Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which
is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But
they remained silent.
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at
their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your
hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely
restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with
the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
Jewish hatred of Christ. The Pharisees
were angry with Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. So angry were they, that they
joined arms with their enemies the Herodians (Sadducees) to KILL Jesus. Please,
let us be honest with ourselves, the Jews hated Christ. Judaism hated
Christianity, hated Christ, and hated the Gospel, “As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake”
(Rom.11:28).
The
Jews had no just cause to kill Jesus (as we shall see) but had hardened their
hearts to the true meaning of the Law. Jesus asks them if it was lawful to do
good or evil on the Sabbath. What is the “evil” Jesus refers to? It is the evil
of having the capacity and opportunity to heal someone on the Sabbath but
refusing to do so based on the claim that the Sabbath prevented healing because
it was a work. The Jews showed mercy to an ox or donkey on the Sabbath but
could not do so to fellow Jews (Luke 13:15). How messed up was that?
The Jews twisted the Law. To the Jewish
mind, 1+1+1=3.
A.
There
were no elaborate explanations of the two greatest commandments to “love” God
and to “love” your neighbor. That is, you do not find in-depth discussion, or
deeper laws, explaining what it was like to, specifically, “love” God and
“love” your neighbor. What you do find are lots and lots of verses referring to
God’s love for Israel and the need for Israel to keep God’s commandments (e.g.,
Exo.20:6; 34:6-7; Deut.5:10; 7:9; Neh.1:5; Dan.9:4).
B.
Secondly,
the Jews made the ‘logical’ assumption that the commandments about love and
mercy were explained, or filled out, by the other commandments, commandments
such as the Sabbath laws and ceremonial observances, and so forth.
C.
Thirdly,
the Sabbath laws themselves, as to their exact wording, forbade physical work
of any kind. There was
no baking and boiling (Exo.16:23); one was to stay in one’s home (Exo.16:29);
no person or animal was to work (Exo.20:10); the person not observing the
Sabbath was to be put to death (Exo.31:14); no fire was to be lit in a dwelling
(Exo.35:3); one was not to gather wood (Num.15:32-33); no one was to buy or
sell (Neh.10:31; 13:15); to prevent desecration, the gates of Jerusalem were
closed on the Sabbath, for this kept the Gentiles from entering in to Jerusalem
to buy and sell (Neh.13:19; Jer.17:21, 24, 27); and no loads were to be taken
outside of one’s home (Jer.17:22).
D.
So, it
was all rather simple: 1+1+1=3
Jews were to
“love” God
To “love” God was
to keep his commandments, such as the Sabbath
To keep the
Sabbath was not to work
Not working on the
Sabbath was to show “love” to God
Consequently,
the Jews got into the absurd habit of showing no mercy on the Sabbath to sick
people, even to one’s family members!
Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses. Some believe
that Jesus implied that the Sabbath laws allowed for mercy and healing. As I’ve
shown, the Sabbath laws themselves did
not give this permission. Jesus was not appealing to the Sabbath law, but to
the Law of Moses as a whole, and specifically to the commandments to love God
and one’s neighbor (see Matt.22:40). No, there is no law in Moses’ commandments
specifying that one can heal another person on
the Sabbath. Yet, the laws concerning love and mercy trumped the Sabbath
laws (when viewed as mere commandments taken woodenly as to their very letters
or wording). It was assumed, in other words, by the Law of Moses that a Jew
would not refuse to heal someone on the Sabbath, for healing was necessary and
it was the expression of love and mercy.
