Reclaiming Rest
Preached by Jason Abbott
January 29, 2017
Since we’re from Missouri and travel home for Christmas every December, we have to take our kids out of class a few days before they’re dismissed for break. And, since they’re not sick (and since we don’t lie and say that our kids are sick), these absences are counted as unexcused. Therefore, sometime in mid-January, Natalie and I get the same letter four different times—one for each of our four kids who are currently enrolled. The letter has a rather threatening tone and tells us that, unless we provide proper documentation, the absences are “unlawful” absences.Whenever one of these letters arrives, Natalie can testify that I degenerate into the same rant—“Our kids are good students! They are respectful to teachers! We volunteer for class fieldtrips and for class parties! Unlawful! Unlawful! MEH!” (Basically, I just channel my inner-curmudgeon for a few minutes.)However, what really upsets me is not the attendance laws of Pennsylvania. It’s how they’re mindlessly applied without a consideration of their original intent: namely, the health and wellbeing of children. You see, the law has no provision which allows for being loved on by grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins as part of a child’s health and wellbeing. So, the family is made to serve the law rather than the law the family. See, the law’s become a hindrance instead of a help to one of the healthiest things I could do for my kids—introduce them to the love of their family members who live far away from them.But what does this have to do with Luke? A lot actually! You see, Jesus runs into a similar kind of harmful application of the laws of God about Sabbath here. So let’s see how he handles such rule mongering. (The text is on page 978.)
Luke 6:1-16
1 On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3 And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” 5 And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”6 On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. 8 But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
There are a couple of things happening in this text which we should notice. First, there’s a conflict concerning the Sabbath—and what it means to rest on it. So we want to look at that conflict. Second, there’s a formation of a new group—the 12 disciples or apostles of Jesus. Thus we want to see what Luke’s showing us by highlighting its formation here.
1. A fight over the Sabbath (vv. 1-11)
Okay, let me start with a personal confession. You know the kind of people who can be super exacting about very little and seemingly insignificant things—things like how you put the toothbrush away or how you fold or hang the clothing? Yeah, that’s me. I’m recovering from that “sickness.” Just ask my wife.I’m really pretty healthy now, but I occasionally have “nitpicking” relapses. And these relapses usually occur when I’m at odds or fighting with someone. When this happens, I get very “ill” and begin to see flaws in everything the person, I’m fighting with, does. (Actually we all do this when we fight, don’t we.)When at odds with Jesus, the religious leaders were also susceptible to this. They had an acute case of our “disease.” And in verses 1-11 of today’s passage, they have their “nitpicking” attention squarely focused on his Sabbath routines—they’re looking to find fault with what Jesus does. Thus they use God’s law to try and crush Jesus.On this first Sabbath, they hone in on the fact that the disciples are picking and eating grain from a field. We might think that the religious leaders are upset because the disciples are taking food from a field that’s not theirs, that it’s stealing which is being challenged. But that’s not it. The law actually sanctioned this kind of harvesting (e.g. Deuteronomy 23:25). It wasn’t wrong to take the grain.Walter Liefeld clarifies what their critique here is. He writes:
To glean by hand . . . in someone’s field was permitted by law. . . But to do this and to rub the heads of grain…was considered to be threshing. The Mishnah [a collection of Jewish oral traditions] forbids threshing . . . on the Sabbath.1
So the complaint is that the disciples—by taking the heads of grain in hand and rubbing them between their fingers—are threshing or working on the Sabbath. And that’s not rest, say the Pharisees! That’s breaking God’s commandments.This is where we want Jesus to look at the Pharisees and say something like: You guys had an unhappy childhood, didn’t you. Or: You all need to find a hobby. But Jesus is better than that. He didn’t come to harm but to help people like them, and people like us. So he points them to one of their heroes, King David.Look at what the text says. Luke writes:
And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” (vv. 3-4).
Jesus puts the religious teachers between a rock and a hard place with this. You see, they want to align themselves with David and against Jesus. Yet, in light of Jesus’ response, to condemn Jesus is now to condemn David. (Heads Explode!)But Jesus isn’t just content to win the verbal, legal battle with these lawyers. He wants to signal, for their benefit and ours, something even more important here about his identity—about his authority. Thus, Jesus concludes by saying to them: “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” (v. 5).You see, after the Pharisees had finished picking the pieces of their brains off the floor and reconstructing their theological noggins, they might have replied, But David was God’s chosen king when he did that. He was running from Saul—running for his life—when he did that. He was unique! But Jesus heads them off. Jesus makes a preemptive strike. Jesus asserts his authority over God’s day of rest because he’s the Messiah. This is a big claim. Jesus is saying, I’m not like David; I’m greater than David. In fact, I’m greater than God’s law.I’ve these great young men and women who grew up in the church I served for 9 years. And some have grown up and said, in effect, I want to follow Jesus when he says I need to live this way but not when he says I need to live that way. And it really bothers me when I see them craft such a domesticated vision of Jesus for themselves, because it’s a lie.Friends, I don’t know the image of Jesus you have fashioned for yourselves. But if you read the Bible, he’s not tame. You can’t fence him in with your rules, like the Pharisees want to do. You cannot say Jesus was a great religious teacher, like many today want to do. You must, rather, take Jesus as he presents himself—as the Lord of days and the Lord of rest and the Lord of laws. You must have him as the Lord of everything—or you do not have him at all.Well let’s move to another Sabbath conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees in our passage. In this instance, the religious leaders are hoping to criticize Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. Luke tells us here that they are specifically watching Jesus to see if he will work this miracle so that they can “accuse him.” Just imagine a malpractice lawyer who begins attending all of a doctor’s surgeries in order to watch for the slightest mistake for which to sue. Something like that is taking place here.Of course, Jesus knows this. And he confronts all these malpractice lawyers with courage and compassion. He calls this man with a withered hand to the front, and this is what he says to the crowd:
“I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus (vv. 9-11).
