WWUTT 2142 Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28)

Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath in Mark 2

In Mark 2, 27 and 28, Jesus said, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Consequently, the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath. Now, how does that apply to us when we understand the text?

This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone. In our study of the gospel of Mark, we are finishing up chapter two today where Jesus declares that the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath. Let me begin reading in verse 23.

We'll go to verse 28 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. And it happened that he was passing through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain.

And 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 around 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.

And Jesus was saying to them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Consequently, the son of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. Now you are surely familiar with this account. We read of it in Matthew, although Mark adds a detail here that Matthew did not include and causes a bit of confusion.

There's been some debate over this particular passage, especially as the way Mark recalls it. I'll get to that here in just a moment. But we also want to consider what this means for us. What is the application for this passage for us to know that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath?

We'll get to that after we consider our text. So coming back to verse 23, and it happened that he was passing through the grain fields on the Sabbath and his disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain.

This is actually beginning a section that is going to continue into chapter three where Jesus is doing some incredible things on the Sabbath. So it's making a statement here about Jesus passing through the grain fields on the Sabbath.

The disciples are picking the heads of grain. And this was totally in keeping with the law. Deuteronomy 23, 25 says, when you enter your neighbor's standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor's standing grain.

Lest, you know, somebody would look at this and see Jesus and his disciples passing through somebody's grain field and go, well, hang on a second. If they're plucking the heads of grain and eating them, aren't they stealing from someone else's grain field?

Well, no, because the law, the Hebrew law, God's law as he had given it to the Israelites said that this was perfectly acceptable. If you're passing through the grain field, you can pluck the heads of grain with your hand and eat just as the disciples were doing.

So the objection that the Pharisees raise is not that the disciples are picking the heads of grain, but that they are doing so on the Sabbath. This would constitute work. And the Pharisees were saying to him, look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?

Now, Sabbath laws were pretty strict for Israel. In Numbers 15, beginning in verse 32, we read about a Sabbath breaker who was put to death. Now the sons of Israel were in the wilderness and they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.

And those who found him gathering wood brought him near to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. And they put him in custody because it had not been declared what should be done with him. Then Yahweh said to Moses, the man shall surely be put to death.

All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp. So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. Yahweh also spoke to Moses saying, speak to the sons of Israel and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations.

And they shall put on the tassel of each corner, a cord of blue. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of Yahweh. So as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot so that you may remember to do all my commandments and be holy to your God.

I am Yahweh your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God. I am Yahweh your God. So the Lord was quite serious about that commandment, the fourth commandment to honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

If a person worked on that day which God had commanded Israel was to be a day of rest, then he was to be cut off from his people and put to death. So it was a very serious thing to be breaking the Sabbath.

Were the Pharisees right in accusing the disciples of breaking the Sabbath laws, of breaking the rules? Well, Jesus is gonna point out to them, no, because they are standing there with the Lord of the Sabbath, the one who gave these laws concerning the Sabbath.

And he has the authority to enforce those laws or say that they do not apply in this particular situation. The one who wrote the law can say how this law applies. And we also know in other places in the gospels where Jesus would rebuke the Pharisees and say, if a man falls into a pit, do you not help him out if it's the Sabbath day?

Or your mule, if your mule falls into a pit, specifically even talks about an animal. In Luke 13, 15, he says, you hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath release his donkey or his ox from the stall and lead it away to water it?

And the animals got a drink. You don't decide not to work to quench your animals thirst just because it's the Sabbath day. So how much more should you be caring for people on that day? And we're gonna see that even more so when we get to chapter three with Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath day.

And so Jesus responds to the Pharisees here. In verse 25, 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 around 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. And so what Jesus is pointing out here is that care for God's people is ultimately what the law is pointing to. Remember, the law can be summarized in these two commandments love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself, love God and love others.

And so when Abiathar the high priest gives the consecrated bread to David, he is caring for his neighbor. He is fulfilling the love aspect of the law. Love is the fulfilling of the law as Paul says in Romans chapter 13.

So Jesus refers to this story, which we read about in 1 Samuel 21, where David is fleeing Saul and he goes to the tabernacle and he eats the showbread and he takes the showbread with him that he may give it to his friends as well.

Now, as I said in the beginning, Mark adds something here that Matthew did not mention and it's caused some confusion and some debate over this particular passage, because Jesus says that David entered the house of God around the time of Abiathar the high priest.

Now, other translations will say in the days of Abiathar, but either way, it's still confusing because Abiathar was not the high priest at the time that David entered the tabernacle, it was a Himalek.

Abiathar was a Himalek's son. So why is it that Abiathar is mentioned here and not a Himalek? If a Himalek was the priest that David interacted with, according to 1 Samuel 21, then why would a Himalek not be the one that is mentioned?

