"And it came to pass, that He went through the corn fields on the Sabbath day; and His disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto Him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful? And He said unto them, Have you never read what David did, when he had need, and was a hungered, he, and they that were with him? How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:23-28)
And He said, "If you had known what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless." (Matthew 12:7)
This statement about the Sabbath and its purpose is from Him who made the Sabbath; for in Christ were all things created: "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." (Colossians 1:16-17)
And without Him was not one single thing made, of that which exists: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made." (John 1:1-3)
And the Sabbath is the rest of the Creator: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." (Genesis 2:1-3)
The Creator, He who made the Sabbath for man, is the only one who can tell us what it is for, and how to keep it. All statements by men, to the effect that this thing must not be done on the Sabbath, are Pharisaical and Popish additions to God's Word, which, inasmuch as they are mere human ordinances, are always sure to be wrong.
The Word of God alone is to be the guide under all circumstances; whoever holds fast to the Word, and is taught of God cannot go wrong. "The Sabbath was made for man." (Mark 2:27)
And it is therefore not something that is against him, a hard requirement,--something to hold him down,--but a thing calculated to help him in every way. But it is for man; that is, it is a blessing to a man only when he keeps it. When a man rejects that which is good, he has only the evil; so a blessing spurned leaves only a man helpless.
Therefore when it is said that all human additions to the Sabbath, and interpretations of the commandment are of no value, it must not be understood that anybody, in the world has any license to break the Sabbath. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." (Exodus 20:8)
This is as valid a commandment as it was the day it was spoken from Sinai.
Notice that the Saviour did not excuse the disciples for breaking the Sabbath, but He declared that they had not broken it; they were guiltless.
God is not like the gods that the heathen worship who must be propitiated by human suffering. He has no delight in seeing people suffer, but only in seeing them happy. Fasting is right in its place, and acceptable to God; but, when it is done as a penance, when one makes a virtue of it, then it is an abomination to the Lord.
Jesus said that the disciples, in quietly satisfying their hunger on the Sabbath day, were guiltless. They did that which was "not lawful," only according to the traditions of the Pharisees, but not according, to the law of God. "It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days, [said Jesus]." (Matthew 12:12)
And He it is who by obedience to the law of God magnified the law and made it honorable. "The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honorable." (Isaiah 42:21)
In these words, "It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days," and, "The Sabbath was made for man," we have the explanation of many of the acts of Christ.
Man with the Withered Hand
The first of these statements is found in Matthew's account of the healing the man with a withered hand (Matthew 12), which occurs in immediate connection with that of the disciples eating the corn. Indeed, they went from the corn-field direct to the synagogue, where Jesus performed this miracle. The Pharisees knowing how ready and anxious Jesus was to relieve the afflicted, watched Him to see if He would heal the man on the Sabbath. He asked them, "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or, to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. But when He had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, He said unto the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it out; and his hand was restored whole as the other." (Mark 3:4-5)
The Sabbath, therefore, is connected with well-doing, and stands for well-doing, since it was made for man, for his benefit. The Scribes and Pharisees had made it a burden for the people; and it was to show its real nature, that Jesus performed so many miracles on the Sabbath day. Let us look at three typical miracles, besides the one already noted, that were done on the Sabbath.
At the Pool of Bethesda
In the 5th chapter of John we have the account of the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda, who had an infirmity that had made him unable to walk for thirty-eight years. "When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He said unto him, Will you be made whole? The impotent man answered Him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another steps down before me. Jesus said unto him, Rise, take up your bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked; and on the same day was the Sabbath. ... Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath day." (John 5:6-9,16)
The Man Born Blind
Although Jesus knew how the Pharisees felt about such things, He still continued to go about doing good, no less on the Sabbath days than on other days. He said, "I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." (John 9:4-5)
As He passed by, "He saw a man which was blind from his birth." (John 9:1)
Having said that He must do the works of God, and that He was the light of the world, "He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and Heanointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which isby interpretation, Sent). He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. ... And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes." (John 9:6-7,14)
And again there was a strife among the Jews over the matter.
The Crippled Woman
On another occasion Jesus "was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity. And He laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation,because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work; in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, You hypocrite, doesnot each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? And when He had said these things, all His adversaries were ashamed; and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him." (Luke 13:10-17)
Not Urgent Cases
One noticeable thing about all these cases is that none of them were what might be called urgent cases. There was no immediate danger of death in any of them, unless possibly the case of the man at the pool of Bethesda, and one day more could certainly not have made much difference in his case. The blind man would never have known the difference if Jesus on seeing him had said to himself, "Tomorrow, or as soon as the Sabbath is past, I will come and heal that man."
