LUKE 6:1-5

Luke 6:1-5
It was on August 28 that thousands of citizens of Trenton, New Jersey, decided to break the law.  Their crime?  On that Sunday in 1921, 18,000 people spent fifty cents, and went to the movies.  A black and white silent movie at that.  The feature that day was The Old Nest, billed as “a picture that presents the most beautiful and the most sacred of all things – a mother’s love.” 
How in the world could going to that movie break the law?  Well, Trenton, New Jersey, had on its books, along with most other cities along the East Coast, a law that made, “dancing, singing, fiddling, or other music for the sake of merriment” illegal on Sunday.  You perhaps know them as the Sunday Blue Laws.  While nothing happened on that fateful August 28, one week later, September 4, 65 sheriff deputies patrolled the city’s ten movie theaters.  When films began to roll, managers, cashiers and receptionists were arrested, and the crowds were told to go home.  In the end, those arrested had to pay a one dollar fine, and promise not to show movies on Sunday anymore.  And they didn’t, until twelve years later, when the Blue Laws were repealed.  What was the problem with showing movies on Sundays?  Well, that was amusement, and you can’t pay for amusement on Sunday. 
Why, you might ask?  Because, Sunday is a holy day – the Christian Sabbath – the Lord’s Day – a day of rest.  We shouldn’t go to the movies on Sunday.  Nor watch TV, work or play sports.  You can’t wash the car; you can’t mow the lawn.  Many of you grew up thinking of Sunday as a solemn day, when doing anything fun was prohibited.  It was a “you can’t do anything day,” a day when you were more likely to get in trouble as a kid.  The story is told of a woman and her young child attending church one day.  The child turned around on the pew and was smiling at the people behind her.  Her mother smacked her on the leg and said, “Stop grinning – this is church.”
There is much confusion even today about Sunday and the Sabbath.  Several years ago, we held a Franklin Graham Festival at the ASU football stadium.  During the three-day weekend crusade, over 40,000 people showed up, and almost 900 made professions of faith in Christ.  Churches in the community were invited to participate, most did.  But I remember one that did not – one which sees the seventh day of the week, Saturday, as very important.  Interestingly, while they choose not to participate in the stadium, when we came out of the stadium and went to our cars, there on our windshields was a magazine, stressing the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  Apparently, this group thought the most important thing for these 900 new believers was to observe the seventh-day Sabbath.
That last question is quite important for us this morning, which gets to the heart of the matter – what is Sabbath rest for believers in Jesus Christ?   As we answer that question, I think rather than be discouraged by the onerous demands of the Jewish Sabbath, you’ll be encouraged by the rest that is presently yours, right now.
Turn to Luke 6.  Let me remind you where we are in our study of the book.  Luke’s clear objective is to demonstrate Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God so that we know our faith in Him is well-placed.  And he’s been doing that in a number of ways – through Jesus’ virgin birth accompanied with an angelic choir; through John being His forerunner; through His baptism and divine introduction; through opposition from the forces of evil, namely Jesus’ successful battle with Satan in the wilderness; through His teaching with authority; through His amazing miracles; and through His authority to forgive sins – just to name a few.
As a result, there came rising opposition from of all people, the religious.  While His popularity soared, so did resistance from the religious establishment.  We’re looking at five specific stories that describe this rising opposition.  The first was His audacity to forgive the sins of the paralytic.  Who can do that but God?  Exactly.  The second was this call of Matthew, and the subsequent party, where Jesus ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners.  Because, after all, He didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners into His kingdom.  The third had to do with fasting – or the fact Jesus and His disciples weren’t fasting.  And Jesus used the confrontation to teach He had come to bring new wine – the glorious truth of the New Covenant. 
And so, those who opposed Him were becoming more vocal with their hostility.  They began questioning, badgering, spying on Him, trying to catch Him in some inconsistency, trying to show how He violated their understanding of Old Testament Law.  This opposition will continue until, by the end of the book, it reaches a fever pitch, and they crucify Him – per divine plan.
