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 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 he and his
companions became hungry; 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?" Jesus
said to them, "The
Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
So
the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
(Mark
2: 23-28 NASV)
Not
long after this event, the Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign that
would prove He was the Messiah. His reply was that the only sign He
would provide would be the Sign of Jonah.
The
Holy Spirit showed me a truth about the Sign of Jonah. While
researching that, this truth about Sabbath came to me. I came to see
that how the Pharisees misunderstood the Sabbath led to their
opposition to Jesus, and their request for a sign. Exploring their
view of the Sabbath led me to a fuller understanding of the Sabbath.
I saw enough truth to see that it could stand as a teaching on its
own, and yet it remains part of the context for the Sign of Jonah.
A Kernel Of Truth From The Grainfields
(Sorry,
I couldn't resist the pun!)
This
event starts with Jesus and His disciples passing through some
grainfields on a Sabbath day. We are not told where they were going,
but most likely they were on their way to a synagogue Sabbath
service.
The
Disciples were hungry, so they began picking some of the grain.
Now,
the grain was not the sweet corn we are familiar with in America. I
know the KJV uses the word “corn” instead of “grain.” In the Elizabethan English used in the King James, “corn” just simply
meant grain. The grain the Disciples ate could have been any kind of
grain except for American corn, or maize. American corn is not
native to the land of Israel, and is not grown there today.
I
can only wish the Disciples had been blessed to enjoy American corn!
I grew up experiencing the pleasures of Bixby corn.
Bixby is a farming
community south of Tulsa. Some of the farms there sell produce all
year around, but the best time to go there is in June when the corn
is in season. The corn you would buy during that time would be
FRESH! They would start picking it that morning, and it would be so
sweet and flavorful!
You
would go buy a bushel, take it home, clean it, cook it, and eat it.
Then you would go back the next day for another bushel! Or at least
you would want to... It's that good!
Most
likely the Disciples ate barley or wheat. Barley is more robust and
more suited than wheat to the climate and soil the land of Israel, so
the people tended to eat barley daily, and they saved wheat for
special occasions and purposes.
Now,
Jesus didn't eat any grain, but His disciples did. Why didn't Jesus
eat? He was probably fasting. After all, He was doing more ministry
than they were at that time, so He needed to fast.
Some
Pharisees saw what the Disciples were doing, and they didn't like
that at all! They knew what the Sabbath commandment said, and in
their eyes, the Disciples were violating the Sabbath.
To
summarize, the Sabbath commandment said, “Remember the Sabbath;
Keep it holy; Do no work.”
The
Pharisees focused on that last part of the commandment. They did so
because, in their natural, carnal reasoning, they focused on tangible
things that one can perceive through the five physical senses.
To
them, if something looked like work, sounded like work, felt like
work, or smelled like work, it was work.
Picking grain
definitely looked like work.
Sometimes work
produces sounds, but not always. But work will still sound like work
when described. Today, many people use computers to do their work in
offices. The only sounds they produce are tapping on keys, or mouse
clicks, talking on the phone, or maybe that print out something.
None of that sounds much like work. But if someone says they updated
five spreadsheets and wrote three reports that day, then we would say
that sounds like work!
Sometimes people
come home smelling like work, and I'm not just talking about sweat
and dirt. Auto mechanics smell like grease. Food production or
preparation workers smell like the food they work around.
So,
the Pharisees, following their reasoning that was based only on what
their senses told them, concluded that the Disciples had violated the
Sabbath.
Notice this, the
Pharisees didn't confront the Disciples. They confronted Jesus about
His disciples' actions. Why did they confront Him, and not them?
Of
course, Jesus was their leader. As their leader, He was responsible
for His disciples' actions. But the Pharisees wanted to know what
kind of leader Jesus was. Behind their accusation was a question:
Are you going to correct Your disciples' behavior, or are You going
to condone it?
Jesus knew they
misunderstood the Sabbath, and He knew HOW they misunderstood the
Sabbath. The beginning of of their misunderstanding was their
failure to see the difference between the Sabbath and the Sabbath
commandment.
That
is the Kernel of Truth from the grainfields: The Sabbath commandment
and the Sabbath are not the same!
Illustrating
The Difference
Jesus
attempted to show the Pharisees the difference in His answer to their
accusation.
First, He reminds
them of an episode from the life of David that is recorded in I
Samuel 21.
in
that story, David is fleeing from King Saul, and he comes to where
the sanctuary is set up. David has a few men with him and they were
hungry when they arrived. So David spoke with the priest in charge.
The priest told David the only food on hand at the time was the
consecrated bread that only the priests were allowed to eat. The
priest gave David and his companions some of this holy bread, and they did
not get in trouble for eating it!
In
Matthew's account, Jesus also points out that the priests have duties
they must perform in the sanctuary every day, even on the Sabbath,
and they are not accountable for violating the Sabbath commandment.
Obviously, the
Sabbath has some trait, characteristic, or aspect that goes beyond
the Sabbath commandment. What could that be?
The
only clue Jesus gives us is this: The Sabbath was made for man, not
man for the Sabbath; so the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
Before exploring
the wider view of the Sabbath, let me summarize the narrow view of
the Pharisees: They saw the Sabbath commandment as a restriction on
activity.
Therefore,
holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the
Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to Him
who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. For He has
been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the
builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house
is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses
was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those
things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was
faithful
as a Son over His house--whose house we are, if we hold fast our
confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end. Therefore,
just as the Holy Spirit says,
"TODAY
IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO
NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME,
AS
IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,
WHERE
YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me
BY TESTING Me,
AND
SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.
