Sabbath Observance

We would like to believe Jesus fulfilled (ended) Sabbath observance by what He did on the Sabbath. In response, the Pharisees cried foul, and breaking traditional Sabbath customs was one of the charges which led to Jesus’ death sentence. But, before we can unpack this, we need a base line around which we will measure our discussion, and it is found in Matthew 9:10-13.

One of the first Sabbath observances was prescribed in Exodus 16 in gathering manna. The Lord provided manna for the people of Israel to eat while they were in the wilderness and were unable to provide their own food. However, the Lord did not provide manna on the Sabbath. Instead of gathering and preparing manna on the Sabbath, they were to collect two times the normal daily rations the day before and set aside one ration for the Sabbath. We read about this in Exodus 16:29. The Lord went into further detail on Sabbath observance in Exodus 20:8-11.

There were other customs and “laws” prescribed for proper Sabbath observance. Not all of them were included in the Bible, and perhaps it is safe to say that most of them were omitted.

Now, let’s look at the incidents involving Jesus and the Sabbath as recorded in Matthew 12:1-14 and Luke 13:10-17.

1. Jesus harvested on the Sabbath. The Pharisees had a long-standing prohibition against working on the Sabbath originating from the passages in Exodus quoted above. While we may think what Jesus did was trivial, His act was essentially akin to a farmer firing up his combine and harvesting a small amount of grain. Plucking and threshing grain was considered labor, even in the smallest of amounts.

Before we conclude that Jesus was condoning all labor on the Sabbath, we should consider the analogies Jesus made to the Old Testament – David and the priest. In both of these cases, exceptions were made for their acts, and the principle exception was that they were engaged in the Lord’s work.

Jesus was using this opportunity to set Himself apart as God’s servant and being about God’s work. It was a lesson used as an aid to belief and a teaching illustration. Jesus was pointing out to the Pharisees that He was doing God’s work. “The religious restrictions elaborated by human beings into calcified codes of conduct often paradoxically fight the purposes of God. It is particularly grievous when insistence on the letter of the law results in the neglect of genuine human need and thus hinders the expression of love.” When God puts us to work, He may provide us with exceptions, so that rote obedience to His laws does not hinder the kingdom of heaven. Such is the case with priests who labor on the Sabbath and David who with his army had nothing else to eat.

What Jesus is really saying to the Pharisees is this: If you do not like Me violating the Sabbath, then feed Me (have compassion); but if you are not going to feed Me, then I will feed myself by whatever means necessary as God has provided. What the Pharisees were really saying is this: Rote obedience to God’s law requires that You go hungry on the Sabbath if You have not made provisions for yourself (while they refuse to provide any food).

We have no support for any other uses or purposes for this passage. Jesus did not issue a blanket authorization to dispense with the Old Testament commandment to set apart the Sabbath as a day of rest and cessation from our labors.

2. Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Once again, Jesus exerted labor on the Sabbath. At first blush it would seem that Jesus did nothing wrong because He made someone’s life better, however, it was labor nonetheless, and this labor was objectionable to the Pharisees.

We would be quick to use this passage of Scripture to authorize our own labor on the Sabbath. However, our focus on the labor Jesus exerted on the Sabbath is misplaced. The real focus of this passage of Scripture is on the value system or the hearts of the Pharisees.

In both Matthew and Luke, Jesus uses an analogy to animals owned by the Pharisees, one a sheep in distress and another an animal that needs water. In both cases, Jesus pointed out that the Pharisees would not think twice about rescuing their animals, but when it came to a person in distress, they were quick to overlook the need because it amounted to labor. Jesus challenged them by pointing out that tending to animals on the Sabbath was also labor and called them hypocrites for splitting hairs on the issue.

We are here caught between two of God’s principles. On the one hand, we are to love our neighbor, and, on the other hand, we are to observe the Sabbath. The Pharisees would hold to the “incomparable importance of the commandments as the express and unchanging will of God for his people.” The Pharisees felt no personal duty to intervene in desperate human situations and preferred instead to pull out the law as an excuse to leave a person in their suffering.

When we are confronted with such dilemmas of seemingly violating God’s law no matter what we do, we must try to understand what God really intended. His laws do not come into conflict with one another. Here, Jesus is pointing out that love is to be our over-arching guiding principle in life around which everything else revolves. When we love our animals more than a suffering individual, then our heart is not right with God, and we have more to worry about than a vague rule on Sabbath observance.

It is also unfortunate that in our modern society we have felt the need to burden ourselves with unceasing labor (either for ourselves or those who would serve us) and feel that the rest God intended we have is unnecessary. Mark 2:27

Are you employed in a job that requires you to work on Sunday? My advice to you is to settle this with God. Pray over the matter for 30 days and let Him guide you. If God truly does not want you to work on Sunday, then He will 1) make a way for your current employer to accommodate you, 2) provide another job, or 3) provide for your needs in other ways. God does not provide us with something which violates His will. When God provides, it is perfect and complete. It could be that God did not provide your current employment for you or that He is providing and making an exception for you. Sometimes we are quick to force open doors and say that God provided, when God had something else in mind for us that we destroyed by forcing open a door somewhere else.