Mark 2:23-3:6

What do you think? We're looking at Mark chapter 2, end of chapter 2, beginning of chapter 3.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

If you're looking in one of the Pew Bibles, it's page 838.

So we're looking at Mark chapter 2, verse 23, through chapter 3, verse 6.

Mark 2:23

Now if you haven't been coming to the evening service, just to give you a heads up, after the preaching time, we'll have a song of reflection and then we'll have an open time for question and answer.

So if you have questions that come to your mind as we're going through this, keep them in mind or jot them down and then you'll have an opportunity to ask them and we'll have a little time to interact a little bit later on.

So we've started that this fall and it's gone really well so far, so I'm looking forward to it tonight.

Alright, let's read Mark chapter 2, beginning of verse 23.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

It says this,

One Sabbath, he, Jesus, was going through the grain fields.

And as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.

And the Pharisees were saying to him, look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?

And he said to them,

Have you never read what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him?

How he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him.

And he said to them,

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.

Again, he entered the synagogue.

And a man was there with a withered hand.

And they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.

And he said to the man with the withered hand,

Come here.

And he said to them,

Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?

But they were silent.

And he looked around at them with anger,

grieved at their hardness of heart,

and said to the man,

Stretched out your hand.

He stretched it out,

and his hand was restored.

The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him.

How to destroy him.

Sometimes having a common enemy can bring together unlikely allies.

At the end of this passage, it says the Pharisees got together with the Herodians against Jesus.

Now normally, the Pharisees and the Herodians would have had very little to do with each other.

The Pharisees were a conservative religious movement and cultural movement wanting to preserve Jewish identity against outside influences.

And so they were focused on studying and obeying the Old Testament law and practicing traditional values.

Now the Herodians, on the other hand, they were connected with Herod.

Herod was the Roman Empire's ruler in Galilee.

And they were a political movement that was much more,

that was pragmatic and not religious.

So Herod, for example, Herod had no reservations about disobeying the biblical law.

So he was visiting his brother,

and he fell in love with his brother's wife,

and so he divorced his own wife,

and married his brother's ex-wife,

and she divorced her husband.

So this is the guy that the Herodians were connected with.

And, but, but both of these groups,

these conservative religious people,

and this liberal political movement that didn't really care anything about religion,

joined together against Jesus.

And you sort of think,

what's going on here?

I mean, today this would be sort of like the Tea Party leaders

joining forces with President Obama,

and presenting a united front.

And you sort of think,

what in the world would make that happen?

And then you look at what Jesus did.

Right, what did Jesus do in this passage?

He defends his disciples for having a snack

as they're walking through somebody's field.

And then he heals a guy

who had a paralyzed or withered hand.

And you think,

that doesn't, doesn't make sense.

What's, what's going on here?

What's so controversial?

What's making everybody band together against him?

Well, the passage says both of these things happen on the Sabbath.

And that's why this controversy came up.

So we need to ask three questions tonight.

First, what was the Sabbath all about?

Second, why were Jesus' actions on the Sabbath so controversial?

And third, what do we take away from this story?

These two stories.

So first, what did the Sabbath represent?

Well, in Jesus' time,

the Sabbath was one of the major distinctive aspects

of being Jewish.

It still is today.

Especially for Orthodox Jews.

It was one of the Ten Commandments.

The Ten, it's,

and it says this,

Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

On that day you shall not do any work,

you or your son or your daughter

or your male servant or your female servant

or your livestock or the sojourner

who's within your gates.

That's Exodus 20, 8 through 10.

So everyone in the whole community,

adults and children,

male and female,

slave and free,

native and foreigner,

must rest.

One day a week on the Sabbath.

Now in the larger cultural context,

that was a totally unusual practice.

No other religion in Jesus' time

commanded its followers to take one day every week to rest.

Pagan religions in the Roman Empire had holidays

and days that you had to offer sacrifices to the gods,

but they were inconsistent.

They didn't happen every week.

And especially if you were a slave

or if you were a lower class worker,

you didn't necessarily get the day off.