THEREFORE
I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION,
AND
SAID, 'THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART
AND
THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS';
AS
I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
'THEY
SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.' "
Take
care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil,
unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But
encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still
called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the
deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we
hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while
it is said,
"TODAY
IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO
NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS,
AS
WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME."
For
who provoked Him
when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt
led
by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not
with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to
whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those
who were disobedient? So
we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
Therefore,
let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one
of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had
good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard
did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who
heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has
said,
"AS
I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
THEY
SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,"
although
His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has
said somewhere concerning the seventh day:
"AND
GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS";
and
again in this passage,
"THEY
SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST."
Therefore,
since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had
good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,
He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through
David after so long a time just as has been said before,
"TODAY
IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO
NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS."
For
if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another
day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of
God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested
from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent
to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following
the same example of disobedience.
(Heb.
3:1 - 4:11 NASV)
Expanding
Our View Of The Sabbath
This
passage in Hebrews gives a larger view of the Sabbath beyond a day
where activity is restricted.
The
passage begins by comparing Jesus and Moses. Moses was just a
servant, a steward over the house of God at the time – the nation
of Israel. As a steward, he had authority because he was given
authority. As a son, Jesus was born with authority.
But
Moses didn't complete the job God had given him. God's intention was
for Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt all the way to take possession
of Canaan.
The
generation of adults that left Egypt did not make it to the Promised
Land. They had allowed
unbelief to harden their hearts against God's command to take the
land. The only thing God could do with that generation was to keep
them in the wilderness until they all passed away from old age.
But
notice what God said about them in chapter 4, verse 11 ( a quote of
Psalm 95:11): they would not enter into His rest.
Did
you catch that? God was talking about why they would not enter the
LAND, but He said they would not enter into His REST!
So,
God equated land with rest. What does that have to do with the
Sabbath?
Take
a closer look at chapter 4, verses 3 and 4. Those verses point us
back to the beginning. God's rest started back then, when He
finished Creation.
God
saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was
evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and
the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day
God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the
seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed
the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all
His work which God had created and made.
(Gen.
1:31 - 2:3 NASV)
Back
To The Beginning
I
included the last verse of Genesis 1 to emphasize that God had spent
six days in creation. We could also say that He spent six days in
production, or making, or productive activity.
On the seventh
day, God rested. Why did He rest? Was He tired?
NO! Psalm 121:4
says, “Behold, He who keeps Israel will never slumber nor sleep.”
How can a God
Who is All-Powerful sleep? Why would He need to? How could He get
tired?
God never needs
a good night's sleep. He doesn't even need to doze off, or take a
cat nap.
Now, if God
doesn't need to sleep or slumber, why did He rest that day? Because
He was DONE with His works.
Gen. 2:1 – the
heavens and the earth were completed.
Gen. 2:2 – God
completed His work
...
which He had done.
He
rested from all His work,
…
which He had done.
Gen. 2:3 – He
rested from all His work
…
which God had created
…
and made.
I listed these
items on separate lines to illustrate that God rested on the Sabbath
because HE WAS DONE!
But
Wait! There's More!
We
have not yet reached a full understanding of the Sabbath.
So far, I have
focused on activity. The Pharisees saw the Sabbath commandment as a
restriction on activity. We now see that God rested on the first
Sabbath because He had completed His productive activity in the six
days of Creation.
But, was God
inactive on that first Sabbath?
Did He sit down
in a recliner, put up His feet, tune in some football or other
sports, and have the angels bring Him snacks and drinks? We can
safely say He did none of that.
I have a hard
time seeing God as inactive... ever.
Let's think
globally for a moment. Let's say that for one moment, every person
on earth is awake, and everyone starts praying to God at once. God
would hear every prayer, and begin answering every prayer prayed in
faith.
I think just
from this example, you can see just how active God is.
If God wasn't
inactive on that first Sabbath, then what did He do that day?
Let's consider
the time line of events relating to the Creation and the Sabbath.
We have already
seen the six days of Creation. Gen. 1.
On the sixth
day, God created Adam. Gen. 1:26 – 31; 2:7.
God created Adam
as His son. Luke 3:38.
The seventh day,
God rested. Gen. 2:1 – 3.
The Sabbath
commandment was not given until God gave Moses the Law. Exodus 20:8
– 11.
So, we can
easily see that the Sabbath existed long before the commandment. We
also see that Man existed before the Sabbath. Does this relate to
what Jesus said about the Sabbath being made for Man? Short answer –
YES!
What does this
have to do with what God did on that first Sabbath?
Remember, God
created Adam as His son. If Adam was God's son, then God was Adam's
Father.
God is a good
father. A good father spends time with his son, especially when his
son is new!
Imagine this: God
creates Adam on day six, and then God says to Adam, “Sorry, son,
but I've got to go rest up for a while. See you the day after
tomorrow!”
You know that is
not an accurate picture of God. He would not create a son for
Himself, and then leave him on his own for his first full day of
existence.
Yes, the Sabbath
was Adam's first full day of life. And God spent time that day in
fellowship with him!
So, God was not
inactive that first Sabbath. Instead, He just changed His focus away
from work, or creation, or production, to family fellowship with His
son Adam.
Conclusions
When
Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the
Sabbath,” He meant the following:
God
created the Sabbath for man's benefit, and He never intended the
Sabbath to be a religious pattern that man had to shoehorn himself
into.
God
never intended the Sabbath to be a restriction on activity, but a
change in the focus away from creative, productive work to family
fellowship. Through the Sabbath commandment, God was telling His
people to step away from everyday work to spend time with Him.
When
Jesus said, “The
Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath,” He changed the Sabbath
from a day to a person – Himself!
