Sabbath...

SABBATH: REPLENISHING THE DRAINED

Mark 2:23-28

August 26, 2018

Bruce R. Johnson

Mark 2:23-28 -- One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

25And he said to them, ”Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”

27And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

I. Jesus makes another outrageous claim: He is lord even of the Sabbath

A. Disciples were not stealing because . . .

1. Lev. 23:22 mandates that some of harvest/gleanings be left for the poor and the sojourner.

2. Deut. 23:25 allows plucking ears of standing grain by hand

3. But . . . GOTCHA . . . Ex. 34:21: “In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest [on the seventh day].”

B. Audience specifically identified as Pharisees

1. Recall “greater than” language of Hebrews

a. Pharisees still don’t know who Jesus is

b. Right here and now they see Him as a threat to their power and position

2. Judgmental language

a. “Look” or “See here.” Contemporary English idioms, complete with inflections

b. Another translation: What they are doing . . . is not allowed. (Not a question.)

c. Either way: What are you going to do about it?

C. Messianic rebuke: Have you not read?

1. The David story emphasizes that the Pharisees’ application of the law fails to take need into account.

2. Not an excuse

3. Since need can be taken into account, something beyond mere mechanical application of Ex. 34.21 is involved/required

4. That something is the “inverted” purpose of the sabbath -- for man and not the reverse

D. Jesus’ words as a “ruling”

1. The principle is similar to the ruling regarding wine and wineskins

2. As wine must conform to wineskins, so must the law confirm human flourishing

E. The power -- and the command -- of “So”

1. Command first: A stop-and-think word, like “therefore,” “because,” “for”

2. “I can tell what the law means because I am LORD of both law and Sabbath.”

3. Avoiding both legalism and antinomianism

a. Legalism: Law as autonomous revelation replacing person of God

b. Antinomianism: Jesus not a free agent who could overthrow the revealed will of God

c. Righteous purpose of God as manifested in Torah can be recovered and fulfilled only in relation to Jesus, who is its LORD.

F. “Son of Man” worth barrels of ink and whole forests of paper

Not unlike Messianic secret in that it “was ambiguous in meaning to the current popular imagination. This enabled him to claim to be the Messiah with little danger of the current erroneous views being read into it before he had” the chance to act out the full meaning of the messianic task outlined in the OT. (FOOTNOTE)

II. The work underneath our work drives us to the restless refuge of religion

A. Two radically different spiritual paradigms at work here

1. “Religion” -- primarily advice

2. Gospel of Jesus Christ, which begins and ends with news

B. Common belief: If there is a God, you relate to him by being good.

1. Nationalistic religions

2. Spiritualistic religions

3. Legalistic religions

4. Common logic: If I obey, I am accepted.

C. Gospel of Jesus: I’m fully accepted in Jesus Christ, and therefore I obey.

D. Addiction to salvation by works

1. Concern with details of the law: Mishnah lists 39 classes of activities which violate the Sabbath.

2. Walking more than 1,999 paces on a single journey forbidden

III. The cross of Christ is the place of our deep rest.

A. Law of God functions differently from law in “religion”

1. Still binding

2. Shows you the life of love you want to live before the face of God

3. God’s law takes you out of self-absorption and shows how to serve God and others

B. Jesus dismantles religious paradigm by pointing to His identity

1. Not just “I am LORD over the Sabbath.”

2. “I am LORD of the Sabbath.”

C. In saying, “I am the LORD of the Sabbath,” Jesus means that He is the Sabbath.

1. The source of the deep rest we need

2. Genesis 1: God Himself rested after creation

a. He doesn’t get tired, so how could He rest?

i. “I’m so satisfied with my work that I can leave it.”

ii. “I’m so satisfied with what Christ has done for me . . .”

b. Self-justification: The work underneath our work that we really need rest from

D. “It is finished” -- Those who rely on Jesus’ finished work know that God is satisfied with them.

FOOTNOTE:

Robert Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, page 215; language after quotation marks paraphrases the original.