A Day off after Your Day off

Regular R&R

Ever feel like you need a day off after your day off?

You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? Something comes up on a day you hoped to kick back that suddenly kicks your butt. Maybe the boss calls you in when you planned to be out. Maybe there’s an unexpected emergency at home sucks the life out of you. Before you know what happened, you need a day off after your day off.

Did you realize that God’s looking out for you? Yup, the Creator of the universe has your back by building a day off into our week. He knows there’s nothing you and I need more than regular R&R. And by “R&R,” I do NOT mean “rules and regulations!” Instead, He gives us a day to get regular rest and set our undistracted focus on His incredible generosity.

Lazy Saturday

The last thing we need on our day off is a long list of laws. Make sure you do this. Be sure you don’t do that. The next thing you know, we’re paying more attention to rules and not relaxation. But that’s exactly what happens to Jesus and His posse while they were out enjoying a walk together one lazy Saturday (Mk 2:23-28).

Mark tells us how one moment they’re grabbing a snack, the next they’re under arrest by the fun police. The Pharisees bust out the religious rulebook (which they wrote, by the way) and start telling Him all the ways His boys are breaking the law. Suddenly, their day of rest becomes a day of rules. Next thing you know, they’re going to need a day off from the day off.

Saturday’s Alright for Fighting

When it’s all said and done, Jesus goes old school and sets the Pharisees straight on what the Sabbath is all about. Just to be sure they understand who they are dealing with, He drops the mic and tells them He should know since He’s God.

Maybe Elton John is on to something in his hit song “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting." It goes a little something like this. “Don’t give me none of your aggravation. We’ve had it with your discipline.” The Lord seems to live out the lyrics when pokes His finger in their legalistic chest.

Round Four with the Pharisees

If you’ve been following the story here in Mark 2, this is actually the fourth time the Pharisees have freaked out over the radical Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth. First, when four guys drop their disabled buddy through the roof, they grumble when He dares to not just restore the man’s mobility but forgive his sin (Mk 2:1-12).

They blow a second gasket when our Savior attends a shindig with a guest list of losers, rejects, and outcasts (Mk 2:13-17). The third time, the Pharisees get a little back up from the folks following John the Baptizer when Christ and His crew attend one party after another (Mk 2:18-22).

That sets the stage for round four. These religious bullies don’t like to lose. And because of that, they’re apparently tailing Jesus and the Twelve while their out on a stroll one Saturday. The Pharisees are looking for any reason to bust these boys. A broken tail light. Expired inspection sticker. Anything.

Working for the Weekend

Mark picks it up here. “One Sabbath as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, His disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat” (v23). It’s the Sabbath. Did you catch that? In the Jewish world, the Sabbath happens every Saturday. The word (Gr. σαββατον/sabbaton) literally means a ceasing from work and a focus on worship of God and rest for His people.

Our Creator celebrated the very first Sabbath back on the very first Saturday. “On the seventh day God had finished His work of creation, so He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when He rested from all His work of creation” (Gen 2:2-3).

God had just made everything from nothing and did it in only six days. Not a bad week at work, don’t you think? But Yahweh certainly wasn’t just working for the weekend. He certainly didn’t need a day off. Remember, He’s all-powerful and never gets tired (Is 40:28). But He relaxed as an example for us to follow.

400 Years without a Day off

Fast forward the story a few thousand years and we find God’s people as Pharaoh’s primary labor force as slaves in Egypt. For 400-plus years, they didn’t get one single day off (Ex 1:8-14; 12:40). And we complain when we have to work through lunch. Please.

Everything changed when God used Moses to free His people and put Egypt in their rearview mirror. When the Israelites got to Mount Sinai, God made a point of including this weekly day off and party for His people in His Top Ten.

“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work.

“This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day He rested. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy” (Ex 20:8-11).

A Weekly Festival

Have you ever thought that God created the Sabbath as a weekly, 24-hour festival starting on sundown Friday and ending sundown Saturday? The followers of Jesus shifted the Sabbath celebration from Saturday to Sunday since that’s the day He came walking out of the cemetery. Pretty good reason to party, don’t you think?

In a letter to Jesus’ followers in Colossae, Paul makes a point of allowing each person to determine which day we should relax and rejoice in God. “So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ Himself is that reality” (Col 2:16-17).

No Better Place

So bust your tail for six days. But make sure everybody gets some rest at the end of the week. And there’s no better way to truly relax than to set our undivided focus on God and His goodness. One of the tunes in the boxed set of the Bible’s greatest hits says just one day in God’s presence is better than a thousand anywhere else (Ps 84:10).

The Sabbath is a reminder that rest is a big part of God’s rhythm for us. The LORD makes a personal promise to Big Mo, “I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you” (Ex 33:14). King David sings about how our Good Shepherd rejuvenates us in green fields near peaceful streams (Ps 23:1-2).

The Son of God makes that rest a big part of His message to His followers. “Come to Me, all who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). And just in case you think He’s only talking about some sort of pie-in-the-sky-sweet-by-and-by kinda thing, Jesus recognizes His team’s need for a retreat. “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile” (Mk 6:31).

Hitting the Drive-Thru

Meanwhile back in the farm fields, Christ’s crew grabs a snack by plucking some grain. It’s the First Century version of hitting a drive-thru or stopping at a convenience store. God goes out of His way to give it His stamp of approval. “And when you enter your neighbor’s field of grain, you may pluck the heads of the grain with your hand, but you must not harvest it with a sickle” (Dt 23:25).

The next thing you know, the Lord and His team are hearing sirens and seeing blue lights. “But the Pharisees said to Jesus, ‘Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain?’” (v24). Breaking the law?!? Harvesting grain?!? You have GOT to be kidding!  The boys are simply picking up something to nibble on where they’re on the road.

