Sermon: "Lord of the Sabbath," Season after Epiphany, February 2, 2025

Luke’s Gospel: Jesus and the Outsiders, Outcasts, and Outlaws

Scripture: Luke 6:1-16

Preacher: Rev. Ryan Slifka

Title: “Lord of the Sabbath”

We’re continuing in our sermon series on Luke’s gospel. Last week Jesus was preaching from the prow of a boat, calling disciples. “I’ll make you fish for people.” This week, though, it seems like the only thing Jesus is fishing for is a fight.

The fight in question has to do with the proper observance of the Sabbath day. The fourth of the Ten Commandments “remember the sabbath day, and to keep it holy. To rest each Saturday, refrain from work, and to worship God.

In today’s scripture, we have two episodes where Jesus is accused by the scribes and Pharisees, his rivals, of sabbath violation.

In the first episode Jesus and co are taking a shortcut through a cornfield, they twist off some heads of grain, and have a snack. Pharisees and scribes spot this—blow the whistle, raise a biblical red card. According to the scripture, Exodus 34:21 says harvesting on the sabbath constitutes work.  These guys are harvesting food and that’s work—Sabbath violation!

Second episode Jesus is the guest preacher at the synagogue. There’s this guy, front row with what’s described as a “withered hand.” We’re not sure exactly what’s wrong, whether it’s disfigured in some way, or simply doesn’t work. But seeing as how the scribes and Pharisees saw his followers pluck their grain on the sabbath, they’re expecting that Jesus is gonna break the sabbath again, and heal him. And Jesus these guys are just waiting for him to step out of line to catch him. But he does it anyway. He has the guy stand front and center, right by the pulpit, has the guy stretch out his hand, and poof. Healed.

Remember how I said he’s fishing for a fight? Well, after this little sabbath stunt, he’s got it. The scribes and Pharisees are “filled with rage.” Whistle again—Sabbath violation! And so they start discussing what they’re gonna do with this arrogant, open, breaker of the fourth commandment.

In letting his disciples pick grain, in healing this man’s hand on the sabbath, Jesus appears to be throwing the law of God out the window.

Now, often we Christians can hear this and think “well, of course.” We tend to think of stuffy, scowling, judgment Old Testament religion. Jesus is like Kevin Bacon in the movie Footloose invading small town America to show them that their prohibition against dancing is just another form of narrow-minded religious superstition. We see Jesus as like this with the sabbath. This is the view that says Jesus comes to toss the Old Testament, or the commandments out the window. Eating and healing on the sabbath never hurt anybody! You tell them, Jesus!

The view that Jesus comes to drop rules, or delete law altogether, however, is simply wrong. Not only does Jesus in Matthew’s gospel say flat out “I have not come to abolish the law, but fulfill it.”[i] But even in this back and forth with the Pharisees, shows a great reverence for the law. Especially the sabbath.

When the Pharisees and Scribes drop the hammer on him for his disciples plucking corn. Does Jesus pull a big Lebowski, responding like The Dude, “like, that’s just your opinion, man?” No. He digs right into scripture, at a story about King David, Israel’s greatest king.

Remember when David and his companions were hungry? He says. They went into the temple—which they weren’t supposed to do because only priests were allowed. And when they were in there they ate the Bread of the Presence, the special consecrated bread—also for priests only. If David could break that law to alleviate his companions’ hunger, then I can do the same to feed my own hungry flock.

In this case, it’s not that the Sabbath isn’t important, but the Sabbath is meaningless if keeping it keeps us from loving our neighbours. Keeping the sabbath is meaningless if it’s an excuse not to feed the hungry.

Christ Healing the Man with the Withered Hand

And then when they’re ready to pounce when he heals the man with the withered hand? Does he say something like “gentlemen… Saturday’s just another day of the week”? No, he throws the issue back at them. “Is it lawful to do good or harm on the Sabbath?” he asks. “To save life, or destroy it?” What makes the Pharisees and Scribes so angry is that he kind of puts them in an impossible position. Say do good, save life, Jesus is right. Say do harm, destroy life and they’re advocating sinning on the Sabbath.

Frederick Danker, one commentator says that here Jesus is retrieving the original meaning of the Sabbath.

“The Spirit of the Sabbath ordinance,” he says. Which is to say, the Fourth Commandment.

“The Spirit of the sabbath ordinance is that people should be preserved from exploitation by others and have the opportunity to ponder the goodness of God. Since the sabbath is the day on which God’s goodness is especially to be noted, there is no better occasion for Jesus to display that goodness.”[ii]

The original “Spirit of the Sabbath” is all about knowing God’s goodness. Jesus is retrieving its original meaning from the Old Testament.

Genesis, the creation story portrays the creation of the earth in seven days, on the seventh day—Saturday—we’re told, after creating the heavens and earth and plants and creatures and human beings, God took a day off. The word shabbat itself means “to cease.”[iii] God ceased the work of creation. God took a rest.

Then, it’s picked up again in the book of Exodus. After God frees Israel from slavery in Egypt, God hands down Ten Commandments to God’s people through Moses. Commandment number four? “Remember the Sabbath Day… and keep it holy.” At this point, God’s people set aside the seventh day, also known as Saturday, apart from other days as a day of rest. To keep it holy through worship, and to abstain from work. If you’re a slave in Egypt who’s making bricks 16 hours a day 7 days a week, 24 hours of rest sounds like good news indeed.

