Reading: Luke chapter 6 verses 1-11:
Ill:
The world's longest fence is found in southern Australia.
• It is a pest-exclusion fence that was built in Australia during the 1880s;
• And finished in 1885,
• It was built to keep dingoes out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent;
• (where they had largely been exterminated);
• And protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland.
• It is one of the longest structures on the planet,
• And the world's longest fence.
• It is known as the Wild Dog Fence or Dingo Fence,
• The Fence is 6 feet high and goes 1 foot under ground.
• It is 5,614 KM long.
The Pharisees of Jesus day knew the value of a good fence:
• In fact they built them and they built them well;
• Not physical fences but symbolic fences.
• Let me explain;
• To stop people breaking God’s law they simply fenced it off;
Ill:
• Suppose God had said that all Church platforms were out of bounds to non preachers;
• Because we like you & are concerned for you the Elders have a bright idea (now & again)
• To try and protect you and stop you accidentally breaking that law;
• We I will build a fence around that law.
• The guarding fence will be the front row;
• No-one is aloud beyond that point.
• Now if someone accidentally strays beyond that point;
• Hopefully one of us can stop them before they reach the platform.
• That way, all they will ever do is break our rules;
• And not the more important rule of God – that is keeping away from the platform.
• Now that was the logic of the Pharisees;
• To stop people breaking God’s law they simply fenced it off;
• But the sad part of their plan is that the ‘fences’ that the Pharisees built;
• Soon became as important as the laws they were trying to protect.
• And the laws they introduced to protect people;
• Soon became laws that trapped people.
When that happens,
• People were no longer wrestling with real issues;
• Rather they were forced to fighting mock battles at the new fences we have erected.
• Eventually, the people must have felt;
• Like a wild horse contained in a pig pen;
• So restricted and hemmed in;
• That they were unable to run free in the open ranges of life that God had provided.
The highest and most guarded of the Pharisees' fences concerned the Sabbath.
• For God’s one commandment “Keep the Sabbath holy”
• They had added over six hundred rules of their own!
• For the Pharisees the Sabbath was their ‘sacred cow’;
• Regarding Sabbath they would not compromise or budge!
• It is upon this issue in the gospels;
• That Jesus and His critics fought their most intense battles.
(1). The Sabbath:
• It was God himself who gave the nation of Israel the Sabbath law;
• It was one of the ten commandments given by Moses at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20 vs 8-11);
• God made it a sign between Himself and the nation (Exodus 31 vs 12-17).
• “This will be a sign between me and you…..”
The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word ‘Shabat’:
• It means ‘to cease’ or ‘to desist’ or ‘to rest’;
• The Sabbath starts 6pm on Friday evening and finishes 6pm on Saturday evening.
• The Sabbath is linked with the fact that after six days of creative work;
• God rested (Genesis chapter 2 verses 2-3).
Quote:
“Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
• He sanctified-"set apart"-the seventh day of the week;
• For his people as a time of rest and refreshment.
• They were to ‘cease’ or ‘desist’ from work on that day,
• The point being one day in seven is to be observed as a day holy to God.
The Pharisees interpreted this to mean no work at all on the Sabbath:
• The Pharisees claimed, they were the custodians of the traditions of Moses;
• They believed they had the right to legislate for what people did on the Sabbath.
• In fact the Pharisees had invented over 600 rules and regulations for the Sabbath;
• These included the following:
• Ill: People not allowed to walk more than one kilometre from their own town,
• Ill: They were not allowed to carry a load, or light a fire in the home.
• Ill: You could not even drag a chair; in case it created a groove in the dirt floor;
• And a bird accidentally drop a seed into it, because that would be ploughing!
Now Jesus was not anti-Sabbath;
• After all it was God himself;
• Who etched this principle into the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments:
• Jesus kept the Sabbath in the God-given way;
• What he broke again and again were the man made laws that had been added to it!
Note:
• Some Christians refer to Sunday as "the Sabbath";
• But that is wrong and only causes confusion.
