The priority of the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28)

THE PRIORITY OF THE SABBATH (Mark 2:23-28)

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Dr. Paul Manuel—2018

Sometimes different people have different ideas about addressing a problem, like losing weight.

A nurse asked a fairly hefty patient: "Are you on any special diet?" "Yes" he replied. "I drink Slim-Fast twice a day, but it's not working. In fact, I've gained several pounds." "Really?" the nurse asked. "Do you think skipping meals to drink a shake makes you so hungry that you overeat later?" The patient replied, "What do you mean... 'skipping meals'?"

Sometimes different people have different ideas about addressing a problem, like when the disciples were walking through a grain field and were hungry. Jesus proposed one solution—"Pluck and eat the grain. Some Pharisees preferred a different solution—"It's the Sabbath, so you'll have to go hungry." Their disagreement was about The Priority of the Sabbath.

 

When God redeems the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from Egypt, among the blessings He gives these former slaves is something they did not previously enjoy—a regular day off. They may have received an occasional period to renew themselves but nothing consistent.

 

Although God established the Sabbath for Himself at the beginning of creation, there is no indication then that He intended it for anyone else and no evidence that anyone else in Genesis observed it. God made the Sabbath a requirement only for Israel and only after the exodus: "The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant" (Exod 31:16). In fact, God's stated purpose for the Sabbath is to make Israel separate, not to make everyone else the same. The only gentiles who observe it are those attracted to Israel's God (i.e., resident aliens).

 

In the late Second Temple period the Sabbath is a point of contention between Jesus and other Pharisees, and their dispute raises the question of relative priority: In the larger scope of God's precepts, how important is the Sabbath command? Please turn to Mark 2 where some question if hunger is a permissible reason to suspend the command to rest.

 

I. Jesus feeds his disciples on the Sabbath, despite the prohibition against harvesting on that day (vv. 23-24).

Mark 2:23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

The command to rest is both clear and consistent.

"The seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work" (Exod 20:10a).

"For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord" (Exod 31:14a).

"There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest" (Lev 23:3).

To explain what God meant by work, He gives several examples:

• No gathering manna
• No lighting fire
• No collecting wood
• No transporting goods
• No doing business

Moreover, the penalty for disobedience is both clear and costly:'

"Whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people" (Exod 31:14b).

"Whoever does any work on it must be put to death" (Exod 35:2).

The disciples walking in that grain field (probably of barley or wheat) are not resting. They are engaging in one of the thirty-nine categories of work given orally to Moses that are forbidden on the Sabbath, categories these Pharisees probably follow:

The main labors [prohibited on the Sabbath] are forty less one: sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, cleansing, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, and washing or beating or dyeing it, spinning, weaving, making two loops, weaving two threads, separating two threads, tying a knot or loosening one, sewing two stitches, tearing in order to sew two stitches, hunting a deer and slaughtering it or flaying it or salting it or curing its skin or scraping it or cutting it up, writing two letters, erasing in order to write two letters, building, demolishing, extinguishing, kindling, striking with a hammer, carrying from one domain into another. These are the main labors [prohibited on the Sabbath]—forty less one. (m Shabb 7:2)

These Pharisees consider what the disciples do in the grain field as "reaping," which is work according to tradition, a transgression on the Sabbath. This is also an activity that God specifically prohibits: "Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest" (Exod 34:21).

 

Jesus does not disagree with what the disciples are doing or with what the Pharisees might believe about work. Even if the disciples are harvesting, however, they are doing so to satisfy a legitimate need, one that takes priority over the Sabbath command to rest. This is not the only bit of tension in Jesus' life. He had a disagreement earlier with some religious leaders that probably did not end well: Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?" Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast. (Mark 2:18b-20)

 

It is an innocuous question, but it conveys a veiled challenge to Jesus' authority and leads to a veiled prediction of his death. Later, Jesus' healing on the Sabbath exacerbates tensions and raises the threat level by uniting two factions that do not normally agree: "Pharisees went out and began to plot with... Herodians how they might kill Jesus" (Mark 3:6). At this point,

A. Others seek to end his life.., and...

B. He needs to preserve his life...lest they succeed in bringing about his untimely death.

Application: It is easy to make excuses for not obeying God, to justify doing what you want rather than what He commands.