Eight or ten days even would have made no great difference so far as the man was concerned, for his life was in no danger, and he had no expectation of seeing.
The same thing is true of the woman that was bowed down, and of the man with the withered hand. They would not have suffered materially if Jesus had waited a day or two longer before healing them, especially as they were not expecting to be healed.
But Jesus did not wait, when He saw people in affliction, but gave them the blessing of health and strength at once, no matter what the day. Even when He knew that the Jews were watching Him, and that they would seek to kill Him for His Sabbath miracles, He did not put off the good work.
Why on the Sabbath?
We cannot read the record of these cases without seeing that it was not mere accident that they were healed on the Sabbath day. When the persons' lives were in no danger, and they had as it were become accustomed to their infirmity, and had not asked nor expected to be healed, and when Jesus knew that the healing of them on the Sabbath would increase the enmity of the rulers of the Jews against Him, and that they were watching Him, we can easily see that there was design in the performance of these miracles on the Sabbath day. Jesus wished to teach the people and their rulers a lesson that they needed to know.
Of one thing, however, we may be sure, the design of Jesus was not to spite the Jews, or to show contempt for the rulers. It was not any defiance of danger, or desire to assert His rights, that led Him thus to act contrary to the cherished traditions of the elders.
We know that He often went away to another part rather than stir up the animosity of the rulers, and that He did not court publicity. No; His one desire was to do good, and to show the people that the Sabbath was meant to be a blessing, and not a burden. His work was: "To heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised," (Luke 4:18) not alone in body, but in soul and spirit. The physical blindness and bondage and infirmity which the people suffered was only an evidence and a consequence of the spiritual blindness and bondage and infirmity that afflict mankind; and the power of Jesus over the one was simply an evidence of His power over the other.
He came to represent the Father, and to declare His name, who is, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." (Exodus 34:6-7)
The healing of the body was only a sign to show the reality of the blessed work of forgiving sins and cleansing from all unrighteousness. "For which is easier, to say, Your sins be forgiven you; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, (then said He to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up your bed, and go unto your house." (Matthew 9:5-6)
Now the object of the Sabbath is to cause people to know the Lord as the God who sanctifies: "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." (Ezekiel 20:12)
The Sabbath is God's rest, the rest which He graciously shares with all who believe Him: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work." (Exodus 20:8-9) "For we which have believed do enter into rest, as He said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works." (Hebrews 4:3-4)
It stands for complete deliverance from sin in the present time, and is the pledge and assurance of the final redemption of the body and of the whole creation from every trace of the curse.
Those who cease from profaning it, and who call it a delight, and not a burden, and by the proper observance of it honor God as Creator with all power in heaven and earth, have the promise that through it they shall delight themselves in the Lord, and be made to ride on the high places of the earth. "If you turn away your foot from the sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words: Then shall you delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." (Isaiah 58:13-14)
It was to show all the people, including us, that the Sabbath means freedom from sin and the curse, and fullness of joy in the Lord, that Jesus performed those miracles. Let it be particularly noticed that the effect of them was to cause the people to rejoice and to glorify God.
It may be noted, in closing, that there was never any controversy or question as to which day is the Sabbath. The commandment settles that for all time, and the Bible gives no ground for any controversy over the matter. "The seventh day is the Sabbath," (Exodus 20:10) and the Pharisees and Jesus were agreed on that, since there was no room for difference. Jesus did not once intimate that the seventh day was not the Sabbath, or that He had come to change it, or that it no longer needed to be observed as strictly as formerly. He expressly stated that He had not come to destroy the law, or any portion of it, but instead to fulfill it and show how it should be observed. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matthew 5:17-18) "The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honorable." (Isaiah 42:21)
His works of love and mercy, never performed for His own profit or benefit, but only for the good of others, even to His own loss, were done, not to show disrespect of the Sabbath day, but were on the contrary, the highest possible honor that could be shown it, in that they presented it as the sign of the greatest blessing that God has it in His power to bestow.
Who will accept it as such, and in glorifying God find himself sanctified and glorified?--Present Truth, June 3, 1897--Timeline: IV-11 (Plucking Grain on the Sabbath), IV-12 (The Man With a Withered Hand), III-9 (The Invalid at Bethesda), III-10 (Rejection by the Sanhedrin), VI-6 (The Man Born Blind), VI-22 (The Crippled Woman)--Mark 2:23-28; 3:4-5; John 5:6-16; John 9:4-14; Luke 13:10-17.