• Sunday is the first day of the week;
• Sabbath is the last day (the seventh day) of the week.
• Both are different days;
• Both signify different truths.
• The Sabbath is a reminder of the completion of "the old creation,"
• While Sunday is a reminder of our Lord's finished work in "the new creation".
• The Sabbath speaks of rest after work and relates to the Law,
• While Sunday speaks of rest before work and relates to grace.
Question: Why Sunday?
Answer:
• Sunday commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead;
• As well as the coming of the Holy Spirit and the "birthday" of the church (Acts 2).
• The New Testament teaches (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1-2) that;
• The early church met on Sunday (not Saturday) on the first day of the week,
However, some Jews who became Christians kept the Sabbath,
• After all this was something they had done all their lives;
• It was second nature.
• The problem in the Church came when more and more Gentiles became Christians;
• Soon they outnumbered the Jews who had chosen to follow Christ as Messiah.
• Now this Sabbath observance became a problem;
• In fact it led to division. Should Christians keep it or not?
• The apostle Paul had to address this problem in Romans chapter s 14:1 to 15:13;
• Where the Christians were arguing over special diets and special days.
• So in Romans chapter s 14 verse 1 to chapter 15 verse 13;
• The apostle gave principles to promote both liberty and unity in the church.
The apostle Paul always made it very clear:
• That observing special diets and special days had nothing to do with salvation;
• Or even being spiritual.
• Paul teaches we should be convinced in our own minds what is right for us personally;
• And not force others to our convictions when it comes to areas of opinion.
• No where in the New Testament are Christians ever commanded to keep the Sabbath.
• The principle in the New Testament is to value Sunday, not the Sabbath!
• The principle in the New Testament is to ‘please the Lord’ (vs 6);
• In our actions, attitudes and habits we are to consecrate them to the Lord.
Back to our passage:
• On four occasions in Luke’s gospel;
• Jesus is in confrontation about the meaning of the Sabbath.
• (1st). Luke chapter 4 verses 38-39:
• Jesus healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law and the crowd who came to the house.
• (2nd). Luke chapter 6 verses 1-5:
• Picking of the ears of corn.
• (3rd). Luke chapter 6 verses 6-11:
• Healing the man with the paralysed hand.
• (4th). Luke chapter 14 verses 1-6:
• Jesus heals a sick man (dropsy).
Note:
• As mentioned already at the time of Jesus the Sabbath was so important;
• To break the Sabbath was to face the anger and the punishment of the Pharisees.
Ill:
• Some of the Jewish rabbis taught;
• That Messiah could not come until Israel had perfectly kept the Sabbath,
• So obeying this law was very important both personally and nationally.
• Woe to the individual who took this law lightly!
As mentioned earlier:
• The Pharisees and scribes had turned the Sabbath Day into a burden;
• Instead of the blessing God meant it to be
• They protected the Sabbath with their own strict and oppressive rules,
• And again and again Jesus challenged both their doctrine and their authority.
Note:
• To the Pharisees Jesus was a self-imposed teacher;
• He had not been to rabbinical school and had no authority to preach.
Ill:
• Camps (last year and this year on ‘Oasis’ Camps) they play ‘Hunt the Officer’.
• Officers would dress up in disguise and hide in a certain part of the town;
• Some chose outrageous costumes (clown or gorilla suit);
• Others chose more discreet (Smart suit; or boiler suit);
• Then the Campers had a limited time to try and find them.
• Scored points for each one they caught.
More than once Camp leaders have got themselves into trouble:
• Ill: Traffic Warden and started telling motorists where they could and could not park.
• They had no authority but they gave out orders and everyone obeyed them.
• On one occasion a real traffic Warden turned up and the leader was in big trouble;
• Offence to imitate a traffic warden.
This is how Jesus must have seemed to the Pharisees & the crowd:
• He held no public office.
• He was not a priest.
• He was not a Pharisee.
• He hadn’t any formal training as a teacher.
• Yet he was, so to speak;
• Giving out orders and telling people what they could and could not do!
This is the primary point that Luke is making:
• Who did Jesus think he was?
