MANY WILL INDEED DISAGREE WITH THIS TEACHING HOWEVER I STAND FIRM THAT WHEN JESUS SAID THAT HE WAS THE LORD OF THE SABBATH HE MEANT THAT WE ARE ULTIMATELY TO FIND REST IN HIM AND HIM ALONE. NOT JUST ONE DAY A WEEK BUT EVERY SINGLE DAY. Chapter 6: Jesus and the Sabbath. a. First mention of the Sabbath in the gospel of Matthew Let us continue with the events that happened with Jesus disciples in that grain field on a Sabbath. We have seen already discovered Jesus response to the Pharisees accusing his disciples of breaking the Sabbath law. We have seen that the moral law is above the ceremonial law, but somehow the Sabbath law can be broken in favour of the ceremonial law. The first mention of Jesus and the Sabbath in the gospel of Matthew is this very episode, found in Matt 12:1-8. It is interesting to note that Jesus and His disciples, on the Sabbath Day, were gathering food. This is exactly what the Israelites were forbidden to do 2000 years earlier (Exodus 16)! It is obvious to all that Jesus is trying to teach us something here. Not only is He breaking the rule of not gathering food on Sabbath, He is pointing out that the Sabbath can be broken in favour of the ceremonial law! By what authority can He do this? Matt 12:6: 6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. Jesus authority is greater than the temple and its ceremonial law. Jesus is the Son of God, soon to be giving His life in ransom to bring salvation to a fallen humanity. Jesus has authority that humans do not have! He is the Creator: John 1:10-11 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. Jesus knows what He is talking about! Lets read Jesus next response: Matt 12:8 8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. What does this mean? Does this mean the Sabbath law is never to be broken? Well, weve just seen that Jesus and His disciples were breaking the Sabbath law. We also discovered that Israelites were permitted to break that law in favour of ceremonial laws. To understand the concept of Jesus being the Lord of the Sabbath, I would like to use an illustration. Lets pretend that I just bought a house. Who is the Lord (in other words the Master) of that house? Is it the one that just moved out of it? No. Is it the one who lives next door? No. The Master of that house is me. I bought the house, I paid for it. I have the deed in my name. It is my house. And being lord of my house, what do I have the authority to do? Can I change the colours of my walls? Absolutely! Can I make a hole in my ceiling? No one will be able to stop me. Can I enlarge my bedroom? Why not. I have authority over my house, because it is legally mine. No one can come into my house and start painting the walls a different color unless I give him/her permission to do so. Being the Lord or Master of my house, I have full authority over my house. I can do with it as I please. Jesus says that He is the Lord (Master) of the Sabbath. What does that mean? It means that He is the one who has authority over the Sabbath! He had the deed over the Sabbath. It is His. He is the Creator, He rested on the seventh day. He can do as He wishes with the Sabbath. So is the accusation of the Pharisees that Jesus and His disciples are breaking the Sabbath law legitimate? Not at all. Sure, He was breaking the Sabbath laws, but He had authority to do so. He is the Master, the Lord of the Sabbath, and how can we, as created beings, complain about what He, the Creator, is doing with something that is legitimately His? It is interesting to note that this same story is mentioned not only once in the gospels, but three times! See Mark 2:23-28 and Luke 6:1-5. When God gives a message once, we need to listen to what He tells us. When God gives us a message twice it is of upmost importance. When He gives it three times, we better pay close attention to it! b. Jesus custom on Sabbath Jesus faithfully attended the synagogue on Sabbath. Luke 4:16 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. What was Jesus purpose for doing so? The gospels reveal clearly His purpose: Luke 4:31 31 and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. and Luke 4:42-44 42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them. 43 And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. 44 And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee. Jesus purpose in going to the synagogue on Sabbath was clear and simple: it gave Him opportunity to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. There was no better place for doing so. All Jews attended the synagogue on Sabbath. Jesus had a captive audience all in one place! There was no better place than a synagogue filled on Sabbath to preach the gospel message! Sure, a market place would have a lot of people. But how can you have the undivided attention of a whole town when most of these people were busy doing their business? Only in the synagogues, on the Sabbath day, would the entire town pay close attention to what was being said. The apostle Paul followed Jesus example as well and did the same kind of preaching in synagogues on Sabbath. Why? Because it was a God-given way to preach the gospel to a whole town, at a time when they would be paying close attention to what was said! Acts 18:4 4 And he (Paul) reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.. Jesus, His disciples and the apostle Paul were using the same technique of preaching the gospel. c. Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth Let us look a bit closer to one of Jesus encounters on Sabbath in a synagogue. Here we find Jesus in the town of Nazareth, where as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on Sabbath. Let us read together what happened: Luke 4:16-21 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Wow! Jesus was using the Scriptures to summarize His ministry on earth. He was quoting Isa 61:1-2, which speaks of the jubilee in reference to the upcoming Messiah! Now what was the jubilee? Let us go to Lev 25:8-17 which explains in details what the Jubilee consists off: 8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. 11 A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. 12 For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. 13 In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession. 14 And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour’s hand, ye shall not oppress one another: 15 according to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee: 16 according to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee. 17 Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the Lord your God. In other words, jubilee is the Sabbath of Sabbaths. It is celebrated seven sabbaths of years--seven times seven years and it announces freedom. Slaves are free to leave their master and go back to their family. Land that was sold goes back to the original owner. It was a time of great rejoicing! Now in Luke 4:21 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. What was He meaning with this? Jesus proclaims not only to be the Messiah, but also calls Himself the jubilee! Jesus is the ultimate Sabbath personified. He is the ultimate Sabbath in person! Was Jesus able to back up His claim? Surely: Matt 11:5-6 5 the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. In other words He is our jubilee, the ultimate Sabbath in person. No wonder Jesus could proclaim with confidence: Matthew 11:28-30 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Jesus is our ultimate Sabbath! In Him we find rest! We can lay our burdens down at His feet and not worry about how to solve our problems. He will guide us and will give us not a once a week rest, but a continual rest! He is the Sabbath personified!
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 18:14:39 +0000
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