Gospel of Mark 2:23-28

Gospel of Mark 2:23-28                              May 06, 2017 

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath 

Mark 2:23  Now it happened that He went through the grain fields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.   

Matthew 12:1 Adds “were hungry”, and “to eat” 

Luke 6:1  Adds “on the second Sabbath after the first”  and “rubbing them in their hands” 

Time of year, has to be right after Passover:  refers to the second Sabbath after the Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread, remember 7 Sabbaths until Pentecost.

               Probably was barley, remember, Wave sheaf was offered. 

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath and initial conflict with the religious leaders 

The instances of opposition from the religious leaders arose over concerning the Sabbath observance. 

Here the Pharisees opposed Jesus for permitting His disciples to do something they considered sinful on the Sabbath.  

The Pharisees opposed Jesus because they do not distinguish between the laws which God made, Old Testament, and the traditions of the elders that they made concerning the same things, which are not at all based on the law.  

Grain: (barley). This was allowed and in accordance with the Law: 

His disciples began plucking grain on the Sabbath. The disciples were interrupted by the objection of the Pharisees.  (What were the Pharisees doing there)?

Ripe grain can be eaten whole and is both tasty and nutritious. Plucking bits of grain from another's field for sustenance was permitted under the Law. 

Deuteronomy 23:25 When you come into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor's standing grain. 

Wholesale reaping with a sickle, however, was prohibited.  Not allowed. 

As they went or made their way, a person would not to make a path by destroying the stalks of grain, but only plucking "the grain" to eat. 

Deuteronomy 23:24 "When you come into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container.        (Strawberry picking) 

This was also ordained in the Law of Gleaning 

Leviticus 19:9 'When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. 

It is clear that the gleaning laws permitted gleaning even on the Sabbath  since no container (for bearing a burden) or sickle (for the work of harvesting) was employed by gleaners who were the poor seeking necessary food provided for under the Law. 

(24)  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"  

Matthew 12:1  add “when the Pharisees saw it” 

Luke 6:2 adds, “some of the Pharisees” 

We just read that what the disciples did was lawful according to the Law. 

We just saw that there is no law in the Old Testament saying you cannot do this.  This is the traditions of the elders which was not lawful to be done on the Sabbath day. 

The point to the Pharisees' complaint against Jesus and His disciples was that they had performed work on the Sabbath according to their traditions, but their charge was false.   As I say, False News or information.  

This is another example and further proof of rising opposition to Jesus' ministry. 

(25)  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:   

Jesus asked a pointed question. 

And he said unto them: By way of answer to their question, and which was a full one, and enough to silence them: 

Have you never read what David did:  referring to the history  

1 Samuel 21:5-6 Then David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated in the vessel this day."  (6)  So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread which had been taken from before the LORD, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away. 

Leviticus 24:6 You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD. 

Leviticus 24:8 Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 

(26)  how he (David) went into the house of God (Tabernacle) in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  

The house of God. The tent or tabernacle at Nob, not the temple in Jerusalem built by Solomon. 

Part of Jesus' defense was to recall the story of David's eating the showbread from the tabernacle. Since that bread was intended for the priests, it was not lawful for others to eat. 

The Showbread was renewed, made fresh or new bread at the start of the Sabbath day and the old bread deposited on the golden table in the porch of the Sanctuary. 

This old bread was eaten by the priests as they came and went. This is what David ate.  Priest died from King Saul because of helping David. 

(27)  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.   

Not man for the Sabbath: this is a key verse. 

Only Mark recorded this: Mark alone has this profound saying 

One of Mark concerns in this Gospel was the welfare of individuals. 

Matthew added additional words of Christ at this point. 

Matthew 12:5-7 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?  (6)  Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.  (7)  But if you had known what this means, 'I DESIRE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. 

This is totally different from what the Pharisees and Scribes taught. 

Matthew 23:15  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 

The Sabbath was made for man. The Sabbath rest; that is, a rest of one day in seven was made for man, not for Jews only. 

The Pharisees made the Sabbath a straitjacket that inhibited the Jews, though the rabbis conceded that some life-saving activities superseded Sabbath observance. 

Acts 1:12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. 

Rabbi usage to designates the distance from the Mount of Olives to the city of Jerusalem indicate the distance a Jew might travel on the Sabbath without transgressing the Law 

This is where the Pharisees get the Scriptures to use about how far a person can go on the Sabbath and then add the Talmud wording and decisions. The rabbis set this distance by their tradition as 2,000 cubits or about 1,000 yards. 

Leviticus 23:3 'Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. 

The rabbis based their traditions on this verses, which forbade the Israelites to go out on the Sabbath to gather manna. 

Exodus 16:29-30 See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day."  (30)  So the people rested on the seventh day. 

The limit set by the rabbis to the Sabbath day's journey was 2,000 cubits from one's house 

Joshua 3:4  Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before." 

Remember, these are some of the traditions that Jesus said: 

Mark 7:7-9  AND IN VAIN THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.'  (8)  For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men— the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."  (9)  He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 

Very Important:  The Law of God does not limit how far someone can go to the synagogue or services. 

We said this key verse have much to absorb. Much can be said about this concerning the Sabbath. There seem to be one error still widely prevalent to our nation: Failing to “remember the Sabbath day”;  

The Sabbath was ordained long before the Law of Moses.  

In Exodus 16 they were accustomed to the practice of the observing the Sabbath; the Law was not given until Exodus 20. 

Exodus 16:29 See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." 

Notice, the Lord has given you the Sabbath, for individuals. 

How did Noah knew which animals were “clean” and “unclean”? These were ceremonial definitions, probably given in Eden. 

How many animals did Noah take into the Ark. 

Genesis 7:2 You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; 

Deuteronomy 14:8 Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses. 

Most discussions concerning the relation of the Christian to the Sabbath fail to recognize that in the Millennium all nations will worship on the Sabbath not Sunday. 

Isaiah 66:23  And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me," says the LORD. 

The Millennial Temple will only be open on the Sabbath and the New Moon Feast Days.  The Temple is close on Sunday, open on the Sabbath. 

Ezekiel 46:1 Thus says the Lord GOD: "The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened. 

Ezekiel 45:17 Then it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the New Moons, the Sabbaths, and at all the appointed seasons of the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel." 

(28) Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

Luke 6:5  add “and He said to them” 

Indeed!  He is the Lord of Everything!   

Mark's statement about Jesus in verse 28 identifies Jesus as God. Jesus has the right to determine how people should use the Sabbath.

This Sabbath incident in the field and the Sabbath incident which we will find at the beginning of Chapter 3 should go together. 

Jesus does not declare directly the innocence of either David or His disciples, but instead reminds His critics of the meaning of the Sabbath for individuals and His own Lordship over it.  

Human needs may at times overrule the observance of the Sabbath.  Jesus gives some examples. 

Luke 14:3-5 And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  (4)  But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  (5)  Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" 

Luke 13:15-17 The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?  (16)  So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"  (17)  And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him. 

The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath. This statement affirms that Jesus is God.  

End of Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Mark