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The Care of the Lord of the Sabbath
00:26:26
How should Christians view the Sabbath? Jesus gives us clarity as we witness what He prioritized on this day. Today, W. Robert Godfrey discusses Christ’s compassion and authority as Lord of the Sabbath. Get lifetime digital access to Following...
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- [00:00]
Dr. W. Robert Godfrey
They come to challenge him from the point of view that says, we know the law, we are the masters of the law, we are the interpreters of the law. How dare you do this against our traditions? And Jesus says here, as he does a few other places in this gospel, oh, so you're experts on the law. Let me ask you a question about the law. And it's a thing of beauty to watch this operate because he ties them in knots and shuts them down.
- [00:32]
Sam
You often hear our teachers on Renewing your Mind remind us of the importance of taking a stand for truth, of not compromising and ensuring that the true gospel is never twisted or distorted. Sometimes we point to Martin Luther in the time of the Reformation or the Apostle Paul in the early church. But our greatest example is in the life and ministry of of our Lord and Savior and seeing how he responds to his critics and the religious rulers of his day. Welcome to the Friday edition of Renewing youg Mind as we conclude a week in the Gospel of Mark from W. Robert Godfrey's brand new series Following Jesus. Before we get to today's message, don't forget, if you haven't responded already, today is the final day to request lifetime access to this series and the study guide along with a special Renewing your Mind notebook when you donate before midnight tonight@renewingyourmind.org on behalf of all those who listen every day, thank you for keeping Renewing your mind freely available every single day. Well, it can be tempting to assume that the godly response to error is to keep the peace, to keep quiet and resist at all costs ruffling any feathers. So let's see how Jesus responded when he faced challenges and legalism. Here's Dr. Godfrey.
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Dr. W. Robert Godfrey
We're returning to look at our second chiasm, the chiasm on followers. Jesus beginning to call followers to the foundation that he has laid of the time fulfilled, of the King coming. And we've seen the first followers called. We've looked at his healing on the Sabbath in an uncontroversial context. We've seen his care for those immediately around him, including Simon's mother in law. We've looked at his teaching later fulfilled in his teaching on fasting. We've looked at him ministering to the unclean leper. We've looked at the paralytic at the center being forgiven and healed. And then we've started to move back up, looking at him dealing with the tax collector, the unclean tax collector, his teaching on fasting. And now we come again to that section of his care for his own. And we see that in Mark 2, 23, 1 Sabbath, he was going through the grain fields. Now, usually in the study of Mark, this is treated as a discussion of the Sabbath, and it becomes a discussion of the Sabbath. But when we see it in the chiasm, it encourages us to also see that he's very concerned about his own disciples. They are walking on the Sabbath day. They can't have been planning to walk very far because it wasn't permitted to walk very far on the Sabbath day. But they're walking together. They're walking through some grain fields. And we read, as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. They're walking and they're hungry. We're back to food. They're walking and they're hungry. And they're doing what was perfectly permitted in that society. Namely, they are taking some of the food near the edge of the field to eat. You weren't allowed to harvest on your neighbor's property, but the neighbor was actually told when he harvested not to go all the way to the edge of the field, but to leave some for the poor and the needy to take. It was called gleaning. We see that, don't we, in the Book of Ruth? This is how Ruth meets Boaz. She's gleaning. And so they are not doing anything illegal by taking a few heads of grain. But once again, the Pharisees have taken the law that says no harvesting on the Sabbath day and expanded it hugely so that anything that touched on the farm and its crops growing could be interpreted as harvesting. And so the Pharisees see them taking a handful of grain as they walk along as being guilty of harvesting. And they jump. Verse 24. And the Pharisees were saying to him, look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? Now, I'm never quite sure why the translators always translate it this way. It's not that it's an entirely false or wrong translation, but what it really says in Greek is, why are they doing what is not permitted on the Sabbath day? If you translate it, what is not lawful? That may be the opinion of the Pharisees, but it sounds as if they really are breaking the explicit law. But the Greek says, why are