"LORD OF THE SABBATH"
Second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 4)
June 3, 2018
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
Mark 2:27, 28 (ESV)
The Gospel reading for today centers on the Savior's teaching regarding the Sabbath. That seems like a good place for us to begin this non-festival half of the church year. The appointed Scripture readings for this portion of the year (also called "the Time of the Church") give us instruction on what our appropriate response should be to everything that Jesus has done for us--which is the emphasis during the first half of the liturgical year. When Jesus speaks about the Sabbath (here and elsewhere in the Gospels) He is really addressing the broader subject of worship--both the public worship of His Church and the private devotional life of individual believers. In saying that He is "Lord . . . of the Sabbath," He is not in any way downgrading either the Sabbath in particular or public worship in general. On the contrary, He is actually exalting it by putting it in its proper perspective and giving us instruction on what genuine worship is.
Everyone is well aware of the Lord's disputes with the Pharisees concerning their legalism. A lot of this legalism was manifested in the area of ritual worship. It has been said that the Pharisees came up with over six hundred regulations to enforce the minutest details of the Sabbath law that the Lord Himself gave in only one commandment. What we have to remember (and what a lot of people tend to forget) about the Pharisees is that what Jesus condemned was not their observance of the Law or their respect for tradition, but rather their hypocrisy. Listen to what the Lord had to say about them: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat., so practice and observe whatever they tell you--but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others'" (Matthew 23:2-7). So that we might better understand what matters in the true and genuine worship of God, let's examine two principles of worship taught by Jesus in the passage before us.
The first principle is stated by Jesus with the words "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." True and genuine worship of God is not a burden to the believer but rather a blessing. Worship that is legislated and performed out of fear is not really worship at all. If your children go through all the motions of loving and obeying you, and they do it not because they love and respect you but for no other reason than that they are afraid that you will punish them if they don't, they are not actually pleasing you at all, because that is not what you really want (or at least I hope it isnt!). That's not what our heavenly Father wants either. He wants the people who He has created in His own image and redeemed with the blood of His Son to sincerely love Him and obey Him because they value Him and trust Him to be looking out for their best interests. The problem with legalism of any sort is that it demands, under the threat of punishment, what ought to be done willingly, motivated by love and gratitude.
Love and obedience that are born of the Gospel are not coerced but are given freely because the children of God are so changed by what God has done for them that they are filled with genuine gratitude and praise. Granted, they still need the Law to instruct them as to what works are pleasing to the God who they desire to serve, but the Law has no motivation or strength to offer when it comes to actually doing these things. That motivation and strength can be provided only by the Gospel of Christ. Faithful attendance at worship (which is nothing more or less than the faithful use of the means of grace) is important for us not because of what we do for God in worship but because of what He gives us in Word and Sacrament. That's why we call our gathering the "Divine Service," because here God serves us with His Word and Sacrament. It is here that we receive the motivation and strength to go out into our world and to worship Him by serving our neighbor.
The second principle of worship given by Jesus in the text is found in His statement that "the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Everything that is said and done in the worship life of God's people revolves around Jesus Christ. He is the Fulfillment of the worship of the Old Testament people of God. All of the sacrifices and offerings that the ancient people of God were commanded to present to the Lord did not really atone for their sins. They were actually a divine object lesson, if you will--the lesson being that sin is no insignificant matter. It is so serious, in fact, that it has to be paid for by the shedding of innocent blood. Jesus Himself is "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). There is nothing that we can do or should attempt to do that will have any bearing on our standing before God. We are reconciled to Him by His action, not ours--that action being the perfect life and the innocent suffering and death of His Son Jesus Christ.
Because our relationship with God is based solely on what Christ has done for us, it only makes sense that our worship of God should be focused completely and exclusively on that one sacrifice of atonement made for us by our Savior. This is the genius of Lutheran worship in particular. It's not about how we feel or what we have done or should do or anything else that has to do with us; it's all about Jesus. He and He alone--"delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification" (Romans 4:25)--is the only Thing that makes an impression on God. In other words, all that we have to offer to God is what He has first given us--His perfect Son, given to make atonement for the sin of the whole world. It is the slain and risen Christ alone who makes both us and our worship acceptable in the sight of the God who we desire to please.
When Jesus says that He is "Lord . . . of the Sabbath," He means that He is the Center around which all of our worship of God must revolve. Without faith in Him there can be no true worship. Unless worship is offered exclusively in His name, it is nothing more than pagan worship offered to Satan. This may sound very harsh and judgmental, but it is true, since Jesus is the One who has said: "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). Not only is this true; it is also a great blessing to us because when we worship in the name of Jesus, relying solely on Him, we know that God hears us and accepts us, acknowledging us as His dear children for the sake of the One who went to the cross and the grave for us so that He might have a share in His resurrection..
Amen.
May the Lord bless your hearing of His Word, using it to accomplish in you those things for which He gave it. May you be enriched and strengthened in faith that you may leave here today to go out into our world armed with the whole armor of God, prepared to be able ambassadors of your Savior Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Amen.