The Second Sunday after Pentecost

June 2, 2024

Mark 2:23-3:6

Amazing Truths About Our Amazing God—

Spiritual Rest is a Gift, Not Something We Earn!

23One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

25He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26In 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.”

27Then 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.”

1Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

4Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

5He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. (NIV1984)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Imagine this scenario: It has been a very long time since you and your family went on a really nice vacation. Finally, after discussing it for weeks you and your family decide where you want to go and what you want to do when you get to your destination. Since you work at a company where you have to submit a request to take time off for a vacation, you submit your request months before you plan on leaving. Then you wait to get a response. When you don’t get a response you follow up with another request thinking that something must have fallen through the cracks. Again you wait. Again there is no response. Instead of sending yet another request you go to the individual who makes these decisions and ask if they received your request for a vacation. They look at you and say, “Yes. I received both of your requests. It is denied.” “Denied? Why was it denied?” you ask. They respond, “Your job performance has been slipping and so we denied your request. Maybe if you put a little more effort into improving your work we can talk about giving you some vacation time at a later date.” I seriously doubt that anyone would accept that response and simply tell their family that your vacation request was denied, and this is why.

After a long hard day at work you have earned the right to sit in your favorite chair, put your feet up and watch some television or read a book. After a long hard week you have earned the right to relax a little bit over the weekend. After working hard for months you have earned the right to take a vacation. That’s how it works! Right? Rest is something we earn. Rest is something we earn through hard work!

Since that concept is deeply engrained in our physical life it is not surprising when that same concept finds its way into our spiritual life. That’s why it is so important to understand the amazing truth that Jesus proclaims to us here in our text for today. That amazing truth is this: Spiritual Rest is a Gift, Not Something We Earn!

As I am reading through the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry I find it interesting how often we find Pharisees among the crowds of people who gathered around Jesus and who followed Jesus. Why did the Pharisees do this? I personally don’t think that the Pharisees gathered around Jesus or followed Jesus in an effort to learn from Him. It seems to me that many of the Pharisees gathered around Jesus and followed Jesus in an effort to trap Jesus. They were desperately hoping that Jesus would say something or do something or allow something that they could use to discredit Jesus in the eyes of the people. We see an example of this in the opening verses of our text. Mark writes, “One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?’”

Why were the Pharisees so upset? In the Law that God had given to His people through Moses He specifically said to His people, “If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to his standing grain” (Deuteronomy 23:25). With this provision of His Law God was not only providing food for the hungry traveler, but He was also protecting the farmers from people stealing a significant portion of their crops.

The Pharisees themselves reveal why they were upset when they ask Jesus, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” The Pharisees were notorious for adding their own laws to God’s law and then requiring everyone to follow both God’s Law and their laws! This seemed to be especially true when it came to the Sabbath law that God had given to His children.

As you know the Lord God established the Sabbath day on the seventh day of Creation. (See Genesis 2:1-3) God specifically set aside the seventh day so that we human beings would have a day of rest on a regular basis. And as we heard in our Old Testament Lesson for today (Deuteronomy 5:12-15) when the Lord God gave His people the revealed Law, He made it perfectly clear that no one— not even the animals, not even the servants, not even the foreigners living among God’s people— no one was allowed to do any work on the Sabbath day. The Lord also made it very clear to His people why they were not allowed to work on the Sabbath day. Not only did the Sabbath day give God’s people an opportunity to physically rest on a regular basis, but the Sabbath day also gave God’s people a regular opportunity to gather together and remember what the Lord their God had done for them!

Sadly, over the course of time the religious leaders among God’s people interpreted the Sabbath law in a way that went far beyond God’s purpose for giving His people the Sabbath law. I read that the rabbinical law added 39 categories of work that were prohibited on the Sabbath day. One of those categories centered on “reaping” grain. The Pharisees were accusing Jesus’ disciples of violating this rabbinical law. And since a teacher was responsible for the actions of his disciples, the Pharisees were essentially saying to Jesus, “What’s wrong with you! You claim to be this great teacher and yet you allow your disciples to do what is ‘unlawful’ on the Sabbath day!”

As the Teacher Jesus puts these so-called “religious scholars” in their place in two very powerful ways. First, He says to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 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.”

These Pharisees were undoubtedly well aware of what Jesus was talking about here. These Pharisees were undoubtedly well away of the fact that when David was fleeing for his life from King Saul, he and his companions were hungry and had nothing to eat. When they arrived at the Tabernacle, the “house of God,” they were given the “bread of the Presence” that had been taken from the Holy Place and replaced with fresh bread. (See 1 Samuel 21:1-6) According to the Law only the priests were allowed to eat this bread. (See Leviticus 24:5-9) No one, not even the Pharisees would have accused David and his men of sinning. So if David and his men were not guilty of sinning when they ate the “bread of the Presence” when they were hungry, certainly Jesus’ disciples were not guilty of sinning for picking some heads of grain on the Sabbath because they were hungry. Jesus used this incident to not only teach the Pharisees that the ceremonial law was not to be used in a legalistic manner, but He also wanted the Pharisees to understand that it is always lawful to do good and to save life. (See Luke 6:9) Hang on to that thought. We’ll come back to it in just a little bit.