you doing what's not permitted on the Sabbath day? It's not permitted by the tradition of the Pharisees, not by the explicit statement of the Mosaic Law. So they're challenging him that he is failing to keep the law because he's failing to keep their traditions. And Jesus does what he from time to time does. Answer a question with a question. He challenges them. They come to challenge him from the point of view that says, we know the law. We are the masters of the law. We are the interpreters of the law. We impose the law in all of its ramifications on the people. How dare you do this against our traditions? And Jesus says here, as he does a few other places in this gospel, oh, so you're experts on the law. Let me ask you a question about the law. And it's a thing of beauty to watch this operate, because he ties them in knots and shuts them down. How can he do that? Because he knows the law so much better than they do. He knows the real meaning of the law. And that's what he's challenging them with. Here. He said to them, have you never read what David did? Now, this is an ironic statement. These people probably could recite what David did in the original Hebrew without a moment's error. But Jesus is tweaking them a bit. Have you never read. What an insult. They've read it, they've memorized it. They know it backward and forward. Have you never read what David did when he was in need and was hungry? He and those who were with him. Now, it's interesting. Jesus is going to talk about the great king of Israel. And of course, again, Mark is being elusive. Who is the great king in Jesus Day? Jesus is the great king. So he's going to a section of the Old Testament that he can, in a number of interesting ways, apply to himself. How David entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar, the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priest to eat, and gave it to those who were with him. You remember that episode. David was fleeing from Saul for his life, and he and his men, his mighty men, were hungry. And the only food available was the bread of the Presence in the tabernacle. And that was bread meant to be only for the priests. But David ate it. So how was that justified? I'll tell you how. My disciples can harvest grain, pluck a little bit of grain on the Sabbath day. If you'll tell me how it was right that David did what he did. David broke the law. The law is very clear in the Pentateuch that only the priests can eat the showbread. How is that right? And what did they say? Absolutely nothing. They can never interpret a hard question from the law. But you notice what Jesus is really making here. Is what the philosophers call an a forteriori argument. Something must be true. If the stronger is true. The stronger is that in extremis, the king serving God can violate the law, the ceremonial law. And if in extremis, the king serving God can violate the law, then it must surely be true that the king serving God can violate the tradition of the Pharisees. And they knew exactly what he was saying, and they didn't have a way to answer him. And they're annoyed. But Jesus, caring for his own, went on to make one of the great statements about the Sabbath that we have in scripture, One of the most remarkable statements. He said to them, that is, to the Pharisees, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. Now, I want us to think about those statements, because those statements have often been misunderstood and abused in a variety of ways. And we want to see what point Jesus is making here. The first point he's making is that man was not created for the Sabbath day. That's sort of what the Pharisees had come to. We as human beings exist to honor the Sabbath day in the right way. God made us so that we could keep the Sabbath as the end of our existence, as the purpose, the point of our existence. And Jesus is saying, that is not true. We don't exist for the Sabbath. The Sabbath exists for us. In other words, when God made us, among the many gifts he gave us was the Sabbath. And the Sabbath was to be a help to us. The Sabbath was to be an encouragement to us. It's a great blessing to be able to rest one day in seven from one's work. And so he's saying to the Pharisees, you've turned everything upside down, which is the regular way you do things. You don't understand the law, you misapply the law, you turn, talk endlessly about the Sabbath, but you don't get the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a gift and blessing that God has made to his people Call the Sabbath a delight, Isaiah said. And the Pharisees, although they would formally say the Sabbath was a delight, have turned the Sabbath into a huge burden. And so Jesus is saying, you're getting this all wrong now. That verse, I fear, has too often been taken by some modern Protestants as if Jesus said the Sabbath was not made. That's not what Jesus says here. Jesus says, the Sabbath was made for man. Now, that's interesting. I think Jesus doesn't say the Sabbath was made for Israel. There are some Bible Interpreters