Granola on the Go

These religious rule makers have have transformed God’s gift of a day off into a legalist “no fly zone” for anything that resembles work. They’re most likely misapplying something Yahweh told Moses on the mountain. “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working, even during the seasons of plowing and harvest” (Ex 34:21).

It’s just one more example of how these hall monitors repeatedly use their twisted interpretation of the Sabbath as their favorite weapon when going after Jesus (Mt 12:2, 10; Mk 3:2-4; Lk 6:2, 6, 11; 13:14; 14:1-4; Jn 5:9, 16-18; 7:22-23; 9:16). They twist a God-given guardrail into a roadblock in our relationship with Him. This isn’t what our Heavenly Father has intended. He has nothing against grabbing some First Century granola while on the go.

When God’s Rules Aren’t Good Enough

You see, the Pharisees apparently thought God dropped the ball and forgot to provide the needed details to His Sabbath rules. His weren’t good enough so they had to help Him out. Glad somebody’s got His divine back.

But it’s so much worse than that. They’ve made the mistake of thinking their manmade rules and traditions are equal with God’s commands. Yeah, not so much. Jesus and the guys are NOT breaking God’s rules. They’re breaking YOUR rules! As a result, they’ve turned this glorious gift of rest, relaxation, and worship into 24 hours of concentrated command keeping.

After they’re done with the Sabbath, folks are going to need a day off after their day off.

Sarcasm, Son of God Style

Leave it to Jesus to deliver the perfect comeback. Let me give you a little tip. You may think you’re hot stuff but you’ll lose every single time you pick a verbal fight with Christ. Grab a good seat for what’s about to go down. The Pharisees are about to get a taste of the sarcasm, Son of God style. Elton’s right. Saturday’s alright for fighting.

“Jesus said to them, ‘Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry?’” (v25). If you’re like me, you may not catch the dig the first time. Our Savior builds His snarky response around the question “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures…?”

It’s His way of saying, “Hey, there’s this thing called Scripture and this guy called David. Maybe you’ve heard of them.” Of course they have! They’re Pharisees. It’s what they do. They have huge portions of the OT, we’re talking entire books, memorized! It’s actually one of His favorite ways to tweak these religious bullies (Mt 12:3, 5; 19:4; 21:16, 42; 22:31; Mk 12:10, 26; Lk 6:3).

Israel’s Most Wanted

Jesus reminds them of the story about David they already know (1Sam 21:1-6). The king-to-be and his loyal crew were on the lam. King Saul put them at the top spot of Israel’s Most Wanted. They rolled into a suburb of Jerusalem called Nob in desperate need of a meal.

I’m not gonna lie to you. This particular incident is, shall we say, messy. But then again, David’s life is loaded with lying, lust, adultery, murder, and all sorts of dysfunction. Despite his repeated failures, he had a rep as a man after God’s own heart (1Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22).

In the OT, Samuel tells the unvarnished truth of how David cooks up some cockamamy story about being on special assignment from King Saul. One of those, “If I told you, I would have to kill you” deals. David won’t have to. When the king finds out what happens, he orders the execution of 85 priests, their entire families, and all of their livestock (1Sam 14:18-19). I told you it was messy.

Losers, Rejects, and Knuckleheads

A couple of quick but very important points. First, Jesus believes the OT Scriptures are true and believes David is an historical person. Second, there’s only ONE Hero in the entire Bible. It’s Jesus. The entire story points to Him, predicts Him, promises Him, and makes prophecies about Him.

Every other person in both the Old and New Testaments is flawed and fallen. They are there to show us how God uses an endless parade of losers, rejects, and knuckleheads to accomplish His purpose. He picks horribly flawed and broken people because it’s all He has to work with. And that includes you and me!

The Sacred Loaves

Christ continues His impromptu Bible study with the Pharisees. “He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was the high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions” (v26).

To understand why this was such a big deal, we need to know a little bit about the rules God established for the Hebrew people when it comes to worship. It included placing one dozen loaves of fresh bread in His holy presence (Ex 25:30). That’s one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Relationship over Rules

Every Sabbath, the priests would put out twelve hot and fresh loaves for the LORD. They were the only ones allowed to eat last week’s bread (Lev 24:5-9). When David asked for food, the high priest actually asked God if it was okay to give the future king the bread. Yahweh said “yes” (1Sam 22:10).

Why? According to John MacArthur, preserving David’s life trumped ceremonial rules about who could and could not eat the bread. In other words, God did not want His people worshiping a set of religious rules. He wanted the rules to be a means to deepen the relationship between He and His people. He didn’t want them to always have to take a day off after their day off.

A Blessing, Not a Burden

That’s exactly how our Savior explains it to the Pharisees. “Then Jesus said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of the people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath’” (v27). God gives us a day off as a blessing, NOT a burden!

He wants us to enjoy a day of worshiping Him, NOT worshiping the Sabbath. Focus on the Giver, NOT His gift. It’s Jesus’ way of saying, “You legalistic knuckleheads just don’t get it. The Sabbath isn’t about what we CAN’T do. It’s all about we GET to do.”  

The Sabbath Is His Idea

Christ then takes it up a notch. WAY up. He tells these self-proclaimed religious experts, “So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” (v28). Uh oh. Jesus pulls no punches. He claims to be God. He’s saying, “I should know. This whole Sabbath thing is My idea. That’s why I invented it and commanded it. Just like the rest of the universe I created. Because of that, I’m in charge of it.”

What’s the Pharisees’ response to Christ’s incredible claim? Crickets. Nothing but crickets. They’ve got nothing. Ironically they’ve been working overtime on the Sabbath trying to trap Jesus. At the end of the day, they’ve got nothing to show for it but egg on their face. Looks like they’re going to need a day off after their day off.

©2017

Jay Jennings