Now, we’re finding the religious establishment of the day had created onerous rules to be observed – but none more so than the Sabbath.  It was the pinnacle of Jewish religious observance – along with circumcision.  And so, the fourth and fifth stories have to do with Sabbath observance – eating on the Sabbath, and healing on the Sabbath.  You see, that day, intended to bring rest and renewal, had become an overwhelming weight.  People were spiritually exhausted, trying to meet the demands of this external, meaningless, self-righteous system.  And in the midst of that, Jesus shows up and offers rest to those who were exhausted – those who had tried and failed miserably to meet the demands of the self-righteous, religious people of the day. 
First, let’s look at what the Old Testament Sabbath was.Then, we’ll see how the Pharisees abused the Sabbath.Then, we’ll see how we as believers observe a Sabbath rest – the New Testament Sabbath.  Are they different – this OT and NT Sabbath?  No, but we’re going to find Jesus becomes the fulfillment of Sabbath rest. 
“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.”
There you have it – the first seventh-day rest – the first Sabbath.  It was blessed and sanctified – that means it was a happy and holy day.  It was supposed to be a good day.  But let me ask you, why did God rest on the seventh day?  Was He tired?  Needed a day off?  Of course not.  He was finished.  This was an “It is finished” rest.  His work was done, He was able to sit back and rest in the completeness and goodness of His creation.  Let me give you a little preview.  When Jesus finished His work, He said it – It is finished.  Then He sat down at the right hand of the Father.  And He has become our Sabbath rest.
Roll the clock forward a few thousand years after creation.  It wasn’t until God gave the Law we see Him demanding His people observe a Sabbath.  It was in Exodus 20, when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.  There, we read these words in the fourth commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant, or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”  That’s actually the longest of the Ten Commandments.
So, much like God rested from His labor to enjoy His handiwork, they were to rest from their labor and rest in the presence of God.  But the Jews missed the point.  But, the Sabbath became central to all their laws.  It was the pinnacle of their observance.  They reasoned, I suppose, that since it was the longest of the commandments it deserved most of their attention, and they wrote more about the Sabbath than anything else.  Later, in the Mishna and the Talmud, we find literally thousands of laws written about what it means to observe the Sabbath. 
On a national scale, the apocryphal book of I Maccabees tells of an incident during the time of Judas Maccabaeus.  A group of Jews refused to defend themselves against a Greek army led by Antiochus Ephiphanes, because the battle fell on the Sabbath.  As a result, a thousand men, women and children were slaughtered.  By the way, last Oct 7 was on a Sabbath. Later, Josephus records the fall of Jerusalem to the Roman general Pompey was in part due to the Sabbath.  The Roman army built a siege ramp against the city walls, but they only built on the Sabbath, knowing they could do so without resistance.  As a result, the ramp was built, and Jerusalem fell.
On a personal level, there were laws governing everything you did.  For example, you were only allowed to travel about 1000 yards from your house.  Under Sabbath laws, a Jew could not carry a load heavier than a dried fig.  But, if it weighed half as much as a dried fig, he could carry it twice.  You couldn’t eat anything larger than an olive.  A tailor was advised to put down his needle a half-hour before sunset lest he inadvertently carry it on the Sabbath.  Carrying any instrument required for work was forbidden.  Throwing an object into the air with one hand and catching it with the other…prohibited.  Baths could not be taken on the Sabbath.  Why?  You might drip some water, and if you wipe it up, you’re cleaning the floor.  Chairs could not be moved, because if you drag them across the floor, you might make a furrow in the ground.  Women were forbidden from looking in the mirror.  Why?  She might see a gray hair and be tempted to pull it – forbidden.  You could write no more than two letters.  And the kids go yay – no homework on Saturday.
Of course, there could be no buying, selling, sewing, plowing, reaping, grinding, binding, baking, threshing, winnowing, sifting, dying, shearing, spinning, kneading, tying or untying (knots).  Are you exhausted by these rules designed to give you rest?  You should be. 