The second even more important way in which Jesus put these legalistic religious “scholars” in their place was by saying to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” God established the Sabbath day to give us human beings the blessing of rest— both physical rest as well as spiritual rest. In His eternal wisdom God knew that given the opportunity we would work and work and work in order to gain even more “things” for ourselves. Since even we, God’s children, have that urge deep down inside of us, God commanded us to set aside a day of rest on a regular basis. If we refuse to follow God’s command we are not only rebelling against God’s will for us, but we are bringing harm— both physical and spiritual harm— upon ourselves. As God’s children we need to trust that we do not have to work non-stop because our God has promised to provide us with our “daily bread,”— that is with everything we need.

The Pharisees had become so “enslaved” by striving to follow their own interpretation of the Sabbath law, they had become so “enslaved” by trying to earn rest for themselves that they lost sight of the spiritual blessings and the spiritual rest that God intended the Sabbah day to give to His people. The Sabbath day gave God’s people a special opportunity to worship their Lord. The Sabbath day gave God’s people a special opportunity to study God’s Word. The Sabbath day gave God’s people a special opportunity to learn more about God’s Plan for their salvation as well as God’s will for their lives. The Sabbath day gave God’s people a special opportunity to bring their thanks and their praise to their God. The Sabbath day was intended to be a special opportunity for God to give to His people something they could not earn— rest for their body plus rest for their soul!

The unearned gift of rest is why Jesus says concerning Himself, “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” The term “Son of Man” is not only Jesus’ favorite title for Himself, but it is also a Messianic title. (See Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 1:12-13, 17-18) As true God Jesus is the One who instituted the Sabbath day. As the long-awaited Promised Messiah Jesus is the One who is the fulfillment of the Sabbath day. That is why Jesus is the only One who has both the right and the ability to say to us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Earlier I said that Jesus was trying to teach the Pharisees that the ceremonial law was not to be used in a legalistic manner. In this case, that meant that striving to keep all 39 regulations concerning the Sabbath day could never earn the rest that God’s people needed. At the same time Jesus also wanted the Pharisees to understand that it is always lawful to do good and to save life. We have an example of that in the second portion of our text, Mark 3:1-6. Mark tells us that on another Sabbath day Jesus went into the synagogue and a man was there who had a “shriveled hand.” Sadly, Mark also tells us, “Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.”

Picture that scene in your mind. These people were in the synagogue. They were in church. Where was their focus? What were they thinking about? Were they focused on worshiping the Lord their God? Were they thinking about the physical and spiritual rest that the Sabbath day was designed to give them? No! For some of them their number one priority was to see if Jesus was going to “break” the man-made laws concerning the Sabbath day and heal a man who had a “shriveled hand”! When Jesus asked them point blank, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath; to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” — they didn’t have an answer! Their hypocrisy angered Jesus. And when Jesus did have mercy on this man, when Jesus did heal this man thereby providing him with a “rest” the likes of which he may have never known, Mark tells us, “Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.” I seriously doubt the Pharisees left church that day rejoicing in the “rest” that the Lord designed the Sabbath day to give to His people.

So, what can you take home with you today, my friends? Let me make a couple of suggestions. You can take home with you a renewed commitment to keeping the Sabbath day by attending church as often as you possibly can. Renew your commitment to gathering together with your brothers and sisters in the faith to hear and to learn the Truths of God’s holy Word and to receive the Sacrament of the Lord’s holy Supper. Renew your commitment to publicly worshiping and praising and thanking the God who has done so very much for you!

You can also take home with you an even deeper thankfulness for the “rest”— the true “rest”— that your Savior-God freely gives to you. While we are indeed thankful that after a long hard day at work we can come home and rest our weary bodies; while we are indeed thankful that after months of working long hard weeks we can take some time off to rest both our body and our mind, we are to be especially thankful— eternally thankful!— for the spiritual rest that Jesus freely gives to us! Jesus gives us “rest” for our “weary” and “burdened” soul by taking us by the hand and leading us to the foot of His cross. (Pointing to the cross) There at the cross of Calvary’s hill Jesus gives us the rest we need most— spiritual rest. There at the cross of Calvary’s hill Jesus gives us rest from guilt, rest from worry, rest from shame, rest from hopelessness. There at the cross of Calvary’s hill Jesus gives us the spiritual rest that comes from knowing that through faith in Him all of our sins are completely forgiven!

That’s the amazing truth that our amazing God proclaims to us today. Every time we lift up our eyes to His cross we are assured that: Spiritual rest is a gift— not something that we need to earn!

May God grant that this amazing truth will always lead us to say:

To God be the glory!

Amen