• The correct answer to that question explains the behaviour of Jesus!
Note: Of the six hundred Sabbath regulations that trapped the Jews:
• Four are particularly pertinent to our passage.
• On the Sabbath, Jews must refrain from all work,
• That included (1). reaping, (2). threshing, (3). winnowing, (4). and preparing food.
• Unknowingly, the disciples would break all four regulations,
• And, of course, the patrolling morality police;
• Would be right there to catch them red-handed.
(1). In the field (vs 1-5):
1 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. 2 Some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"
3 Jesus answered them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions." 5 Then Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
• The disciples of Jesus were not stealing corn;
• The Law of Moses was very clear (Deuteronomy chapter 23 verses 24-25).
• Anyone could satisfy their hunger in this way.
• It was only theft if:
• They picked grapes and put them in a basket;
• Or started cutting down standing corn with a sickle.
Because this was the Sabbath:
• The disciples had crossed the Pharisees' line;
• And broken their list of do’s and don’ts.
Quote: William Barclay
• “By plucking the corn [the disciples] were guilty of reaping;
• By rubbing it in their hands of threshing;
• By flinging away the husks of winnowing;
• And the very fact that they ate it showed that they had prepared food on the Sabbath.
• To us the whole thing seems fantastic;
• But to a strict Pharisee this was deadly sin.”
• Let me stress again that disciples were well within the requirements of God's law:
• But the Pharisees' list of right and wrong stretched much longer than God's.
• Ill: Jesus' men had violated code 146b, section 42, paragraph 16, line 4,
• Sub clause 16d of the Sabbath Protection Act of A.D. 121
• And so the Pharisees would do their duty and haul in these lawbreakers.
• Call them to account!
• Because to a Pharisee they were rebels, law breakers;
• Who were openly, unashamedly harvesting, winnowing, & preparing food!
Verse 3:
• The Pharisees ask Jesus:
• "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"
• In other words, you are a teacher why aren’t you stopping this law breaking act;
• These are your disciples, sort them out!
Notice:
• Jesus did not argue with them; instead,
• He took them right to the Word of God.
• I wonder if his words in verse 3 are tongue in cheek;
• “Have you never read?”
• Fancy asking them that! These men were fighters for the law;
• These men boasted themselves in their knowledge of the Old Testament.
• You can be sure the Pharisees knew the story;
• That is found in 1 Samuel chapter 21 verses 1-6.
Ill:
• Every Sabbath twelve loaves of bread (one for each tribe in Israel);
• Was placed in the Temple (the bread was called the "showbread" )
• Or ‘the bread of the presence’;
• This bread symbolised God’s presence in fellowship with his people.
• According to Leviticus chapter 24 verse 9:
• Only the priests were allowed to eat these loaves.
But on one occasion in the Old Testament:
• David and his men were in great need of food;
• They entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread,
• David was allowed to do this act because he was Israel’s anointed.
• He was the ‘chosen one’, chosen by God himself to be Israel’s king.
• At the time Saul was still king of Israel;
• David was waiting for the time his kingship would come true;
• At this time in history David’s army was made up of a rag-tag group of followers;
• They were untrained, they were outcasts and some of them outlaws.
Jesus makes the point:
• That God is more concerned about meeting human needs;
• Than He is about protecting religious rules.
• Better that David and his men receive strength to serve God
• Than that they perish only for the sake of a temporary law.
• God desires compassion, not sacrifice (Matt. 12:7, quoting Hosea 6:6).
• The Pharisees, of course, had a different view of the Law (Matt. 23:23).
Note:
• No Jew would condemn Israel's great king?
• After all David was "God's anointed!"
• Jesus by his actions is claiming the very same title;
• He too is ‘God's Anointed’, The Christ / Messiah of Israel.
• He too is waiting for the time his kingship will come true;
• He too, is on the move with an odd group of followers.
If that act and claim was not clear enough look at what he calls himself in verse 5:
Then Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
• Don’t miss the impact of those words;
• When Jesus made that statement,
• He was claiming to be Jehovah God,
• Because it was the Lord God Jehovah who established the Sabbath.
