QUESTION #19 Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days? or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?

QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED BIBLE STUDY

    Read Matthew 12:1-14 KJV: 

 

  Have you not read what David did when he and those that were with him hungered, how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him or those with him to eat…? (Matthew 12:4)

  Or have you not read in the Law, how on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? (Matthew 12:5)

  What man there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day will not lay hold on it and lift it out? (Matthew 12:11)

  How much then is a man better than a sheep? (Matthew 12:12)

      Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days? or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? (Mark 3:4)

 

HEALING ON THE SABBATH

Reference: Matthew 12:1-14; Mark 2:23-28, 3:1-6; Luke 6:1-11

 

Jesus asks these questions while defending his disciples from an unjust attack, while at the same time called into question the motives of their hypocritical accusers.

 

First, notice what the disciples did in verse 1, As Jesus and His disciple walked through 

a cornfield on the Sabbath His disciples were hungry so they picked and ate some corn. In doing this, the disciples were not violating the law of God, but were rather engaging in activity that was allowed under the Law (Deuteronomy 23:25). The only way the Pharisees could charge them with unlawful activity was by binding upon them their traditions regarding the Sabbath day. Jesus' disciples were in conflict not with the law of God regarding the Sabbath, but rather with the Pharisees twisted and complicated interpretation of God's law. 

 

Second, notice Jesus' defense. He began by exposing the Pharisees' impure motives in condemning the disciples. They were teachers of the Law so he gave them an example of one they were familiar with. The inconsistency is obvious. If they were so concerned about the supposed violation of the disciples, why were they silent about the supposedly unlawful action of David (Jesus termed David's action in that instance as "not lawful") as recorded in 1 Samuel 21:1-6. 

 

Next, Jesus did away with their interpretation of "work" on the Sabbath. He pointed out to them, according to their interpretation of the things prohibited on the Sabbath, that even the priests would be guilty. And yet, he pronounced them blameless. Their actions, as the actions of the disciples, did not violate the God-given limitations of work on the Sabbath day. As such, just as the priests were "blame-less" in performing their service on the Sabbath, the disciples were "guiltless" in plucking ears of corn, and eating on the Sabbath.

 

Jesus stated if they had known what this meant, “’I will have mercy, and not sacrifice’ – they would not have condemned the guiltless.” Jesus essentially is accusing them of being ignorant of the Scriptures, in which they pretended to be very knowing and took it upon themselves to be interpreters thereof. Jesus is referring to Hosea 6:6 where God is telling His people that what he desires is not for them to simply go through a ritual sacrifice without the heart and the faith which is what He really wants. In other words, although God clearly wanted the Jews to make the sacrifices he had commanded, if they simply went through the motions but did not give God true devotion and faith, then the sacrifices, by themselves, meant nothing. The most well-known is Psalms 51:16, “You desire mercy, not sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.” Jesus is stating that the sacrifice is not sufficient if we do not respond with the right heart, and going through a ritual does not solve the problem.

 

Finally, Jesus declared his own authority. "Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath". In these verses, Jesus is proclaiming that He is the One who exercises authority even over the rules and regulations that govern the Sabbath day. As LORD of the Sabbath Jesus is the Son of Man, the divine Creator, the covenant God. And as LORD of the Sabbath Jesus the Messiah has authority over the temple too.

 

Jesus then departed and went into their synagogue. There was a man there with a withered hand, and the Pharisees looking for a reason to accuse Him, asked, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days?”

 

With the questions that Jesus asked next, he exposed their hypocrisy by showing their greater concern for their own possessions rather than for a man in need, arguing that it can’t be wrong to do good on the Sabbath. Plus, He was telling them in a way they could understand, what He was doing. They had sheep, and He knew that if they had a sheep missing, they would go and find that sheep, even on the Sabbath. They had just condemned themselves with their questions meant to accuse Him.

 

Jesus looked around about Him at them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, He then compassionately healed the man – showing His authority. The Pharisees immediately went out and held a meeting to try and find a way to destroy Jesus.

 

The study of a passage like this also calls for a bit of study of the Sabbath day laws. The Law simply said that Israel was to remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy (holy means “set apart to God and His service”). They could do their ordinary labor for six days, but on the Sabbath, they were to stop.

 

It is important for Christians to know that the Sabbath was the sign of the Old Covenant (Testament), not the New Covenant (Testament). The covenants are very different, and the signs indicate that. The Old Covenant was the Law, and it was based on the Creator. The sign to keep the Sabbath looked back to creation’s Sabbath (when God ceased from His work on the seventh day, Genesis 2:2). 

 

The New Covenant is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant (Matthew 5:17-18), and it looks forward to eternal redemption. Its sign is the cup of the New Covenant, which Jesus institutionalized in the upper room. Because Jesus fulfilled the Law in His life and His death, all Old Testament laws have to be interpreted through His fulfillment. Sacrifices and ritual and holy days -- all change with Christ (Colossians 2:14). So, believers today are not bound to keep the Sabbath Day because we have a New Covenant. The Sabbath for us is interpreted through the events that happened in the upper room -- when we believe in Jesus, and receive His Spirit (be filled with the Holy Ghost as they did in the upper room Acts 2:1-4) we then enter into the rest He promised (Matthew 11:28-30), which is the eternal Sabbath. We then become purified – holy “set apart to God and His service”. 

 

When we are born again we have entered into that Sabbath rest. Christians are to keep every day holy and set apart for God's service. Every day is to be sanctified to the Lord as a day of spiritual rest; the whole life is a Sabbath fulfillment. Paul teaches that the Christian is not to observe holy days in a legalistic way. They are helpful for instruction and meditation, but not legally binding. A Christian is to live out the spirit of the Law – a sanctified life given to the Lord and lived out in salvation’s rest, until all is fulfilled.

 

See Hebrews 3 and 4 

 

Notes: