Public Reading: Luke 6:1-11

(Audio file of this sermon can be found on the PRV website)

Background

•    This is a strange passage, at least to me, as it doesn’t make sense why the Pharisees were upset at Jesus for eating a little grain or for healing a guy’s hand…
•    Some understanding Jewish background helps shed some light on the passage

The Sabbath

•    The Sabbath first appears in the Bible in Exodus 16:23 when God tells the Israelites to gather enough Manna for two days as the next day was going to be a “Sabbath rest”

o    Strange concept for slaves used to working seven days a week
o    Some of them went out looking for it, but there was no Manna….
o    God told them to rest

•    Then in Exodus 20 we find the Sabbath rest as part of the Ten Commandments

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

•    Why was this important?

o    Because it was a sign between God and the Israelites (Exodus 31:12-17)

12 Then the LORD said to Moses, 13 “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.

14 “‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. 15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. 16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. ’”

*    The Israelites were to trust God that he would take care of them
Work

•    Work is a two edged sword

o    One on hand it is good to work as it provides for one’s family

*    God even gave Adam and Eve work to do in the Garden

o    On the other hand, work (or busyness) can become an idol

*    We are a busy, busy people
*    Ask someone how they are doing and they will usually say, “It’s been busy.”
*    If they don’t, then we look at them strange…
*    Our culture is one that loves to be busy

•   Both of these concepts are wrong
•    God was telling the Israelites that they have six days to do the things that they want to do

o    They have six days work and be profitable
o    But the seventh day was His
o    All work was to stop and they were to spend the day in their homes with their family

*    It is interesting that no cooking was allowed, meaning that the women of the family also got a day off

o    Worshiping and honoring God in the home

•    This rest was so important that God told the people that they land itself was supposed to rest every seven years

Something Went Wrong

•    As with a lot of things, something went wrong over the years since Moses.
•    There were years in which the Israelites did not keep the Sabbath or listen to the Lord

o    They went their own way
o    They followed other gods

•    After lots of warnings, the Lord sent the Babylonians who destroyed the Temple and took the people into exile
•    When the Jewish people returned, they promised themselves that they were obey everything in the Law as they did not want to go into exile again
•    When the Greeks ruled over them and forbid them from eating kosher meals, reading the Scriptures, temple sacrifices and honoring the Sabbath

o    They fought back
o    The Maccabees (164 BCE to 63 BCE)

•    The Sabbath became less about honoring God and more of a cultural marker

o    It was a bearing saying who was in and who was out

•    The Pharisees add rules and boundaries trying to define what God mean by ‘work’

o    Was it any activity?
o    Was it the creation of anything seeing how the same Hebrew word used in Exodus was used in Genesis when God created the heavens and earth?

Jesus

•    This bring us up to the time of Jesus
•    They were walking through a field of grain and some of the disciples picked some of the heads and rubbed it in their hands and ate it

o    They ‘created’ something desirable out of something undesired

•    Jesus responded by reminding them of their hero’s (David) actions

o    Effectively calling those who were condemning them hypocrisies

•    The same thing happened when Jesus healed the man

o    Healing someone was a work of creation and therefore prohibit.

•    Yet, Jesus knew God’s heart

o    He knew that God wasn’t interested in the people keeping the Sabbath just for the sake of keeping the Sabbath
o    The prophet Isaiah told the Israelites this long ago

*    Isaiah 1:10-15

10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom;
listen to the instruction of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—
what are they to me?” says the Lord.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations —
I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood!

o    Instead of keeping the rules, the Israelites were supposed to Isaiah 1:16-17

16 Wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
stop doing wrong.
17 Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.[a]
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.

o    Mark 2:27 shares this same story of Jesus and his disciples only with one addition:

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

•    God knew that we humans would stay busy all the time – to the point that we would forget about Him and our families.

o    So He told us to rest one day a week. To stop the busyness of life and focus on Him.