Or you had to sort of bargain with your employer

and say, well, I'll work double time on Friday

if you give me Saturday off.

Now many of us today take for granted the idea

of having a seven-day work week

or seven-day week

with one or two days normally set aside for rest.

Now it's,

but it wasn't always that way.

And actually it's largely due to the influence

of this biblical command throughout history

that we run on a seven-day week.

Almost anywhere in the world that you go,

you run on,

people run on a seven-day week

and there's usually one day

or sometimes two days

that are mostly set aside for rest.

Now, of course,

that's becoming less and less the case

in our society.

But still,

there are some modern societies

that have tried something totally different.

So the French Revolution said,

we're going to do a 10-day week.

You get nine days of work

and one day of rest.

It lasted for nine years

and then they decided

it was a total failure.

The Soviet Union

tried a five-day week

and then they quickly switched

to a six-day week

and then nine years later

they scrapped the experiment

and said that was a bad idea too.

This week, interestingly,

I read an article

by a guy named Joel Gascoigne.

He's the CEO of an internet company

and the article is called

My Seven-Day Work Week

and Why I Won't Stick With It.

So he had a lot of flexibility

in determining his work schedule,

probably more than most of us,

but he experimented

with working seven days a week

and he said,

I wanted every day

to be exactly the same.

So he said,

every day I would do some work,

every day I'd go to the gym,

every day I'd spend some time

reflecting

and every day I would

spend some time resting.

And so he constructed this schedule.

He said,

I'm not going to actually work

more hours,

but I'm just going to work

more consistently

because, you know,

after the weekend,

I feel on Monday, right,

it's always terrible

to go back to work on Monday.

So why don't I just

make this consistent?

So he tried it for two weeks

and he concluded

it was a bad idea.

Only took him two weeks

to figure it out.

So he says this,

he said,

I worked out for 15 days straight.

In the end,

I strained a muscle

and had to take almost a week off.

In terms of my work,

I was excited during the first week

and even at the weekend,

I enjoyed it.

But in the end,

the seven-day work week

fell apart

because of the lack

of an extended period

of renewal and rest.

Now, this guy is not a Christian,

but at the end of his article,

he quotes

the biblical Sabbath reference

from the book of Genesis.

And he recognizes

the wisdom

of this pattern

that it fits

with how we work.

And he says

to work six days

and to take one day

for rest.

So,

but you know,

the Sabbath wasn't just

sort of a practical device

so that we'd be more

rested and refreshed

and ready to go back to work

at the beginning

of the next week.

The Old Testament

talks about the Sabbath

as a spiritual thing.

And it actually gives

three spiritual meanings

to the Sabbath.

So, first of all,

if you look in Exodus 20,

that's one of the places

where the Ten Commandments is,

it says the Sabbath

is a sign

of God's creation.

It's a reminder

God created the world

in six days

and he rested on the seventh

in the Genesis account.

So, if God rested

from his work,

we should too.

Right?

It's a reminder that

and the Sabbath

would be a day

for us to enjoy.

God's creation.

That's sort of the idea

of resting.

It's not just

falling asleep

for 24 hours,

it's really

just sitting back,

enjoying the good things

that God has created

and being reminded

that God's our creator

and we're his creatures.

But the second

spiritual meaning

of the Sabbath

was that it was a sign

of God's redemption.

In other words,

his liberating the people

from slavery in Egypt.

And Deuteronomy 5

is the reference for this

if you want to look that up.

Some other time,

it says,

observe the Sabbath

because you were slaves

in Egypt

and God brought you

out from there.

So, in other words,

you know,

if you were one

of the Israelites,

when you were in Egypt,

you worked seven days

every week

because you had

a harsh master

who never would

let you rest.

And you had no hope

of gaining your freedom

no matter how hard

you tried.

but now God says,

I've set you free

from that.

I've brought you

out of that.

I've done what you

could never do

for yourself.

And so,

I'm giving you

the Sabbath

so you can remember

that.

That every week

when you take

one day to rest,

you can remember

I'm not a slave

anymore.

