BiblicalMastery Buddy's bible blog

Lesson 12

Sabbath Problems

Luke 6:1-11

Back in the stone ages when I was young there were certain things that were just not done on Sunday.  In fact the state of Virginia for the most part shut down on Sunday because of the Blue Laws in affect at the time.  I cannot remember when they were stopped but during my childhood we had to deal with them.  Unless you were in what we would now call essential services then you remained closed on Sunday.  I remember that there was only one pharmacy open all day long. 

One time when I attended the Southern Baptist Convention in Atlanta one of the bellhops made the comment that Southern Baptists had the Ten Commandments and ten dollar bills and did not want to break either of them.  It is so easy to get called up in the letter of the law concerning a particular day that all of the enjoyment is taken from it.  God meant for Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior but also for a time to be with family and to participate in other Christ honoring activities.

We in the church can make rules and practice traditions in such a way that those things become a hindrance to reaching the world for Christ.  At one time it stood for no smoking, cussing, dancing and attending movies on Sunday.  Today we would have to include television to the lists that might cause us to be in sin.  Sadly, those ideas cause us to judge people according to our own standards and not what the Scriptures tell us.  The above lists may not be healthy or right choices but we have to be careful how far we go in setting the standards by which man is to live.

I have titled this lesson Sabbath’s problems.  Sunday is a marvelous day.  For some it is the only day they have off from work.  Others out of necessity have to take their Sabbath rest on another day than Sunday.  God set it aside primarily so a person had a day when he/she did not have to work.  Let us be careful that we do not make it more than God intended it to be.

Luke 6:1-2

There were two major reasons that Jesus found Himself at odds with the religious leaders.  One had to do with the question of His deity.  He continued to do things and say things which were evidence of His claim to be God’s Son.  The other which flowed from the first was His actions on the Sabbath Day.

Luke wrote that as Jesus and the disciples were walking they passed through a field of grain.  They pull off the heads of some of the plants rubbed them to get rid of the husks and ate the seed.  That event occurred on a Sabbath Day.  What they did was completely within the law. Moses wrote in Deuteronomy that it was permissible to eat the grain as long as one did use a sickle to harvest it.  A sickle is a long blade with a handle which would be swung back and forth to cut down the plants. (Deuteronomy 23:25)

When the Pharisees saw them doing this, they accused the disciples of breaking the law.  Technically, they were not breaking the law by picking the grain.  What upset the religious leaders was the act was done on the Sabbath.  In their interpretation of the law the disciples had perform work prohibited in that day. They viewed the men as having reaped the crop by pulling the heads off the plant. By rubbing in their hands they were threshing the grain. When they threw away the husks they were winnowing which was getting rid of the unusable part of the grain.

Notice that once again the Pharisees did not attack Jesus directly.  Their words implied that the disciples’ behavior was a reflection on Him as their teacher.  He was the one responsible for them breaking the Law.

Although not mentioned, there was possibly one other Sabbath Law they may have broken.  Depending on how far they had travelled that day they may have gone beyond the distance allowed to be travelled on the seventh day.

1. What were the primary reasons Jesus often found Himself at odds with the religious leaders of His day?
2. What gave the disciples the right to do what they did?
3. Why did the Pharisees have problem with their actions?
4. Who were they really accusing of breaking the Law? Why?
5. What do you think are some of the things that are proper to do on Sunday?
6. Why is the way we treat Sunday a dangerous thing?

Luke 6:3-4

Jesus did not try to defend the actions of the disciples by relating to the event that had just occurred.  He referred to what David did when he was fleeing from Saul.  He actually broke the law when he received the Consecrated bread from Ahimelech, the priest. (1 Samuel 21:6)  Only the priest was supposed to eat the bread that was placed before the Lord every day. (Leviticus 24:9)  This would have left the religious leaders defenseless since David was their hero.

1.  Why did he not attempt to defend the actions of his disciples based on the accusations of the Pharisees? (They had not broken the law but the additions made to it by the Jews.)
2. What did Jesus do by recounting the incident when David was fleeing from Saul and ate the consecrated bread?  (Took away the ability of the religious leaders to accuse the disciples?
3. In what ways must we be careful in accusing others of violating the teaching found in the Bible? (We do not always know the circumstances that caused them to act as they did.)

Luke 6:5

Jesus finally answered the real question the men were asking.  They would ask the same question in a number of different ways.  They wanted to know by whose authority He did the things that He continued to do.  The same question could have just as easily been directed toward the religious leaders because of their manipulation of the law.  They had added to God’s law until it had become a burden to the people.  It had become a way to put them in the position of dictating the way people lived and to serve their own self-interests.  By the time of Jesus the only people who could effectively understand the law were the Scribes and Pharisees.  This gave them the right to determine what could and could not be done on the Sabbath Day. 