It is mistake, however, to think
that Jesus was merely ‘obeying’ the Mosaic Law; he was not- he was fulfilling
it. Moses was not the Lord of Jesus; Jesus was the Lord of Moses. Jesus is the
Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28), and as such he is above Moses, and teaches us
what the Law and the law of the Sabbath were really pointing to. They were
pointing to him, the Messiah. When Jesus asked if it was lawful to heal on the
Sabbath, he was making a profound statement. Jesus was not a regular-Joe; he
was the Messiah, God in the flesh. God worked on the Sabbath and did all kinds of
things, including healing. Jesus declared he was only mimicking the Father by
healing on the Sabbath; the Jews rightly understood that this was a claim to
deity (John 5:16-18). It was “lawful” to love on the Sabbath, and because of
this, it was lawful to heal. Yet, it was a miraculous healing, done in the
synagogue, on the Sabbath. Could Jesus be any more ‘obvious’: God was in the
midst of Israel! And the emphasis was not upon all the details of Moses’
Sabbath laws, but upon mercy and love on
the Sabbath day. Jesus’ healing of the man was a demonstration of his authority
to conquer sin (Mark 2:10-11). The Sabbath rest from work was never an end in
itself, but pointed to faith in the Messiah and receiving spiritual rest in
him, a spiritual Sabbath (Matt.11:28-12:1-14; Heb.4:1-13). Only through faith
in Jesus, the Messiah, as the One who takes away sin, can one enter into God’s
Sabbath rest in Christ Jesus. He brings spiritual healing to the soul, and
demonstrated that power and authority by healing the man’s withered hand on the
Sabbath.
The Lord of the
Sabbath: Matthew 12:1-8
At that time Jesus
went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and
began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to
him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” 3 He
answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he
and his companions were hungry? 4 He
entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated
bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that the
priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are
innocent? 6 I tell you that
something greater than the temple is here. 7 If
you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would
not have condemned the innocent. 8 For
the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Jesus disciples were ‘working’ on the
Sabbath.
Scholars tell us that the Jews had developed an elaborate system of laws and
prohibitions in interpreting the Sabbath laws, and it was one of those laws
that Matthew believes that disciples of Christ violated.
There is, however, no evidence for
that conclusion. By citing the example of David, and stating that what he did
on the Sabbath was “unlawful”, Jesus himself is referring to the Mosaic Law as
such. Jesus’ disciples were not violating the laws of the Mishnah (Jewish oral tradition), but the actual Sabbath laws.
Deuteronomy 23:25 (see Lev.19:9-10;
23:22) permits Jews who are poor to glean in the field of their neighbors. Due
to this, some scholars believe that Mark was implying that, according to the
Law, Jesus’ disciples were lawfully gleaning in the field. The problem with
that view is that there is no such permission for a Sabbath day. As shown earlier, in my comments upon Mark
3:1-6, the Sabbath laws forbade ANY
type of work. The disciples were gleaning grain and that was work. There is no
way round that fact. Please bear in mind, that Sabbath law forbade the gathering (and chopping) of wood on the
Sabbath and prohibited lighting fires in dwellings.
Jesus disciples did that which was
unlawful.
By the standard of the Sabbath laws only,
the disciples were working. By the
standard of the Sabbath law, the disciples had violated the Sabbath laws. The disciples had done
that which was unlawful. In the Gospels, exesti
invariably denotes that which is ‘not lawful’, that which is not according to a
law in the Mosaic Law (Matt.12:2, 4, 10, 12; 14:4; 19:3; 20:15; 22:17; 27:6;
Mark 3:4; 6:18; 10:2; 12:14; Luke 6:2, 4, 9; 14:3; 20:22; John 5:10; 18:31).
Scholars think that that it is
inconceivable that Jesus’ disciples broke the Law. I agree. They did NOT break
the Mosaic Law. They broke the Sabbath law.
The misstep is to think that the Sabbath law equals the whole of the Mosaic
Law. It does not, as Jesus himself points out by referencing the priests who
work on the Sabbath. There is not a single statement made in Sabbath law giving ANY permission to priests to work on the
Sabbath. Yet, no one dreamed for a moment that priests could not work on the
Sabbath. They were "innocent". By the very letter of Sabbath law- the exact wording and statements in
the Sabbath commandments- there was no provision for gleaning grain. Thus, the
disciples did that which was “unlawful” by the standards of the Sabbath laws taken as mere commandments and as to their
precise wording. Yet, in the greater will of God, the disciples were "innocent". The Sabbath laws were intrinsically limited, prohibiting
this and that. They did not accommodate, or should I say, state, that there
were exceptions to the very written word in the Sabbath laws. For example, the
Sabbath laws imply you cannot gather food on the Sabbath (Exo.16:5, 22, 29).