God,

and I'm not a slave

because God

stepped in

and set me free.

And so,

it's a celebration

of freedom.

That's what the Sabbath

was meant to be.

Really.

And so,

the command is there

because God

was saying to the people,

don't act like

you're still a slave

because you're not

slaves anymore.

Don't act like

you're still in bondage.

And don't become

a harsh master

to other people.

If you're a boss

or an employer,

don't make your employees

keep,

don't drive them

into the ground.

Don't just make them

work and work and work

and never give them

a break

on a weekly basis.

So,

the Sabbath was

a time to step back

and remember.

You know,

and really,

this applies to all of us,

not just to the people

in the Old Testament.

When we rest,

we can remember

God created,

God created each one of us.

God created the world

all by himself.

Right?

You had no part,

I had no part

in my parents

choosing to conceive me.

I played absolutely

no role in that.

Right?

I had no part

in God choosing

to create the world

and everything

that I enjoy

from a day-to-day basis.

And you know what?

In the Bible,

it also says

that when God

sent Jesus,

when God

sent Jesus Christ

to die on the cross

for our sins

and rise again,

you know what?

I had no part

in that either.

God did it

all by himself

without me doing

any work.

He did all

that was necessary

for our salvation.

And so the Sabbath

is a time to remember

God created me

all by himself

and God saved me

all by himself

for his own glory.

So,

and third,

it was a sign

of God's promise

to one day

bring his people

into an everlasting rest.

So when the prophets

spoke about

the kingdom of God

or the Messiah

or the age to come,

sometimes they would

talk about it

in terms of

an eternal Sabbath.

A time of rest

and of peace

and flourishing

and growth.

So that was

the spiritual significance

of the Sabbath

in the Bible.

But,

in Jesus' time,

it had become

something more.

It was a topic

of technical debate

among the religious leaders.

So we have actually

a lot of documents

from this time

that go through

what can you do

on the Sabbath

and what can't you do

on the Sabbath.

Because the question

people were asking was,

well, it says

don't do any work.

So what qualifies

as work

and what's not?

You know,

what about

taking a run

for five miles?

What about

taking a run

for ten miles?

Well, most of us

aren't quite up

to ten miles,

but what about

taking a run

for one mile?

What about

taking a long walk?

You know,

does that qualify

as work?

They had all these

kinds of discussions.

And they said,

what about traveling?

So their answer was,

you can walk

up to

1,999 steps

on the Sabbath.

But if you walk

2,000,

too much walking,

that's work.

What if a building

falls down?

Well, the answer is,

you can remove

enough of the rubble

to see if anybody's

still alive,

but you have to wait

to bury the dead bodies

until the next day.

Seriously.

They discussed

these things,

and even before

these situations

happened,

they had all

these discussions.

What if somebody

is sick?

You know,

can a doctor work?

They said,

well,

if it's life-threatening,

you can take care of them.

If you just have a cold,

then no,

you can't go to the store

and get some Tylenol.

Doesn't cut it.

You've got to wait

until Sabbath is over.

Now,

the Pharisees

spent a lot of time

discussing these questions,

and they were

the most powerful group

in society at that time,

so they actually

were able to enforce

their standards

on pretty much

everyone else.

And even today,

within the Orthodox

Jewish community,

many of these standards,

many of these

technical details

are still followed

through today.

And so,

back then,

the Pharisees

sort of decided

these are the rules,

and pretty much

everybody else

had to follow that.

Now, of course,

there are some people

who didn't really like that.

Right?

In any society

that's dominated

by conservative

religious people,

there are always

some other people

who either quietly

or publicly

distance themselves

and say,

I don't want that.

And those would have

been the Herodians.

And so,

they got into politics

and just focused

on politics,

try to distance

themselves from religion.

Anyway,

so you have these

two groups,

right?

You have the Pharisees

who are sort of

obsessed with

technical details

of religion,

and then the Herodians

who don't really

believe in religion

at all.

And now,

enter Jesus.

Jesus doesn't fit

either of these

categories.

Okay?

Now you think,

so what did Jesus

do?