Jesus could not have spoken any more clearly.  He said “The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath.”  That one statement indicated the authority that He had received from the Father to use the Sabbath Day to do good as God had intended. The Scribes and Pharisees pretty much had it their way for many years.  He came along and told them by His words and actions that He had to return the Law to its original intent.

1. What did Jesus mean by the statement, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath? (Only He had the authority to put the proper interpretation on the Law.)
2. What had the religious leaders done to the Law over the centuries? (They had added layers of rules and regulations to God’s Law.)
3. In what position did their actions put them? (They were the last word in the interpretation of the Law.)
4. What is the danger for us to have too many rules in the church?
5. In what ways have we made it difficult for people to come to Christ?

Luke 6:6-7

Luke recorded another incident that occurred on the Sabbath.  As Jesus was teaching in the synagogue He noticed a man with a withered hand.  Since the use of the right arm or hand usually indicated the strength of a man and God, He probably was not able to work.  

The religious leaders were focusing all of their attention on Jesus to see what He was going to do. This man may have been brought there as a test for Jesus. It is disturbing that they had no regard for the condition of the man but he was only important if they could use him as a means to trap Jesus if He broke the law.  They were looking for a way to accuse Him.

Over the years the law had been expanded to state that the only help a person could receive on the Sabbath was to preserve life.  If a person had a non-life-threatening injury or illness he would have to wait until the next day to be treated.  Their idea of the law was more important than the well-being of men.

1. What was the condition of the man before Jesus?
2. What problems did his condition present for him?
3. For what purpose may the man been brought there by the Pharisees?
4. What does this event say about the religious leaders?
5. Why did they care more about the law than the condition of men?
6. How can we fall into the same trap?
7. What do we really care about as a church?

Luke 6:8-9

Jesus saw right through their plan.  He knew exactly what they were thinking.  The very fact that they had let a deformed man into the synagogue exposed them.  Normally they would not even allow such a person to be in their presence.  Unlike the scribes and the Pharisees, Jesus had a deep concern for the physical and spiritual condition of all men.

To bring attention to the hardness of the Jews he called the man to the front of the synagogue.  He then asked the entire group assembled whether it was lawful:

• To do good or to do harm on the Sabbath?
• To save a life or destroy it?

The questions should have had an obvious answer.  Any caring person would of course say to do good or to save a life is the only way one is to act.  Jesus asked the question because the attitudes and actions of the Jews indicated that the Law was more important than helping a person in need.

1. In what ways was their plan obvious?
2. What would tell us that the man had been placed in the synagogue to trap Jesus?
3. In what ways was the attitude of Jesus different from the Pharisees?
4. In what ways do we sometimes act like the Jews?
5. In what ways do we sometimes display the same concern and compassion of Jesus?
6. What did Jesus as the questions of those there in the synagogue? (It was obvious by not doing good that they meant harm to those in need.)

Luke 6:10

Jesus did not let the fact that they were watching Him to condemn His actions keep Him from helping the man.  So that all would know that He was the one who healed him, Jesus commanded him to stretch out his bad hand.  When he did as he was told his hand was made whole.

1. What was the concern of Jesus?
2. How did the man show faith?
3. What was the result of the man’s faith?
4. When have there been times you have not acted to help someone out of a concern of what others might think?

Luke 6:11

The scribes and Pharisees showed what kind of people they were.  They became outraged because Jesus had dared to heal someone on the Sabbath Day.  Following the incident they got together and began to devise a plan for dealing with Jesus.  There is no mention of joy or celebration over the fact that a man now could become productive once more and be accepted into the fellowship of God once more.

1. What did the actions of the Jews indicate about them?
2. Why could they not find joy in the healing that had occurred?
3. What things do we do that make us look like the Jews?
4. What do you think the others assembled thought of what Jesus had done?
5. What are the things that cause you to rejoice?
6. What are the things that cause you to become outraged?

 

• Make Sunday holy and not hollow.
• Have compassion on those in need.
• Do not let your righteousness become self-righteousness.
• Remember that all of us are in need of spiritual healing.
• Remember that it is God’s standard under which you live and not man’s.
• Be careful to not be use to promote someone else’s agenda.
• Remember that if you stand firm in your faith there will be those who do not like what you believe.

There are at least two references in the Bible warning us not to add or take away from the words written in its pages. We need to be careful not to make church a burden for those who are coming from a non-church background.  They need to find us as a compassionate caring people.  It serves no purpose for us to be judgmental and self-righteous.  Remember each us were at one point in our lives without hope and separated from God.

Jesus came to reach out to the lost sheep of this world.  Let us use every opportunity to make the church an attractive, friendly and loving place for all who wish to bless us with their presence.