• The time is not right,
• The situation is inconvenient,
• Other people might misunderstand.
• His instruction is unclear or uncertain.

What may not be easy is actually obeying God.

 

Some religious leaders in Jesus' day advocate a very strict reading of the law. For people who follow their narrow interpretation, there is little leeway in what a person should do. Other religious leaders, like Jesus, take a broader reading of the law. But people who follow their broader interpretation do not have more leeway in what they should do. For example Jesus declared, "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matt 5:27-28) A strict interpretation of the prohibition of adultery would limit application to the act itself, whereas a broad interpretation would apply the command to related immoral actions and even to immoral thoughts. Jesus' disciples in this passage seem to have fewer restrictions in keeping the Sabbath, yet they actually have a greater responsibility to keep God's law even in situations the thirty-nine rabbinic acts do not cover but which Isaiah's warning against following one's own inclinations would include ("going your own way [or] doing as you please or speaking idle words Isa 58:13). The simplest way to apply the Sabbath command to rest (or any other biblical command) is always choose what God wants over what you want whenever the two options conflict.

 

Back to the discussion in the grain field, Jesus adds further support to his argument that the disciples are justified in plucking the grain. He appeals to David's example in the house of God.

 

II. David feeds his soldiers in the temple, despite the prohibition against eating there (Mark 2:25-28).

Mark 2:25 [Jesus asked] "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest,' he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. He also gave some to his companions."

Cf. This bread is to be set out before the Lord regularly, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. 9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place, because it is a most holy part of their regular share of the offerings made to the Lord by fire. (Lev 24:8)

Hunger takes priority over the Sabbath, and hunger even takes priority over some temple activities.-- To be sure, most temple activities are restricted to temple personnel.

 

God makes very clear, for example, that the anointing oil and incense mixture are not to have any commercial or otherwise profane use:

The Lord said to Moses, "Take the following fine spices.... Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend.... Anoint Aaron and his sons...so they may serve me as priests.... Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from his people.... Take [the following] fragrant spices...all in equal amounts, and make a fragrant blend of incense.... Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it holy to the Lord. Whoever makes any like it to enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from his people." (Exod 30:22, 25, 30,33-38)

These two items, the oil and the incense, are to have no use outside the sanctuary. Like some offerings, they are to benefit temple personnel only. Anyone who uses them otherwise is to be "cut off from his people" (i.e., excommunicated). There are exceptions to some rules but not to all rules, and those few exceptions are only for certain extreme circumstances, as is the case with the disciples' hunger. In the end, though, God intends His precepts to benefit His people. As He says, "Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them" (Lev 18:5).

 

David's decision to seek help at the sanctuary is not an easy one. He has great regard for the place and its personnel, but he is on the run.

A. Others seek to end his life.., and...

B. He needs to preserve his life...if he is ever to become king.

Back to the discussion in the grain field, Jesus cites a principle for the exceptional case he and the disciples illustrate and applies it by appealing to his own authority in the matter:

Mark 2:27 [Jesus] said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

That does not mean the Sabbath is open to private interpretation. God places specific strictures on the day that indicate what Sabbath activities God approves.

 

Jesus is not abrogating the command to rest on the Sabbath. He is teaching that there is a hierarchy to God's command structure, that some commands take priority over other commands. In Matt 23...

• Jesus commends the Pharisees for their attention to details of the law: "You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill, and cumin" (v. 23b).
• Jesus cautions the Pharisees against their inattention to priorities in the law: "You neglect the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness" (v. 23c).

