PENTECOST 2

June 9-11, 2012

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Mark 2:23-28

“LISTEN TO THE LORD OF THE SABBATH!”

1.     He knows its real purpose.

2.     He knows what we really need.

3.     He has an ongoing invitation.

Mark 2:23-28 (NIV 1984) “ One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”²⁵ He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? ²⁶ In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” ²⁷ Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

          How dare they? Isn’t that what you want to scream when you read this? How dare the Pharisees question Jesus about the Sabbath? Don’t they know who they are talking to? This is Jesus. The Christ. The Son of God. Both law giver and law keeper. The fulfiller of all righteousness. The Lord of the Sabbath. They didn’t need to question Jesus. They needed to listen to Him, to listen to the Lord of the Sabbath. You see Sabbath means rest. But Satan had tricked the Pharisees into viewing it as a burden. Just like he does with us sometimes, right?  Do any of these phrases sound familiar? “No, I can’t. I have to go to church.” Or the kids say, “Do we have to go?” and of course the parents give the correct response. We’ve all said it multiples times.  “Yes you have to go to church.” How about this one? “ All God asks for is one hour a week. Can’t you give Him one hour a week?” Or how about at school with church attendance, “Does it count if we went to the concert or the mission fest program or you fill in the blank?” Do you know what all of those phrases and ways of thinking in one way or another point to? The Sabbath or worship as a burden instead of what is really meant for. Rest. Sabbath means rest. Today let’s listen to the Lord of the Sabbath so we leave with His attitude towards it.

          First let’s listen as the Lord of the Sabbath tells us the real purpose of the Sabbath. After the Pharisees questioned Jesus about His disciples He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? ²⁶ In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”  God has always had laws for people. The Old Testament people had a lot more than we do. All of God’s laws given to people have this in common. They are for our good. To help us and not hurt us. Jesus example of David eating the bread only the priests were supposed to eat was an example. According to ceremonial law only the priests could eat that bread. According to moral law if you have extra food and someone is in need you help them. The law was for their good.

          So also Old Testament Sabbath. It was there to help and bless people. So that His people would not be taken advantage of, so that they would not foolishly book up their schedules seven days a week God gave the Old Testament Sabbath law. Rest on Saturday. No regular working. Get physical rest for your bodies. Gather for worship. Get rest for your souls. The Pharisees didn’t see it that way. The Sabbath wasn’t a blessing for people but a burden for people. Instead of focusing on God’s command of what to do, rest, they focused on what not to do, work. So they had people counting the steps they could take and codifying what constituted work and what didn’t. Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath set the record straight, “Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” See God didn’t create the Sabbath Day and then say, “I need someone to serve it. I will create people.” No, God created people, His true treasure, and in His great love He desired to bless them. So in the perfect world, before sin entered, God decreed rest. That was the purpose of the Sabbath. The Lord of the Sabbath says so.

          And He knows what we really need. We need rest. Now understand this. We live in the New Testament time. We don’t have a New Testament Sabbath day. I will admit, that as a pastor, I would love for Sunday to be the New Testament Sabbath. I would love it if businesses were closed, no activities at all held on Sunday mornings so we could all gather for worship on that day, but God has not decreed a New Testament Sabbath day so too bad  for me. However something hasn’t changed from Old Testament times to New Testament times and that is what we really need. We need rest. God wants us blessed with physical rest and rest for our souls. Just think about what happens when people are physically tired. Many bad things can happen. The chances of accidents that hurt and kill people increase. That’s why there are workplace laws about breaks and hours worked and the number of hours driven because otherwise greed won’t let the worker physically rest and bad things happen. People lose patience with others when they are physically tired. Bad things happen. Fights. Angry words. God does not tell you what day to take off these days. He knows you need physical rest. He entrusts you with getting it.

          He knows that you really need spiritual rest too. See we can’t do what God commands. This doesn’t matter if you don’t care. I’ve always assumed that most if not all the people gathered together in a worship service care. Do you care? Do you care whether or not your life is pleasing to God? Is one of your highest ambitions to hear Jesus say to you some day, “Well done, good and faithful servant!?” If you do then you know the burden of always trying to do and say and think the right thing. You know you can’t. You know the disappointment, the guilt, the sadness, the frustration you feel with sin, breaking God’s commands. You understand how spiritually tired you get living in a sin messed world that is not fair. You carry the hurt of seeing evil appearing to triumph, you’ve stood with people dealing with tragedy and maybe you’ve had your share too and you have said or thought, “How do people handle this without the Lord?” because you know you can’t. Even with Him you get spiritually tired. Rest is what you need. Jesus knows that.

          That’s why He extended His ongoing invitation.  “Come unto me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” The rest that Jesus offers is the comfort and assurance of the free and full forgiveness for all your sins. He wants you to hear that He knows all your sins, all your failures and even all the ones you aren’t aware and He still really, really loves you. And because He has forgiven your sins He can’t wait to welcome you into heavens with His open arms and is eagerly looking forward to telling you, “Well done! Come and share my happiness.” The kind of rest that Jesus offers and wants you to have is a steely strength of faith to handle whatever Satan and this world throws at you with back straight, chin up, head held high. The kind of rest that Jesus offers you is the rest that allows you to wake up to a new day confident that your past is forgiven and forgotten by God with strength to strive after what is right with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind in your new day.

          So where is the invitation to get rest fulfilled? Many places. One of which is here in church where the Baptismal font and invocation will remind you of the rest of your own Baptism. Where the word that is proclaimed will assure you of sins forgiven and strengthen your faith as God has promised. Where the faith strengthening comforting Supper Jesus provided is regularly offered. What a blessing to partake. So let’s think about this again. Do we have to go to church? No. What are we thinking? That we earn heaven or will get a better spot? That God can’t live without my paltry praise?  God can survive without us. But we can’t survive without Him. Is one hour a week all that God asks for? Never. 24/7 belong to Him. Does it count? Tracking worship attendance is simply a diagnostic tool for pastors and teachers who care to make sure people they love are getting their rest. For except for shut ins I don’t know anybody who reads their Bible every day and then refuses to go to worship when they can.

          So now what? Hopefully we will all leave here motivated to listen to the Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus is the one who kept the Old Testament Sabbath perfectly so He can give New Testament believers what we need. Rest spiritually and physically. What will you do in response to His ongoing invitation? Conversations need to follow this Word of God. Schedules need to be checked. Where do you plan for and receive physical rest? Where do you plan for and receive spiritual rest? Or do you, like the Pharisees, think you know better than the Lord of the Sabbath? Something to think about. Amen.