You might just think,

well,

Jesus was trying

to sort of push

the boundaries

a little bit.

That he was,

you know,

a progressive

and a conservative

society.

He was sort of

more on the

Herodian side.

Right?

Just trying to say,

just relax.

You know,

it's not that

important anyway.

Just let everybody

do what they want

to do.

But it's actually,

but it's interesting

that there's,

there's actually

something more

going on than that.

Right?

And if you look

in verse 24,

the Pharisees say,

look,

your people

are breaking

the law

of the Sabbath.

They're doing

what's unlawful.

But Jesus doesn't say,

well,

actually,

what they're doing

doesn't really qualify

as harvesting grain,

so it really doesn't

qualify as work,

so you really shouldn't

count it as work,

because technically,

it doesn't count.

He doesn't get into

a technical debate.

What he says is,

he gives an

unusual answer.

So he refers to

an incident in

King David's life

from 1 Samuel 21.

David's men were

hungry and

didn't have

anywhere else

to get food.

So he went to,

he did something

that was technically

illegal against

the law in order

to provide for

his men.

Now you think,

well,

why would Jesus

refer back to that?

Well,

he's basically saying,

well,

if David can do

that,

so can I.

But then step back,

think about it.

That's sort of like

saying,

if President Obama

can break the law

to, you know,

travel to an

important meeting,

if he can break

the speed limit

on the highway

in the car that

he's being driven in,

then so can I.

Of course not.

Or the New Haven

police.

Sort of like saying,

well,

if the police

can turn on

their sirens

and go through

red lights,

I can too.

No,

you can't.

Because you don't

have that authority.

The only way

what Jesus says

makes sense

is if he's claiming

to have more

authority than

King David.

He says King David

could do this.

David could override

the law

in this situation.

So can I.

Because I have

even more authority

than David.

And then in verse 28

he says the Son of Man,

referring to himself,

is the Lord

even of the Sabbath.

Now no Jewish teacher

back then or today

would ever say

that.

Because God

made the Sabbath.

In the Old Testament

it says God set apart

the seventh day.

It wasn't a human

invention.

God says keep

my Sabbaths.

They're mine.

The Lord's.

And so when Jesus

says I'm the Lord

of the Sabbath,

what in the world

is he saying?

He's saying I'm God.

You see why people,

now do you start

to see

why people

got mad at him?

Because he wasn't

just saying hey

you should just relax

a little bit

and change the,

make the rules

a little bit more lenient.

He was saying

I'm in charge

of this thing.

I made this thing

in the first place.

I've come to do

and be exactly

what it was meant

for.

And he forces

the issue.

Right in the next

section he calls

out this guy

and says hey

Tommy come on

up here.

You don't have

to come up here.

Okay but literally

it says stand

in the middle.

It's translated

come here but he

means he's saying

stand up in the

middle of the

synagogue.

And he challenges

everyone.

He's like what's

right here?

And then he goes

and heals the man.

You know if Jesus

just wanted to heal

the man he could

have done so

privately.

Or the next day

right?

The man had the

withered hand

for a long time.

One more day

wouldn't have been

a big deal.

Right?

Jesus is provoking

the leaders

because he claims

authority over the

Sabbath.

We've seen this

theme.

Right?

If you've been

coming in the

evening we've been

looking at Jesus

authority.

Jesus authority

over sickness.

Jesus authority

over evil spirits.

Jesus authority

in cleansing

the unclean.

In forgiving sins.

And in interpreting

the law.

And that's what

threatened both

the Pharisees

and the Herodians.

Because the

Pharisees said

we're in charge

of religion.

We want to be

the religious

authorities.

And Jesus says

I'm an authority

there.

And the Herodians

say well we don't

really care about

religion.

We want to be

the political

authorities.

And Jesus says

I'm the authority

over everything.

Without any

exceptions.

And so both of

them were threatened

by that.

But do you see

Jesus isn't just

saying I'm in

charge of this.

What Jesus does

is exactly what

the Sabbath was

meant to do.