Well, there are several explanations for this. The most likely scenario, I'm gonna go ahead and give you the most likely one first. The most likely situation is that Abiathar and a Himalek were both serving as high priest at the same time.

And that wasn't unheard of, for a father and a son to share high priestly duties. Eli did that along with his sons, and sometimes even Aaron with his sons shared high priestly duties. So after a Himalek died, Abiathar assumed that position, and a Himalek was put to death by Saul, incidentally.

So Abiathar assumes that role and he swears his loyalty to David. Abiathar was the high priest during most of the years of David. So it makes sense to say that Abiathar was the high priest in the days of David, because that was the priest that most Hebrews associated with David.

Also, to call him the high priest isn't too different than like, say, if you were talking about President Trump or President Obama or President Bush or something like that, and you were to recall a story about them that happened before they became president, but you still referred to them as president, even though they had not yet become president in the story that you're telling, just like you might say something like that.

You might refer to something that happened to President Bush before he became president, but you still call him president. And so likewise, it would be the same sort of thing here with Abiathar. He would still be referred to as the high priest, even though he would not have technically been the high priest yet at the time that David had entered the tabernacle there in 1 Samuel 21.

This is one that skeptics love to use to say either that the scripture is wrong, which would be referring to Mark, or they'll say that Jesus was wrong. And so therefore, how could he really have been divine?

But there's really no problem here. And the Hebrews didn't have any problems with it. You would think if the early church had a problem with this passage and they thought that something was slightly off, they would have taken the opportunity to change it when they were doing all that copying of the manuscripts.

But the copyists have been faithful to the text to leave it just like this. So that leads us to understand that those who are copying the gospel of Mark, and by the way, Mark would have been copied in Mark's lifetime.

It's not like the copying of this book happened after Mark died or after the first century. This book was being copied and distributed to all of the churches, even in the lifetime of the apostles. So in those days, they didn't have a problem with Abiathar being mentioned as the high priest at the time of David.

And so therefore, we have no reason, we should have no reason either to say that there was some sort of discrepancy here, or there was something that happened that went wrong in the way that Mark was recalling the words of Christ.

This is exactly the way that it was written from the beginning. And we don't have any reason to doubt the text or think that there is some kind of a problem. And Jesus goes on in verses 27 to 28 to say this.

Jesus was saying to them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Consequently, the son of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. A couple of years ago, there was a conflict with a family that had joined our church.

They had left another church. And the reason they left that church is because that church had become very legalistic about the Sabbath. They were, in a sense, punishing this family because they had skipped, I think it was like a Sunday night service.

I don't even think it was Sunday morning service. It was Sunday night because the father, the head of the household, wanted to go and be with his father, wanted to care for his dad. But the church had a problem with that.

They had a very legalistic way that they were imposing Sabbath doctrine. Now, this was a church that claimed to be a reformed church, and they followed the London Baptist confession of faith, but they were unmerciful in the way that they were imposing their convictions regarding the honoring of the Sabbath.

Consider these words from Matthew Henry and what he writes about this particular section and how Sabbath honoring would therefore apply to us, even today. Matthew Henry says this, the Sabbath is a sacred and divine institution, a privilege and benefit, not a task and drudgery.

God never designed it to be a burden to us. Therefore, we must not make it so to ourselves. The Sabbath was instituted for the good of mankind as living in society, having many wants and troubles, preparing for a state of happiness or misery.

Man was not made for the Sabbath as if his keeping it could be of service to God, nor was he commanded to keep its outward observances to his real hurt. Every observance respecting it is to be interpreted by the rule of mercy.

Listen also here to John Gill in what he says about this passage. He says on verse 28, therefore, the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath, meaning himself who had a power not only to dispense with it but to abrogate it as he did with the rest of the rituals of the ceremonial law so that it did not become them to find fault with what his disciples did with his leave and approbation.

So some of those laws concerning the Sabbath, especially as it pertained ceremonially to keeping it, Jesus had fulfilled those laws and declaring himself as the Lord of the Sabbath is one to say, I'm the one that decides how these laws should be applied.

And so Christ in fulfilling the Sabbath laws, he becomes our Sabbath rest. And thus dying on the cross for our sins is buried in a tomb. Through Sabbath, he is lying in the grave. And then on Sunday morning, he comes back from the grave alive again, risen, and having completed all of those law requirements, what the law had said was bound up in Christ.

Jesus saying in Matthew 5, 17, do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I've not come to abolish it, but to fulfill it. And so as even the laws of the Sabbath were fulfilled in Christ, therefore Christ is our Sabbath rest.

