking. Laws and policies become a way to control people, or justify our behavior, or make us feel that we are better than we are. Rulers can and do abuse their power, so we put laws in place to keep them in check. We want the law to be king, but the law is heartless and impersonal. Instead of fulfilling its purpose to care for people, it crushes people. But a ruler who is not under the law can be even worse. They crush even more! So, what is the answer? Well, Jesus' final point is that He is the answer. He is the King who has come, a good and loving king who is lord and master over the Sabbath. That is, He alone has the authority to interpret and apply the law according to its good and perfect purpose. He is not teaching that it is ok to break the law for convenience's sake nor to keep the law for its own sake. What He is saying is that we need the right person to help us keep the true purpose of the law for our protection and care, and He is that person. He has the right and authority to apply the law for our good. But even more than that, Jesus is saying that He is a King who accomplishes the true purpose of the law. He is the one who cares for us and protects us and therefore makes the law obsolete - not because the law is bad, but because He is so much better. The Sabbath, rightly applied, can give us rest, but not perfect rest. Jesus, on the other hand, gives complete and perfect rest. He can care for us and restore us to a level of well-being, health, and peace that the law can never do.
How do we apply this? First, this does not mean that in the OT, people had to obey, but in the NT, obedience is no longer important or necessary. Living a life of obedience is every bit as important now as it was then. What has changed is what we are obedient to. The law was a guardian caring for people until something better came along. Jesus has come, and now we obey Him, not the written code. Second, that we no longer keep the Sabbath laws of the OT does not mean we no longer need rest! The purpose and goal of the law is no less true or necessary. Jesus has replaced the law only because He is better at fulfilling its true purpose. Jesus commands us not to control us or to limit our freedom but to care for our best health and well-being. His commands are personal and fit our situation, they are not fixed and rigid like the impersonal written code. All those who really trust in His loving care and goodness with obey Him completely! Thirdly, we should follow the pattern of Christ in the way we set up our families, organizations, ministries, and Christian institutions. They should primarily be led by Christ not by rigid regulations that are cold and impersonal. Maybe we need policies, but we should always keep before us the true purpose of rules - to care for people and protect them. When our policies hurt people and put an excessive burden on them, we need to care for people and set aside the policy! Most of all, we need to admit that we do need someone to rule over us. But, what we need is not the law but a Lord. We need a ruler, not to wreck our lives and take away our freedom, but to take care of His and keep us out of danger and trouble! Let Jesus be our rest. May we find every need met in Him. May we find the care, well-being, peace, and joy we all so desperately need to be met in Christ alone!