• If Jesus Christ is indeed ‘Lord of the Sabbath’,
• Then He is free to do on it and with it whatever He pleases!
• You can be sure.
• The Pharisees did not miss His meaning!
(2). In the synagogue (vs 6-11):
6 On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shrivelled. 7 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. 8 But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shrivelled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." So he got up and stood there.
9 Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?"
10 He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored. 11 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.
The Pharisees knew that it was our Lord's practice to be in the synagogue on the Sabbath:
• Ill: Just as a Christian should be in Church on Sunday!
• Good habits stick just like bad habits.
• Ill: Just as a Christian should be in Church on Sunday!
• Because a Christian is THE Church (he or she is needed! Ill: Perins C.U.)
Sadly the Pharisees were not in the synagogue for a blessing:
• They were there on a mission;
• They were according to verse 7 out to trap Jesus!
• They were gathering evidence against him;
• They had already made their mind up, now they wanted evidence to prove it!
Verse 8:
• Jesus knowing they were out to get him,
• Gave them the evidence they were looking for:
• His compassionate heart was more concerned with the man's need,
• Than the Pharisees threat, so Jesus healed the man.
• Now remember this was not a life or death situation;
• Jesus could easily have waited a few hours until the Sabbath was over,
• Or He could have taken the man somewhere private & quiet;
• To heal him.
• But Jesus deliberately did it openly and immediately.
• Verse 8: “Get up and stand in front of everyone”
• Jesus wanted everyone to clearly see what he was doing.
• It was a deliberate violation of Pharisaic Sabbath traditions.
• This time Jesus went out of His way to challenge their man-made traditions.
• He was really ‘in their face’ and he did not care what they thought!
• Remember: Jesus was not walking on egg shells, he was on the solid word of God!
• If the Pharisees challenge him they will stub their toes, not crush him!
Note:
• In the first incident in the field;
• Jesus defence was based on the Old Testament Scriptures,
• In this second incident in the synagogue;
• His defence was based on the nature of God's Sabbath law.
• So in verse 9 Jesus turns to the crowd and asks them a question;
• To paraphrase; “The Sabbath should it be a burden or a blessing”
• “Did God give the law to help people, or to hinder them”.
• His defence is based on the nature of God's Sabbath law.
• In Mark's gospel(chapter 2 verse 27). he records some extra words that Jesus spoke:
• Jesus added, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath"
• God designed the Sabbath to serve the people's need for rest,
• Not exhaust people with a complicated list of do’s and don’ts!
Notice: This miracle illustrates the power of faith in God's Word.
• Jesus commanded the man to do the very thing he could not do, and yet he did it!
• ‘God's commandments are always God's enablements’.
• Yet despite the miracle that took place right before their eyes;
• They were unable to see what the miracle meant, blinded by their own prejudices & pride.
Verse 11:
• Is a milestone.
• For the first time, Jesus' enemies started considering the unthinkable.
• Mark (chapter 23 verse 6) tells us more specifically;
• That they began taking counsel with the Herodians against Jesus,
• This was unheard of – the Pharisees and the Herodians;
• But they consulted together as to how they might destroy Him.
• The Herodians were Jews who supported Herod;
• Herod was a puppet of the Roman army, the oppressors & ruler of Israel!
• Ill: Chalk & cheese, oil & water uniting.
• But Jesus often united his enemies against him!
Question:
• Do you remember Jesus' question in verse 9?
• "Is it lawful ... to save a life, or to destroy it?"
• It's amazing to us that the Pharisees didn't see their own hypocrisy;
• As they walked away from this incident they are contemplating murder.
• They insist on keeping the fourth commandment at all costs;
• But are quite happy to break the sixth commandment; “Do not murder”.
The passage concludes with life’s most important question:
• “What they would do with Jesus”
• They rejected him, what about you?
Quote: H.E. Fosdick
“He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it leads to.
It is the means that determine the end.”
Quote: William James
“When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.”