For all those who believe in Jesus, us, we keep the Sabbath every day. Every day is a Sabbath to us in that sense, in that Christ is our Sabbath rest. Remember him saying in Matthew 11, come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.

We have real rest, rest from our labors, which could never earn for us righteousness anyway, rest for trying to merit forgiveness from God, we couldn't do enough to get him to forgive us anyway. It is by God's mercy that he shows us grace through Jesus Christ, our savior.

And so therefore he is our rest. He is our rest with God. But there still remains a Sabbath, Hebrews 4, 9. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. But we know now that day of rest to no longer be on Saturday, which was when the Sabbath was, as it was the last day of the week.

Our day of rest is now on Sunday, a day that we refer to as the day of the Lord. And we saw that shift happening through the New Testament. Now, the apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 14, not to pass judgment on one another regarding days.

Romans 14, five, one person judges one day above another, another judges every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards the day, regards it for the Lord. He who eats, eats for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God.

And he who does not eat for the Lord, he does not eat and give thanks to God. So Paul is talking here about the day that one dedicates to God and the food that a person eats. Because a lot of Jews were still holding to the dietary laws that were written in Leviticus 11.

And so Paul says, if a person is still holding on to those dietary laws, don't pass judgment on him. He keeps those laws in honor of God. If a person is still keeping the Sabbath on Saturday, don't pass judgment on him because he does that in honor of the Lord.

But the Christians were worshiping on Sunday. That was the day that they were dedicating to the Lord because that's the day on which Christ rose again. He rose again on that day. That is why we therefore declare it as the Lord's day.

Now, the extent to which we recognize that as the Lord's day that's gonna differ from one person to the next. Some are gonna hold that day a little bit more rigidly than others will, and we must show charity to one another.

Consider the London Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689. This is the confession that we use at our church. These are the last two paragraphs under the chapter on Sabbath worship. As it is the law of nature that in general, a proportion of time by God's appointment be set apart for the worship of God, so by his word in a positive moral and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, he is particularly appointed one day and seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week.

And from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's day and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.

Now, here's the last paragraph. The Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord when men after a due preparing of their hearts and ordering their common affairs beforehand do not only observe a holy rest all day from their own works, words and thoughts about their worldly employment and recreations, but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship and in the duties of necessity and mercy.

So that is to say, there's gonna be more that we do on that day than just gather together for church, but there is love and charity that we may show to one another. And it's not like there's anything there that is prohibiting a person from going to a soccer game or something like that on Sunday.

I believe something like that can be done even in honor of the Lord as well. Again, the extent of things like this, there may be some disagreements on and we just need to show charity with one another concerning that.

But as Paul said in Romans 14, five, one person judges one day above another, another judges every day alike and each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards the day, regards it for the Lord.

A person must regard it for the Lord and recognize that God gave us the Sabbath for our benefit. The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath as Jesus said in Mark 2, 27. And so it is meant for our benefit.

It is not meant for rigid law keeping that would result in our death if we don't keep it right. That is the law that Christ has fulfilled. And so now in him, we have rest. And in keeping that law, it doesn't give us any favor with God.

We have the favor of God because Christ is upon us because we rest in Christ. And so therefore it is the blessing of God to give us this day that we should set apart from the other six as a day of rest, as a day to keep holy.

And we should appoint that day as a day that we honor the Lord. If you start using that day for other things and don't place priority to worship God on that day, to fellowship with the saints on that day and hear the preaching of the word and sing praises to God, that should be the most important thing that we are setting apart Sunday for, that we would gather together with the saints for the worship of our God.

If you're not prioritizing that, then you're gonna fall into danger in a lot of other areas of your life as well. It is an important thing for us that we have a day that we set apart for God. God had blessed a day as holy from the very creation of the world, from the very beginning of time.

He had set apart one day as a day of rest. And so this should perpetually be the case until we go to be with the Lord in glory and thank God that he has given you a day of rest. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the rest that you have shown us in the giving of the Sabbath and that true rest that we find specifically in Christ.

The Sabbath points us to Christ. He is our rest. We can rest from our labors, our toiling, our trying to work ourselves into righteousness, which we could never get there anyway. Christ accomplished that for us, has clothed us in his righteousness.

And now in Christ, we have our rest. Help us to rest in you, being at peace, knowing that our sins are forgiven and we have fellowship with God. And teach us to prioritize that day that we can set apart and be with the Lord and be with your saints.

We understand the importance of doing this,.

Our brothers and sisters in the faith. We understand the importance of doing so. And we thank you for giving us such a day that we can rest from our labors and be reminded once again to rest in Christ for the gospel that was proclaimed to us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers and offering commentary on the church and social issues. You can find a link to the blog through our website, wwutt .com.

Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word, when we understand the text.