He says to them the law is a package deal: "You should practice the latter, without neglecting the former" (v. 23d)." Likewise, the command to rest on the Sabbath is not the most important of God's precepts. As the grain field account illustrates, the command to rest does not override the importance of satisfying hunger on the Sabbath. This does not mean God's people are free to modify His commands as they see fit. He decides how and when to revise a precept or make an exception. Until then the command remains unchanged as God gave it initially.

 

This also does not mean that every hunger pang is a legitimate excuse to set aside the Sabbath command to rest. The Bible contains several examples of overactive urges for food (although not related to the Sabbath):

• Esau's desire for Jacob's stew causes him to sell his birthright.
• Israel's desire for meat instead of manna brings about a plague.
• Eli's sons' desire for people's offerings arouses God's contempt.

These men all have cravings that they should control but do not, and they suffer as a result.

 

The Sabbath law is important in Israel's legal corpus, being a primary means by which Jews distinguish themselves as set apart to God.

My Sabbaths will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy. (Exod 31:13)

I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy. (Ezek 20:12)

But it is not the most important precept God gives to His people, nor is it the most important precept God expects His people to keep. That distinction belongs to what Jesus and others in first century Judaism call "the greatest commandment" (Matt 22:36): "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt 22:37).

 

Some Christians think Jesus is making a general or universal statement as if to say 'The Sabbath was made for mankind,' that is, for all people, not just for Jews. There are at least four reasons why that cannot be the case:

• First, part of his audience is the disciples who, as Jews, believe that God gives the Sabbath specifically to Israel and not to the nations. There is ample evidence in scripture for this view and no indication, either in the gospels or epistles, that the disciples thought Jesus intended a change in their understanding of such an important issue.
• Second, another part of Jesus' audience is a group of Pharisees, for whom a universal statement would be unthinkable and would elicit considerable objection. None of the gospel writers, though, records any such reaction.
• Third, this epigram is part of Jesus' justification for the disciples' plucking grain on the Sabbath, which some Jewish authorities consider a violation of the command to rest on that day. Jesus' purpose in making the statement is not to apply the precept more broadly (to gentiles), which would be completely off the topic, but to apply it more properly (to Jews)—that the Sabbath is to be a blessing not a burden.
• Fourth, the statement itself may be a common proverbial saying within rabbinic circles and not unique to Jesus, who simply uses it here to make the point that God intends this command for the good of those to whom He gives it.

The only universal statement on Sabbath observance is in a description of the Messianic Age, when the nations will have to pay tribute before the LORD in Jerusalem.

From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD. "And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind." (Isa 66:23-24)

Even then, however, the nations may not be keeping the Sabbath as God commanded Israel but demonstrating their grudging recognition of His sovereignty. "The Sabbath [is] given specifically to Israel, not to people in general" (France 2002:147).

 

Application: Obeying God's commands is not merely a responsibility His people bear, it is a privilege they have, a privilege not everyone possesses. In fact, as the author of Ps 147 observes, "He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws" (v. 20). Keeping the Sabbath is what God expects from Jews, but it is something He invites from gentiles. Either way, keeping the Sabbath is a privilege. It is also a way of identifying with God by doing what He did. Just as God made the Sabbath holy, setting apart the seventh day from the other six, so He makes those who keep the Sabbath holy by setting them apart from people who do not:

"Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy." (Exod 31:13)

When you make the Sabbath holy, you model Him who first made the seventh day holy and become holy yourself.

 

When Jesus walks through the grain fields with his disciples, he acknowledges that they need to renew their strength and prepare for what lies ahead. His followers may have already depleted their provisions and will not restock until the next village or simply do not know when their next meal will be. For whatever reason, they are hungry and need to eat. He sees an opportunity and takes advantage of it, to the dismay of some Pharisees who object. Not one to waste 'a teaching moment,' Jesus responds by explaining his rationale and adding what may be a well-known aphorism: It is a lesson for the disciples about The Priority of the Sabbath.

For the Bibliography and Endnotes see the pdf here.