A Jewish doctor is allowed to care for patients, but only those terminally ill.  But, if he does have to suspend Sabbath rules for a higher principle, such as care of the ill, one must do so with the least possible intrusion of Sabbath laws.  In fact, one must perform any act that would otherwise transgress the Sabbath in an unusual manner thus acknowledging the Sabbath.  For example, a doctor may drive on the Sabbath if he must go to an emergency, but he should start the engine by turning the key with two fingers, not the usual thumb and forefinger.  As to the vehicle driven to an emergency, the doctor must leave the motor running, as turning off the engine is not necessary to save life.  If a doctor has to write, he must write with his left hand if right-handed (and vice-versa), use the minimum number of words possible, and sign with his initials, not his full name.  A nurse or doctor applying an antiseptic on the Sabbath must use a nonabsorbent swab as opposed to cotton which could absorb the medication and thus, presumably, be classed as dyeing.
Are you getting tired?  You say, okay, we get it – move on.  No – you’re just starting to get it.  There were thousands of rules just like the 8 or 10 I just read.  And you’re weary just listening to a few, try thousands.  Try living them.  There were 39 different categories of work prohibited in the Mishna; 24 chapters in the Talmud addressing Sabbath restrictions.  And in all that legalism, they missed the point.  They missed they were to rest in God.  They were to celebrate His goodness.  And as a result, the Sabbath, far from being a day of rest, had become an incredible day of burden.  It was a day of oppressive frustration and anxiety.  The best day of the week had become the worst; the day of rest became harder than a day of work; the happy day became a gloomy day.  The people were exhausted; they had become weary, and heavy-laden.
Which brings us to our third point and our text where Jesus deals with the true meaning of the Sabbath.  The story begins with Jesus and His disciples making their way through the grainfields.  We’re not told where they were going, or how far they traveled – unimportant details.  What we do see is the disciples became hungry, and began to pick the heads of grain, and eat them.  Now, eating the grain along the path was not the problem – they weren’t stealing, that was permitted in Deuteronomy 23.
The issue the Pharisees had was they were picking the grain – that’s reaping; they were rubbing the grain together in their hands – that’s threshing; and they were blowing the chaff away – that’s winnowing.  And while they were rubbing the grain, it was no doubt breaking it up – that’s grinding.  They were preparing a meal.  In short, the disciples, as far as Pharisees were concerned, were working, and violating the Sabbath.
Now, let me make one thing clear here.  Jesus, in His response, was not allowing a violation of the Sabbath.  He was not reducing the demands of the Law – He kept the Law, the real Law, perfectly.  The fact is, there was nothing wrong with eating on the Sabbath.  The disciples weren’t doing anything wrong.  The issue was not the Pharisees were too rigorous in their observance of the Sabbath – the issue was they didn’t understand the Sabbath.  And so, Jesus takes them to task. 
He begins by chiding the Pharisees for their lack of biblical insight.  He says in verse 3, “Have you not even read…”  You’re supposed to be the custodians of Scripture – don’t you know what it says?  This would have irritated them a bit.  From there, Jesus gives some important truths about the Sabbath.
First, the Sabbath was never intended to keep from meeting needs.  The disciples were hungry.  There was food, they ate it, not a violation of the Sabbath.  Not only that, Jesus takes it a step further – and it’s important we understand what He’s saying.  He gives the example from I Samuel 21 of David and his companions, fleeing Saul, going into the house of God – the Tabernacle and they ate the consecrated bread.  You may know it as the show bread, or the bread of Presence.  Every week, the priests baked twelve new loaves of bread, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and placed it in the Tabernacle.  The bread represented God’s provision.  After they placed the new bread in the Tabernacle, the priests, and they alone, were allowed to eat the week-old bread.