Except, the context of the manna episode shows that God miraculously kept the
manna and stopped it from having worms (Exo.16:20, 24). The lesson was twofold:
God will provide; and the Sabbath must be sanctified. When Jesus’ disciples
gathered food on the Sabbath, they were aware of the fact that God provides for
those who do not have. He even provides on a Sabbath. The alternative is that
God does not provide and the Jews must starve. Yet, that is exactly what the
Pharisees believed must happen if one did not have food on the Sabbath. David
ate food that was lawful only for the priests to eat. Moreover, this was done
on a Sabbath. David and his men received an act of mercy, for God was providing
for David and his men.
Please note, too, brother, that if
Jesus’ disciples did not break the Sabbath law, why did not Jesus specifically
say so? Why does he not go to the Sabbath law to correct them? Why does Jesus
go to the example of the priests working on the Sabbath? Why does he cite
David’s example? Both are instances of clear violations of the wooden, or
literal, expression of Sabbath law.
Jesus and his disciples were fulfilling
the Law.
David did not break merely Sabbath law, he broke priestly law, too. That is, by
the literal letter of the priestly laws, David should never have taken the food
from the altar (Lev.24:9). How could he do this? He could do this because he
was the true king, the messiah, the anointed one. Yet, it was not merely
because he was the true king. Remember, king Uzziah was struck with leprosy for
doing what only a priest could do (2 Chr.16:16-21). David was on a mission,
working, for the name of the Lord. It was a mission not specified by king Saul,
nor by Moses’ Law; indeed, David’s ‘work’ was to flee king Saul, to preserve
his life as the true king and anointed one (1 Sam.20-21). His work and mission
trumped that of the Sabbath laws and the priests. Was David breaking the Mosaic
Law? No! He was "innocent". He was fulfilling the commandment to love his God by doing the will of
God. Did David override the Sabbath laws and the priestly laws? Yes, without a
shadow of doubt! Yet, not even Ahimelek the priest stopped him; rather, Ahimelek
supported and encouraged David in all of his actions.
Jesus did not enter the temple, nor
glean anything. Yet, as the head of his disciples, he comes under the same
‘judgment’ as they. Jesus, the Son of Man, and his disciples were busy doing
the work of the Lord. Their mission was not stated in the Mosaic Law, but was
in fulfillment of the command to love God. In pursuit of this fulfillment of
the commandment to love God, in executing the mission, Jesus and his disciples
did that which was not lawful by the standards of mere Sabbath law. He was not wrong to do so, for his mission trumped the
laws of the Sabbath and any other
subset of laws within the Mosaic Law. Jesus and his disciples were "innocent".
However, Jesus trumped the Sabbath law not merely as another David,
as a servant going about the Lord’s business. No, he was the Lord himself, in
the flesh, going about his own
business. This was the Messiah, the Son of Man, the Lord of the Sabbath, the
Lord of Moses. He did not bow to Moses; Moses bowed to him!
The Sabbath
Breaker: John 5:9-24
Now
it was the Sabbath on that day. 10 So the Jews
were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not
permissible for you to carry your pallet.” 11 But
he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick
up your pallet and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who
is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” 13 But
the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away
while there was a crowd in that place.14 Afterward
Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become
well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to
you.” 15 The man went away, and told the Jews
that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 For this
reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things
on the Sabbath.17 But He answered them, “My Father
is working until now, and I Myself am working.”
18 For this reason therefore the
Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was
breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making
Himself equal with God.
19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to
them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself,
unless it is something
He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the
Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father
loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show
Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. 21 For
just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the
Son also gives life to whom He wishes. 22 For not
even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the
Son, 23 so that all will honor the Son even as they
honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father
who sent Him. 24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who
hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life,
and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Jesus broke the Sabbath law. ‘John records what the Pharisees thought. The
Pharisees thought Jesus was breaking the Sabbath and making himself equal with
God. How could Jesus break the Law of Moses? It is unthinkable! Blasphemous! He
was sinless! He is God!’ That’s how the argument goes.
It is wrong, however. First, John 5:16 does not tell us what the
Pharisees claimed. It informs us what John
thought about the Pharisees and their views. Likewise, John 5:18 does not inform us what the Pharisees claimed; it tells
us that what John said the Pharisees thought. It is John’s summary both times
and not merely what the evil Pharisees thought.
Second, John does not say that Jesus
broke the Law of Moses. He said that Jesus broke the Sabbath law. The wording is exact, precise.
