Luke 14:1-6
One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?' But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away. Then he asked them, 'If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?' And they had nothing to say.
This is another debate concerning the Sabbath. What is the purpose of the Sabbath? When the Pharisees interpreted the law, they totally overlooked the reason God wanted us to rest on the Sabbath, and they only focused on the actually words and the rules. God said that during the Sabbath, no work should be done, but is walking, feeding livestock or taking care of daily business considered work? In order to follow the law, the Pharisees set up things that they could and could not do. For example, there was mentioning of travel distance allowed during Sabbath in the New Testament, and that is the rule that the Pharisees set up. If they went beyond the distance, they violated the law. Therefore, those who needed to travel a long distance end up going the allowable distance first, take a break, and then walk the allowable distance again. They were following to rules just to abide by the law, but the mercy and grace that God originally intended for in the law were completely lost.
Jesus came to the world to proclaim that He is the Lord of Sabbath. True rest doesn't have to happen during Sabbath, but it's the rest we enjoy in Jesus Christ. When we observe the law of Sabbath, we often don't have peace in our heart, and we still think about car, house, work, children and life. True rest doesn't have to follow a schedule or rules, but it's in Jesus Christ. Many of us don't understand this truth, thinking that since Jews observe the Sabbath on Saturdays, therefore Christians observe the Sabbath on Sundays. Actually, when we worship on the Lord's Day, we are not observing the Sabbath, but we are celebrating the day of resurrection of Christ during our Sunday worship. The Lord resurrected on the first day of the week, so we celebrate it on Sunday, and thus we no longer observe the Sabbath on Saturday. This doesn't mean we don't follow the Sabbath, because it's the first commandment in the Ten Commandments; in fact, everyday in Jesus Christ is a Sabbath day, because Jesus is the Lord of Sabbath. May God grant us a soft heart to receive the truth, and not let the word of God become just hard rules in our heart. May the Spirit of the Lord help us, to enjoy rest in Christ today.
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