But, on this occasion, David and his companions ate it because they were hungry.  And yet, neither they nor the high priest were condemned for it.  So, Jesus says, what do you do with that?  What’s He saying?  Why, when asked about the Sabbath, does He talk about David eating bread?  Again, He’s emphasizing the truth that not only the Sabbath, but the entire sacrificial and ceremonial systems, were not supposed to keep people from meeting needs.  After all, in Matthew’s account, he records Jesus saying, “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” 
Further, if David, the anointed king, could violate the ceremonial law of eating holy bread to meet needs, then the greater David, the Anointed King, could violate the ceremonial law to eat grain to meet needs.  One author said it this way (Joseph Pipa), “…if it was proper to violate a ceremonial law when the Lord’s anointed was on the Lord’s business on the Sabbath, then surely the Anointed and His followers may break a man-made law while they are doing the Lord’s business on the Sabbath.”
Eating bread was not a moral issue.  Frankly, working on the Sabbath is not a moral issue.  Both of these things were not part of the moral law – they were part of the ceremonial, sacrificial system – a system God never intended to keep from meeting needs.  God’s people will be known not by their external observance of some code of laws; they would be known by the way they love others and meet needs. 
You see, Jesus ends this little conversation with these amazing words, “The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath.”  Actually, Lord is first in the sentence for emphasis, “The Lord of the Sabbath is the Son of Man.”  Remember, Jesus first used the Son of Man title – which is a messianic title – back in chapter 5 where He said, the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sin.  Only God can forgive sins – right.  Here, He says, the Lord of the Sabbath is the Son of Man.  This is hugely significant – the Law of Moses – the Ten Commandments – was given by God Himself to Moses.  Here, Jesus unabashedly claims to be the Lord over the Sabbath – over the Law of God.  It is yet another clear declaration of deity. 
I would say further, the command to observe Sabbath rest is affirmed in the New Testament –Matthew chapter 11 – come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you – not the yoke of the Law – you could never keep that.  Not the yoke of the legalistic Pharisees.  Take my yoke – for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.  Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law – He has become our Sabbath rest.  The moral law is still in effect in the law of Christ.  The ceremonial law is fulfilled in Christ.
So, are believers supposed to observe an Old Testament Sabbath?  Not unless you want to keep the whole ceremonial and sacrificial system, too.  Jesus fulfilled those.  Is Sunday a Christian Sabbath?  No.  The Sabbath was merely a picture pointing to Christ.  And so, my brothers and sister, we have the real thing – we have entered His rest, we can cease from our works of self-righteousness, and rest in Christ – who He is and what He has done for us.  Listen, if you want to keep a sabbath rest for worship and resting in God – that’s great.  Do that.  But enjoy the rest Christ gives every day. 
Mark says in his parallel account, the Sabbath was made for man – not the other way around.  We are not under this picture of the Sabbath, as if it is supreme.  No, the Sabbath was made for man – to point us to the Sabbath rest we have in Christ.  And so, Jesus says, the Son of Man – He Himself – is Lord even of the Sabbath.  Who made the Sabbath?  The Lord – Yahweh – God Himself.  And here, Jesus says, I am the Lord of the Sabbath – a clear declaration of deity.  But more than that – I am what the Sabbath is all about. 
I’m talking about rest this morning.  Jesus has become our Sabbath rest.  And some of you are exhausted, trying to keep up with all the Christian rules.  You need to rest in Jesus.  And you may be thinking – shhh.  If you tell people to rest, they’re gonna – they’ll get slack in their obedience and they won’t do anything.  We won’t have enough children’s ministry workers, we won’t have enough Life Group leaders, we won’t have enough volunteers.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Resting in Christ does not produce negligible obedience and optional service.  Once you’ve entered His rest – it compels you to obey, to meet needs, to serve God, and show mercy.  And you’ll find you have the ability to do what you’ve never had before. 
Further, you cease your striving and rest in His finished work.  Jesus has become our Sabbath rest.  And we rest in Him 7 days a week, 365 days a year.  And the true Sabbath rest causes us to sit back, smile, and say, isn’t God good.  And it causes us to work, in His power, in His kingdom.  That is Sabbath rest – His yoke is easy, His burden is light.