As God rested on the seventh day, so too are God’s people to rest, to cease work. Hence the marking of the sabbath day.

So to do work for good for one’s neighbour in need overrides the command to abstain from work altogether. Because that work itself is holy.[iv] It shows the goodness of God.

Jesus doesn’t say this in Luke, but in the same episode in Mark, Jesus says that “human beings weren’t made for the Sabbath, but the sabbath was made for human beings.”[v]

The problem Jesus has with the Pharisees isn’t that they observe the Sabbath, but they’ve forgotten it’s original purpose of conveying divine goodness.

The problem Jesus has with the Pharisees isn’t their serious attention to the Sabbath, but that it has become a burden to be carried, rather than a gift and a relief from life’s burdens.

The problem Jesus has is not the law of God itself, but the law practiced in such a way that it short circuits the Law of love. The care for, and attention to the neighbour in need.

And why should we pay attention to what Jesus has to say about it? He says it right there… “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Jesus, the Messiah of God, gives us its true and proper meaning and interpretation.

Jesus isn’t abolishing the sabbath—he’s bringing it back to its original purpose and intention. Back to the holy rhythms of God’s goodness. Back to its original liberating intention for human beings. If the sabbath is for anything it’s feeding and healing! According to Jesus.

Which brings us ultimately, of course, to us. And the meaning and practice of the Sabbath for contemporary followers of the risen Lord. Two points.

First of all, we are not slaves to legalism. That’s where we need to begin not only our thinking about the Sabbath, but every other demand, every other practice of faith. The Christian faith is not a checklist of dos and don’ts to get us in good with God or Karma or whatever—kept the Sabbath, check. Said my prayers, fasted when I was supposed to fast, check check. Said or did the right words, check. Had the right political opinions, check. No! That’s not just how the Pharisees and Scribes think, yes, but they represent our human default.

But Christianity is first and foremost a religion of grace—about what God has done, and is doing for us in Jesus Christ. We don’t do anything, whether it’s Sabbath or serving at a Soup Kitchen because it will save us or prove how good we are. But it’s all out of gratitude. God has loved us, died for us, rose for us, and continues to gift us with his Holy Spirit first.

That’s the first point. We are not slaves to legalism, worried about keeping our moral account balanced. But we love because we were first loved.

The second point flows from the first: though we are not slaves to legalism, this does not mean the commandments, whether the Ten Commandments, or the more intense commandments of Jesus are somehow not in effect. They are. We are to remember the Sabbath Day, and to keep it holy.

For Christians, it’s a bit different, though, because for us the Sabbath day is not Saturday, but Sunday, the Lord’s Day. Since Jesus was raised from the dead on Sunday, it is the eighth day—the day of New Creation, pointing us towards the permanent rest of eternal life. Since Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, we are to remember the sabbath, and to keep it holy. There are, of course, exceptions. Like I said, we are free from legalism. But we are to keep it through rest, and to keep it holy through regular weekly Sunday worship.

And I know that one’s especially hard for us. The weekend’s the only time we can get away. Children’s sports, and birthday parties take place Sundays. Some of us have to work out of necessity. And I get it, I’m not really one to talk. I’ve gotta work on Sundays but I work at church. Pretty convenient!

But in our culture, time has become homogenized. Sunday has become just another day. And even if our days aren’t consumed with paid work, our minds are constantly being prodded thanks to our phones. It seems like just another thing to do among so many other things to do. And hey—if we don’t have to do it, then maybe it’s not a priority among all our other priorities.

But this makes the Sabbath all the more necessary. Remember, the Sabbath is instituted as not another legalistic to-do, but a gift of God’s goodness. Jesus says the sabbath is not only for rest, but for feeding and healing. That’s the promise Jesus gives us in our text.

It may require making choices or sacrifices to other priorities. But God says, “trust me on this one.” Because in the regular practice of sabbath. In our willingness to slow down, take the day to rest on one hand, and to gather with our brothers and sisters for worship on the other, Jesus says we will ultimately find ourselves fed, like his disciples plucking grain. We will find ourselves healed like the man with the withered hand. Our bodies and minds healed by rest, our spirits fed by gathering together to receive God’s grace in worship. We don’t celebrate this day because we have to. No extra points from the Lord when we do. But we celebrate it because it’s given for our good. And in doing so, week after week after week. We will find ourselves blessed.

So for our own good, dear friends. May we observe the fourth commandment: to remember the Sabbath, and to keep it holy. Remembering, especially that the Sabbath is not a burden but a blessing, a divine gift meant to nourish our bodies, minds, and spirits. As we embrace the true spirit of the Sabbath, may we hurried and harried folk find rest in God's goodness, healing in God’s presence, and joy in our communal worship. May we honour the Sabbath not out of obligation, but out of gratitude for the love and grace we have received through Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath.

I offer this to you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

[i] Matthew 5:17.

[ii] Frederick W. Danker, Jesus and the New Age: A Commentary on St. Luke’s Gospel, rev. ed (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1988), 133.

[iii] Marva Dawn, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 3.

[iv] “When the law commands men to abstain from their works it doesn’t forbid holy work.” John Calvin, A Harmony of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, vol. 2, trans. A.W. Morrison, eds. David W. and Thomas F. Torrance (Edinburgh: St. Andrew Press, 1972), 29.

[v] Mark 2:27.