Lord of the Sabbath

Luke 6:1-11 

1 And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. 

2 And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days? 

3 And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungred, and they which were with him; 

4 How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone? 

5 And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. 

6 And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered. 

7 And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him. 

8 But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. 

9 Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? 

10 And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other. 

11 And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus. 

The Sabbath was a point of contention of the Pharisees with Jesus because they saw Him as continually "breaking" the Sabbath. In today's churches, we really don't talk about the Sabbath because there are so many interpretations, conclusions and assumptions about it. Without discussion there is no understanding and without understanding, there can be no agreement. So, you have many factions of the Christian faith opposed to one another over the Sabbath. It is time to come to and understanding of what God's Word (not man's word or tradition) says about the Sabbath. First understand that Jesus said that He is Lord of the Sabbath, which means that He is both the Source and the Conclusion of the Sabbath. 

The word "sabbath" literally means "rest" so we should understand from where this concept of rest comes . 

Gen. 2:1-3 

¹ Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 

² And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 

³ And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. 

The word "sabbath" is not here in Genesis, but the word "rest" is. The seventh day of the week was blessed and sanctified by God's rest. Hold onto that because when we get to the Law in Exodus, we revisit this: 

Ex. 20:8-11 

⁸ Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 

⁹ Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 

¹⁰ But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 

¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 

When it comes to "keeping the Sabbath", too many times I only hear verse 8 quoted. What is missed is that verses 9-11 give the actual instruction as to how to keep the Sabbath holy. First is the explicit instruction on how to cease from labor on the Sabbath Day in verses 9 and 10 but verse 11 give the actual reason to cease from labor and that takes us directly back to Genesis chapter 2. It was all about God's rest on the seventh day and His blessing upon it and His hallowing of it. Genesis 2 uses the word "sanctified" and Exodus 20 uses the word "holy." Sometimes, these word are used interchangeably but there is a difference. "Sanctified" means to separate for a special purpose or use. "Holy" builds upon that because it means to sanctify and observe. By observe, I mean to: 

• Obey, comply with or conform to 

• Keep or maintain in one's action, conduct, etc. 

• Show regard for by some appropriate procedure, ceremony, etc. 

So, the Sabbath is both sanctified and holy. God sanctified it by His rest (Gen. 2:3) and the Children of Israel were commanded to keep it holy by resting (Ex. 20:8-11), NOT by ceasing to work. So many people are under the false conclusion that keeping Sabbath is about not working or that it is about a day of gathering for worship service. Both of these are wrong because Sabbath is about rest. The Pharisees lost sight of this and seemed to spend more time worrying about who was not working on the Sabbath rather than taking part in the Sabbath. Jesus gently reminded them in Mark 2: 

Mark 2:27-28 

²⁷ And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: 

²⁸ Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. 

There is a difference between not working and resting. "Not working" simply means to cease from labor. Since labor is an activity, when labor has ceased, some other activity must fill that void. Those "not working" activities are only in two categories: Idleness or Resting.  

All activities have a purpose. The purpose of idleness, or idle time, is to escape reality for a short time. All entertainment falls into this category. Idleness becomes bad when the escape lasts longer than it should or when idleness takes over the time when one ought to be working. The Bible speaks against this kind of idleness (Prov. 19:15; 31:27; Ecc. 10:18, Ez. 16:49, Matt 12:36, 1 Tim 5:13). 

The purpose of resting is to quiet your soul and quiet the noise around you so that you can hear from God. In the Old Testament, Israel was command to keep the Sabbath holy by observing this rest. In the New Testament, Jesus said: 

Matt. 6:6 

⁶ But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 

Matt. 11:28-29 

²⁸ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 

 Jesus told His followers to pray to the Father in a secret place, a quiet place and then told them that they will find rest in Him. This means that to the New Testament believer that Jesus is our Sabbath Rest! So now it should make sense that Jesus said that He is Lord of the Sabbath! Sabbath has always been about personal communion and fellowship with God, not collective fellowship with God. 

Because we are multifaceted beings, Sabbath Rest ministers to us on many levels: 

Spiritually, it allows us to reconnect with God the Father 

Physically, it allows us to be regenerated 

Mentally, it allows us to be refreshed 

Because Jesus is our Sabbath Rest, we should seek to experience that Rest every day! Jesus asked His disciples in Luke 9:20 who they thought He was. We, as believers in Christ, must answer the same question. If He is Lord of our Rest, then there is no need to worry or be stressed about anything because we can rest in Him. We can give our struggles and troubles to God. 

My message to you is let's unlearn what religion says about the Sabbath and learn what God said about the Sabbath. 

Ps. 37:7 

⁷ Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him...