From experience, I can say that Jehovah
Witnesses, Mormons, and others, are most comfortable with John 5:18. Why? Because
they take the logic of Evangelicals and turn it against them. If it is merely
the Pharisees’ opinion that Jesus broke the Law (not the Sabbath law), then it
is also merely the Pharisees’ opinion that Jesus was God- there being nothing
grammatically or contextually to stop such a ‘consistent’ application. And if
the Pharisees were wrong about the the Law being broken, they were wrong, too,
about Jesus being God. Indeed, I believe- by
the standard of John 5:18- that if it is inaccurate to say that Jesus broke
the Law, it is also inaccurate to say that Jesus is God. We Evangelicals can’t
have our cake and eat it: either both propositions are true, or both are false.
Make up your minds, brothers!
Jesus was working on the Sabbath by
healing and he encouraged the healed man to take up his mat, thus violating the
commandments not to carry burdens on the Sabbath. If we judge Jesus as a mere man, then by the strict letter of the Sabbath law only, Jesus had
violated, broken, the Sabbath law. So
had the healed man.
Jesus did NOT break the Mosaic Law. I have argued in
this paper that it is possible to violate the letter of a particular Mosaic
Law, yet not violate the whole Mosaic Law. Jesus healed the leper, violating
the strict laws of leprosy and ceremonial cleansing.[1]
He even ignored that the leper had broken the law in order to get to him. Jesus
touched dead bodies, used spittle, and did all kinds of things that were in
direct contravention of specific Mosaic Laws. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT! But what is so
horrendous about this? Did not the priests work on the Sabbath? And yet there
was not a single Sabbath law permitting such work. And did not David and his
men violate both priestly and Sabbath law, yet David was innocent overall? How
was he innocent? Because he fulfilled the Law of Moses by obeying his God,
doing his will, and loving him. Love and mercy trump all subsets of law within
the Mosaic legal corpus. There are not laws higher or greater than the laws of
mercy and love. So, Jesus loved his Father and did his will, in fulfillment of
the commandment to love God.
Ironically, Jewish tradition itself was
not against violations of Sabbath law. Even the inflexible, obdurate Pharisees
understood that to observe various sections of the Mosaic Law exception had to
be made, so that it was legitimate, here and there, to violate the Sabbath law!
I wrote before:
A woman giving
birth is to be given assistance. By calling for a midwife to come, one may, to
quote, “violate” the Sabbath for the sake of the woman about to give birth. If
the laboring woman is in need of light or oil, they may be brought to her.
Likewise the Sabbath may be violated if the womb of the laboring woman is
“open” and ready to give birth; if it is not, the Sabbath must not be violated….The
Sabbath may be “violated” in: everything pertaining to circumcision; making two
loaves for the feast of Pentecost; and preparing all things for the feast of
Booths. The Sabbath may be “violated” to save a life. This law was deduced from
circumcision: if one member of the body can be saved through circumcision,
surely the whole body can be, too. On the feast of the Passover, the killing of
the sacrifice does “supersede” the Sabbath. One should “violate” the Sabbath
for a baby even one day old.[2]
Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law
is summarized by the two great commandments to love God and to love one’s
neighbor as oneself. By healing the man on the Sabbath, Jesus was filling out
the Sabbath itself. He ‘worked’ on the Sabbath…to bring rest to the body of the
man. He worked on the Sabbath, healing the man, as a sign, or witness to, his
authority to usher in the heavenly Sabbath-rest of God. By faith in Christ
Jesus sinners are healed from spiritual paralysis and brought into heavenly
rest. Thus, Jesus was "innocent" because he fulfilled his Father's superior, redemptive will.
[1] John Harley, “Jesus Heals the
Leper: The Significance of Matthew 8:1-4,” Ridderbos
Times (March 7th, 2018), http://ridderbostimes.blogspot.com/2018/03/jesus-heals-leper-significance-of.html,
accessed 3/10/2018.
[2] John Harley, “Straining a Gnat:
the Sabbath of Judaism,” Ridderbos Times (March 9th, 2018), http://ridderbostimes.blogspot.com/2018/03/straining-gnat-sabbath-of-judaism.html,
accessed 3/10/2018.
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