who have said, well, the Sabbath was an institution that came from Sinai. It's part of the Ten Commandments. Israel didn't know anything about the Sabbath before they came to Sinai. Well, even if you read the Old Testament, you see that's not true. But beyond that, what Jesus says here is very important because he's really saying the Sabbath was made for mankind. Here, the Sabbath was made for humanity here, the Sabbath was made for human beings. And there he shows very clearly that the origin of the Sabbath is in creation. God rested the seventh day and blessed it and made it holy. Now the question I always like to ask non Sabbatarians is for whom did God bless the Sabbath day and make it holy? After all, God doesn't, strictly speaking, live in days, does He? He lives in eternity. He's beyond time. So when God blesses a day and makes a day holy, he doesn't do that for Himself. He's holy all the time. He's blessed all the time. He's really above time and is holy and blessed. So he blesses that day. He makes that day holy for us. He created us on the sixth day, gave us all the blessings of what he had created before he created us, and then adds to that the blessing of a blessed and holy day that he's given to us. And Jesus is saying here, he did that for all of mankind. He didn't do it just narrowly for Israel. This is a blessing that all of mankind should enjoy. He's calling then not to abolish the Sabbath, to ignore the Sabbath, but he's calling to a right understanding of the Sabbath. And that's why Reformed people in particular, as they studied the Scriptures after the beginning of the Reformation, came to be Sabbatarian. They believed we were still obligated to keep one day out of seven as a Sabbath. Now a Christian Sabbath day of the week in honor of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. But the Sabbath as a fundamental institution remains. And then comes this really sort of mind blowing claim on the part of Jesus. So the Son of Man. Now there's some debate about verse 28. Is verse 28 a statement of Mark's about Jesus? So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath? Or is the statement of Jesus about and the esv, at least the way it punctuates it, has decided that this is a statement of Jesus about Himself. The trouble is, in Greek there aren't quotation marks to solve this for us. But I think the ESV is right here because Jesus regularly refers to Himself as the Son of Man. And so the fact that he's saying this as the Son of Man probably means this is his statement about himself. So the Son of Man is Lord. Kurios, the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. Now, that should blow our minds. Who created the Sabbath in the beginning? Whether you see the Sabbath coming from Sinai or from creation, who is Lord of the Sabbath? God alone is Lord of the Sabbath, as Creator and as Redeemer. He's the Lord of the Sabbath. And Jesus here is really making a very remarkable and powerful and convincing statement about himself. He knows the Sabbath because He made it. And then we go on from this care for hungry disciples to a more direct reflection on the Sabbath and a continuing discussion with the Pharisees. Where was he going on the Sabbath day as he walked with his disciples? Well, he was going to the synagogue. And so in chapter three, verse one, we read again, he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus. There's kind of sneaking around in the corners. What's he going to do? There's a man with a withered hand. Again, you can think of the liability of a withered hand in the ancient world, how much it would undermine your ability to take care of yourself or to work. So they watch Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath. And why were they watching? So they could rejoice in the great works of God? No, they were watching so that they might accuse him. And Jesus said to the man with a withered hand, come here. And he said to them, the Pharisees, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill? And again, the real statement is, is it permitted? Do you permit doing good on the Sabbath day? Do you permit saving life on the Sabbath day? It's perfectly clear in the law of Moses that saving life on the Sabbath day is permitted. He's challenging them, you teachers of the law, you experts on the law. Is it permitted? But they were silent. You see how utterly they fail as religious leaders, how utterly they fail to do the thing they most claim able to do, to be teachers of the law. And he looked around at them with anger. The next time people tell you Jesus is always meek and mild, you can remember that you read in Mark, chapter three at verse five, that he was angry. But it's also true, and this is intriguing, in Mark, it seems to me it's also true that he was grieved at the hardness of their hearts. What A tragedy that they should be so far from God that they should be so hardened as to not understand the very law that they claim to be experts in. And he said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. He does good on the Sabbath. He rescues life on the Sabbath. What a blessed thing. And how do the pharisees respond? Verse 6. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. So apparently it's all right to have a meeting on the Sabbath to plot killing people. That's not a violation of the Sabbath. See the irony there? Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm? They won't permit him to do good, but they're doing harm. Is it permitted on the Sabbath to save a life or to kill? He saves a life, they plot to kill him. And did you catch the allusion, the allusion to Psalm 2? How does Psalm 2 begin? Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. That's exactly what's happening here. These are not experts in the law. These are the allies of the Gentiles, the allies of the Gentile rulers. And it is Jesus who is standing for God and for his law, and the Pharisees who are standing against God and against his law. And so this great second chiasm ends with a return to the explicit subject of followers. Jesus started this section with four followers. And at the end we read chapter three, verse seven. Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan, and from Tyre and Sidon. You know, not just Galilee, but all of Israel and beyond Israel, Gentiles or Gentile regions at least. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him. For he had healed many so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, you are the Son of God. And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. So here, this picture of the crowds coming. Crowds coming in such numbers that he has to get in a boat to teach. And in other Gospels we see him standing at times in the boat teaching. But here he is with these vast numbers of people, enthusiastic, crowding around him. And so Mark wants us to think about what we've seen in terms of people following Jesus. We've seen the disciples or the apostles, this small, intimate group that will be close to Jesus. They're following him. And then there are the believers who are following him, whether Simon's mother in law or the paralytic and his four friends, various people who are devoted to Jesus, who are following him. And then we see that there are some who are following him, who are his enemies, The Pharisees, the demons. They're there in his presence. They're following him, but not out of any belief or any trust. And then there's the great crowd. What are we to make of the great crowd? Who are they? Why are they following? Well, our fear is that they're following him just for the excitement or just for the healing, just for what they can get out of it. And that is always the great test, isn't it? Why do you follow Jesus? Do you follow Jesus because of him? Or do you follow Jesus for you? And Jesus calls us to follow him because he is the Son of God, because he is the Lord of the Sabbath. And from him we receive rich blessings. But we follow him for who he is. And out of faith and out of love and out of trust in Him.
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Sam
Jesus calls us to follow Him. Which is why this series in Mark's Gospel was titled Following Jesus. Thanks for being with us for this Friday edition of Renewing youg Mind Today. W. Robert Godfrey concluded the second section in his outline of Mark. And if you'd like to continue studying this gospel with Dr. Godfrey as your guide and to see how the chiasms relate to each other, request access right now when you call us at 800-435-4343 or visit renewingyourmind.org with your donation in support of this outreach, you'll receive access to all 26 messages and the study guide, all designed to facilitate Bible study and small group study, along with the Renewing your Mind notebook that you can fill with all your notes and reflections on this short and fast paced gospel. Call us at 800-435-4343, visit renewingyourmind.org or use the link in the podcast Show Notes before midnight tonight as this offer ends today. If you would like access to the series and study guide, but live outside of the US and Canada, you can still support this outreach and receive access in the free Ligonier app. When you respond@renewingyourmind.org global. Thank you for being part of a worldwide audience who listen, learn, pray and fuel further outreach together. I'd love to hear your Renewing youg Mind story and know that you're listening. You can message me wbingham on most social media platforms or email us at feedbacknewingyourmind.org as a result of the fall, is our will free or in bondage? That's a frequent topic during Q&As and was a hot topic for Martin Luther. In fact, 500 years ago, Martin Luther's classic book, the Bondage of the Will was released. On Monday, Stephen Nichols will join me in the studio to discuss the significance of the book and how you can receive a special 500th anniversary edition. Plus, we'll feature RC Sproul's series on the human will and salvation, so be sure to listen all week beginning Monday here on Renewing youg Mind.
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Dr. W. Robert Godfrey
Sam.