Why did they create school attendance laws for the state of Pennsylvania?—for the health and wellbeing of the children of the commonwealth. Why did God declare the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath day, a day of rest?—for the health and wellbeing of his people. Yet here are the religious leaders, Israel’s shepherds, making the Israelites serve the law rather than making the law serve the Israelites. How calloused these “shepherds” have become!It’s nearly impossible to rest when your livelihood is in jeopardy—isn’t it. Losing a job or even the threat of losing a job often makes us perpetually restless. Even simple career transitions can make rest almost impossible.Now consider this man with the withered hand. There’s no telling how long he’s been disabled. But what’s certain is that, in a society where 99% of the people did physical labor to earn a living, this man’s livelihood was definitely in jeopardy. Just imagine the worries and the concerns this man would have faced. Just imagine how much relief having a healthy hand would have brought him!Still the Pharisees say: No! Wait till tomorrow. No healings on the Sabbath. But Jesus says: Yes! Be whole right now. I have come to bring Sabbath.We live in a time and place where we’re able to rest more than most people in the rest of the world can fathom resting. We have vacations and set holidays from work. We have whole industries dedicated to leisure. We have 2 whole days during each week to not work. Yet, despite all of this time set apart for us to rest, does anybody in this room actually believe we’re good at resting?!If you’re a believer, how are you finding rest in Jesus each and every day? Few if any of us would pass on taking all the vacation days we get in a given year; yet, most of us, wouldn’t even blink at taking a vacation from reading God’s word in a given day, or seven. Friends, we will never find rest in vacations or retirements or luxuries or whatever—until we find our rest in Jesus. Meet him in his word!And if you’re a non-Christian, know that Jesus offers you rest and peace too. You simply must turn away from all the things which you’ve trusted to bring rest, and ask for Jesus to give it to you instead. Matthew records Jesus’ promise to you: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (11:28). Don’t wait. Find your true rest in Jesus.Well as we close let’s look briefly at these 12 guys Jesus calls.
2. A new group of followers (vv. 12-16)
I want to share 2 observations about these apostles.First, notice the number. There are 12 of them. If you’re teaching in Israel around 2,000 years ago and you want to choose a number of disciples or followers in order to fly under the radar, 12 isn’t a good choice. Twelve is the magic number of followers for the Israelites. And Jesus isn’t stupid; he understands this very well. Jesus is making a statement by calling these 12 to follow. So what is it?Well, here’s what I think. You can disagree. Even as God called the 12 tribes of Israel to follow him and be his people, so Jesus calls these 12 as the new people of God—the new Israel. Not a replacement of Israel but a fulfillment of God’s plan for Israel through the work of Jesus Christ.2Now whether you agree or disagree with me—put that aside for a second. We can talk about it later, because there is something way more interesting here that we’ll miss by fretting over the status of Israel. Namely, we would likely miss what Jesus is implying with his calling of the 12.Just ask yourself: Who calls the 12 tribes? God does. Who calls this new 12? Jesus does. And Jesus isn’t simply playing the role of Moses—as the mouthpiece of God calling the tribes of Israel to follow God. Instead, Jesus calls these disciples to follow him, because to follow him is to follow God.Friends, here we have the Incarnate Son of God leading a big, new exodus—not from slavery to Egypt but from slavery to sin and death. Follow him!Second, notice the kind of people listed here. Look at those who are called: “. . . a fisherman, a tax collector, a political revolutionary, a skeptical man who later wanted clear proof of Jesus’ resurrection. . .”3 This isn’t a stellar group of the best and the brightest. These are average people like you and me, who are being called into the service of God. And that’s the point. And it’s an important point.Perhaps you believe you need to clean up your life so you can follow God. This list tells you that that’s wrong. These 12 guys had all kinds of messy problems yet Jesus, nonetheless, called them into his friendship and his service.Perhaps you believe you should be smarter or cooler than you are right now in order to share your faith with others. This list tells you that that’s totally wrong. These 12 men were not intellectuals, and they were not popular or influential. Nevertheless, God used them to love people and transform people.The point here is that you’re not clean or smart or cool or whatever enough, but, when you serve and follow Jesus you are spotless and wise and embraced because he cleans and teaches and loves you—because he saves you. Amen.
1 Walter Liefeld, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 886-887.
2 Leon Morris explains that twelve “is the number of the tribes of Israel, a number which indicates that Jesus was establishing the people of God, the true Israel. In Jesus and his followers ‘people could see a dramatization of the Old testament picture of God bringing the twelve tribes of Israel to the promised land’ (Tinsley).” Morris, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: Luke, 124.
3 Darrell L. Bock, Luke 1:1-9:50, 547.
