Lord of the Sabbath

February 6, 2021

 

The hypocrisy of the religious elite still leaves me speechless. Over time we have managed to build rule on rule on rule. These rules eventually take the place of God’s word. Yet we work hard to protect these rules. I suspect our motivation is pure. We want to protect ourselves and others. Still… stubbornness is a trap.

 

Jesus was a serious problem for the religious elite when it came to rules. In one conversation, Jesus charged, “For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” [Mark 7:8 NLT] When this happens we stand in danger of being rebuked by God, if we are lucky.

 

Paul framed the issue with this warning, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” [Colossians 2:8 ESV] We tend to gravitate to “high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking.” [NLT] Notice, the push behind us buying our own nonsense is Satanic.

 

Let’s look at one example. After Jesus announced, “For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” [Matthew 12:8 ESV] Apparently one of the issues that motivated the Jesus haters was over the Sabbath. Before we are too critical of them, consider their point.

 

Israel spent 70 years in Babylonian captivity because they had not kept the Sabbath years for 490 years. The issue of the Sabbath was burned, tattooed, and bedazzled on their collective culture. Keeping the Sabbath was an issue of national survival. In other words, Jesus terrified the religious elite.

 

They set a trap for Jesus, “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.” [Matthew 12:10 ESV] They put Jesus in a predicament. Either He violate their ideal of the law or He would cruelly turn His back on the man. Never mind that Jesus could (and did) heal the man. That’s the point behind our high-sounding nonsense. It ignores inconvenient facts.

 

Jesus pushes back. “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?” [Matthew 12:11 ESV] In my imagination, I think this happened as Jesus was walking to the synagogue. Okay, so it may not have happed on that day… but I’m sure it happened some Sabbath. That was Jesus point: you did this for a sheep but don’t care for this man.

 

Jesus springs the trap. “Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.” [Matthew 12:13 ESV] This motivates the religious elite. “But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.” [Matthew 12:14 ESV]

 

Notice, their premeditated intent was to “destroy” Jesus. We often think this means they intended to kill Jesus. Killing is part of their intent, but the Greek conveys a stronger and darker desire. The wanted to ruin and render Jesus utterly useless. At the core of every hypocrite is a hatred of Jesus.

 

Did I mention, believing our “high-sounding nonsense” was Satanic? So sure of yourself, are you?