Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath.

His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?

6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.

7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

A Man with a Withered Hand

9 He went on from there and entered their synagogue.

10 And a man was there with a withered hand.

And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.

11 He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?

12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep!

So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”

And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.

14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

This week we’re going to attempt to finish verses 9-14 of Jesus’ teaching concerning the Sabbath.

In our previous time together we began looking at this controversy which becomes the final straw for Israel’s religious leaders, the point at which they will not bear with Jesus any longer, a point of no return.

From the perspective of the Pharisees Jesus and his disciples have taken it too far, they’ve crossed the line, they’ve violated the Sabbath.

And not only have they broken the Sabbath, but Jesus has challenged their charge against his disciples and has gone so far as to paint them as merciless men who lay up heavy burdens on the people.

And as I’ve mentioned in weeks prior, chapters 11-12 are a loose collection of the reactions to Jesus and his ministry.

And for the first time we see here in verse 14 the Pharisees are not only determined to contradict Jesus, but they are now set to conspire against him, and even to destroy him.

In fact, these events will set the stage for Jesus’ later condemnation of the Pharisees in verse 24 when they defiantly blaspheme the Holy Spirit.

The Sabbath Conflict

So at this point one of the questions we ought to ask is this, “What is it about this conflict with Jesus that pushes the Pharisees to a point of no return?”

Now, I think the answer to that question is because the conflict is about the Sabbath.

You see the Sabbath in many ways had become the chief cornerstone to the Pharisaical system.

It was an area within the Mosaic law that they had grossly regulated, and it had become an enormous display of their legalistic rule and authority.

The Mishnah

Now, I only touched on this in passing in our last time together but the religious leaders of Israel had created a massive body of extra-biblical literature that was meant to elaborate and articulate all of the supposed implications of God’s law.

This body of literature would later become known as the Mishnah by the second century AD, but even before these extra-bible rules and regulations had been crystalized into a single book, they were well known within the Jewish oral tradition, so when we look at the Mishnah today we get a window into the historical context of which the Israelites lived.

We’re able to get a sense of the laws and regulations that the Jewish people lived under.

And within the Mishnah there are 39 categories of activity prohibited on the Sabbath.

In other words, there are 39 categories of work that the Jews are not permitted to do on the Sabbath.

And all of these prohibitions are extra biblical, they’re not found in the Scriptures.

In fact, the Mishnah says this about itself, “The laws concerning the Sabbath ... are as mountains hanging by a hair, for they have scant scriptural basis but many laws.”

(Hagigah 1.8)

The Mishnah is more than 800 pages long and yet they have almost no scriptural foundation.

The book is large enough that it’s often times sold as a multi-volume set, yet it self-admittedly has little to no scriptural root.

Mountains Hanging by a Hair

I want to read for you a portion from an article called ‘Mountains Hanging by a Hair’ by Rabbi Herman Abramovitz, a distinguished professor of Jewish History and Chancellor Emeritus at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York (a conservative Jewish seminary).

He writes this about the Mishnah,

“From the Torah itself we know that the weekly observance of Shabbat is to be the centerpiece of the Israelite religious edifice, yet we garner very little about how the Torah understands the concept of rest.

… Yet when we open the Mishnah we discover 24 complicated and detailed chapters on what constitutes the proper commemoration of Shabbat.

No less striking than the amount of material is the nearly total absence of any biblical references to buttress the many injunctions assembled.

They are presented straightforwardly and self-confidently as long-accepted practice.

And indeed the Mishnah conveys clearly for the first time the full extent of what it means to abstain from work on the Sabbath.

But along the way we run into concepts and definitions we would never have dreamed of from the few stray remarks in the Torah on the subject.”

39 Category Prohibitions

Yet when we open the Mishnah we discover 24 complicated and detailed chapters on what constitutes the proper commemoration of Shabbat.

No less striking than the amount of material is the nearly total absence of any biblical references to buttress the many injunctions assembled.

They are presented straightforwardly and self-confidently as long-accepted practice.

And indeed the Mishnah conveys clearly for the first time the full extent of what it means to abstain from work on the sabbath.

But along the way we run into concepts and definitions we would never have dreamed of from the few stray remarks in the Torah on the subject.”

Of the 39 categories (and of the hundreds of sub categories) of activity prohibited by the Mishnah on the Sabbath these are but a few examples, sowing, plowing, reaping, kneading, baking, bleaching, dyeing, threading needles, tying or untying a knot, sewing, writing or erasing two or more letters, slaughtering, flaying, cutting, construction, kindling a flame, the carrying of an item more than 6 feet, finishing a project, etcetera, etcetera.

And more than that, author Ronald L. Eisenberg writes that,

“Rabbis decreed that one not only should avoid forbidden acts but also must not do anything that (1) resembles a prohibited act or could be confused with it, (2) is a habit linked with a prohibited act, or (3) usually leads to performing a prohibited act.

Similarly, agreeing to buy something was prohibited, because most agreements are confirmed in “writing”; climbing a tree is forbidden, because it may lead to breaking twigs or tearing leaves, which could be construed as “reaping” (i.e., separating part of a growing plant from its source).

Other activities that by extension are prohibited on the Sabbath include the following:

Adding fresh water to a vase of cut flowers (sowing–any activity that causes or furthers plant growth).

Separating good fruit from spoiled fruit (winnowing, selecting, sifting).

Brushing dried mud from boots or clothes (grinding).

Cutting hair or nails (shearing sheep-removing outer covering of a human or animal).

Applying makeup (dyeing).

Braiding hair (weaving).

Drawing blood for a blood test (slaughtering).

Rubbing soap to make lather, applying face cream, polishing shoes, using scouring powder for utensils or other surfaces (scraping-smoothing the surface of any material by grinding, rubbing, or polishing).

Sharpening a pencil (cutting to shape-altering the size or shape of an item to make it better for human use).

Painting, drawing, typing (writing, making durable marks on a durable material).

Tearing through lettering on a package (erasing).

Opening an umbrella or unfolding a screen (building).

Smoking a cigarette, using the telephone (kindling a fire).

Switching off an electric light (extinguishing a fire).

Setting or winding a clock or watch (finishing off).

Wearing eyeglasses not permanently required (carrying from private to public domain and vice versa).”

(Shabbat’s Work Prohibition, Ronald L. Eisenberg, My Jewish Learning, www.myjewishlearning.com)

The Sabbath a Day of Rest

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.

(2016).

().

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Does the Sabbath sound like a day of rest?

You see, this is what Jesus was up against.

In the Torah he had commanded his people to rest every week on the Sabbath day, and somehow the Pharisees had turned a day of rest into a day of burden.

And I think this is why Jesus’ words back in chapter 11, starting in verse 28 would have been so compelling when he said,

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

So when the disciples are with Jesus in a field, presumably traveling to the next town to preach, and stop to eat some of the grain along the way the Pharisees see them and say to Jesus, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”

Now, given what we now know about Sabbath prohibitions during this time Jesus and his disciples have obviously broken at least one of these laws, they’re actively reaping some of the grain from the field (which is actually one of the 39 prohibited categories of work).

Jesus’ Arguments

And Jesus responds with at least three arguments,

1) he tells them that there are often certain circumstances that permit the breaking of ceremonial law.

You see the Sabbath, of all the 10 commandments, is the only ceremonial law.

All of the others are what we call moral laws (laws that are directly tied to the character of God).

Whereas the 4th commandment is a ceremonial law intended to teach us something.

The ceremonial laws were shadows of future fulfillment, so there are instances where it’s considered permissible for them to violated.

This is why Jesus says there starting in verse 3,

“Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?