The whole point

of having a day

of rest is to

refresh people

who are tired

and to give

restoration to

people who are

broken.

And to care

for people.

that's what

Jesus does

here.

Right?

He heals

the man who

has the

withered hand.

Isn't that a

picture of what

the Sabbath was

meant to do?

To take all the

withered dried up

parts of our

life and bring

them before God

and give them

life again.

And the way he

does it he just

says a word.

He says stretch

out your hand.

He doesn't touch

the guy.

He doesn't actually

do any work.

He just says a

word.

It's exactly

like what God

did in creation.

God speaks a

word and it

happens.

And something

beautiful comes

to light.

So the question

is how do we

respond to Jesus?

It's not a

question isn't how

do you interpret

the technical

details of the

Sabbath or other

religious observances.

The question is how

do we respond to

Jesus who claims to

be the end all

be all of them

all.

So let me

challenge you.

You can't stay

merely neutral

about Jesus.

Now maybe you're

here for the first

time.

Maybe you're just

starting to explore

Christianity.

I encourage you to

come back and keep

learning.

Ask questions.

But you know

eventually you must

decide one way or

the other about

Jesus.

He's either the

Lord of everything

as he claims to be.

Otherwise he's lying

or crazy and not

trustworthy.

If Jesus was just

simply a wise man and

nothing else he would

never have said I'm

the Lord of the

Sabbath.

Now finally for

those of us who do

follow Jesus let me

conclude with two

applications.

Two things we can

take away and we can

talk more about these

in the Q&A.

So first Jesus says in

verse 27 the Sabbath

was made for man.

In other words made

for people.

And you know the

Sabbath is in the law

but was also in

instituted in creation.

It's a good gift from

God to all people.

Now today we sort of

live in the opposite

kind of culture that

they lived in back

then.

Back then the culture

was dominated by the

Pharisees.

These conservative

religious people who

enforced lots and

lots of rules on

everybody else.

Today we've sort of

swung the other way.

Right?

Our culture is very

much more secular.

Much more pragmatic.

And we have fewer

and fewer boundaries

in place in our

culture that would

promote any kind of

Sabbath keeping.

Right?

Stores are open today

every day of the week.

You can go online

anytime you want.

Et cetera.

So the question is

are we pursuing and

receiving God's gift

of the Sabbath?

You know do you think

do you think this?

Do you think you know

maybe I don't really

understand what that

would be like to

actually try to

somehow take a day

or some regular

time every week

for rest?

But you know I

really want to

practice the Sabbath

somehow because

God's given it to me

for my good.

I really want to

take one day in

seven if possible

to do no work.

And to remember

God created me

all by himself.

and God sent

Jesus and Jesus

saved me all by

himself and one day

he's going to come

back and he's going

to finish the work

he's done.

I don't have to add

anything to it.

Or do you just

think oh no

I'm serving the

Sabbath.

That sounds

burdensome and

restrictive and

isn't there some

reason why since

we're Christians we

don't have to obey

that rule?

But see if you're

thinking that way

then you've missed

the point.

The Sabbath is meant

to be a good gift

for us.

Now I know it's

complicated.

I know that some

of you are in

situations where

you're required or

expected to work

seven days a week

and you have no

say in the matter.

I understand that.

We can talk about

that.

In biblical terms

that would be called

oppression actually.

And you know most

people in the world

are oppressed in

one way or other

but you shouldn't

choose to be

oppressed when you

don't have to be.

So let me challenge

you with that.

I'll leave it there.

We can talk more

about that.

Second, so receive

the Sabbath as a

gift.

But second, receive

the spiritual meaning

of the Sabbath that

Jesus has come to

fulfill.

And Jesus made it

and he embodies it.

He came to bring

everything that the

Sabbath was meant as

a symbol to point

forward to.

He came to bring us

rest from our

strivings to prove

ourselves before God

and before other

people.

When he died on the

cross he said,

it's done.

It's finished.

It's complete.

You know, maybe you

feel like the man in

the synagogue with a

withered hand.

That there's some part

of your life,

whether it's physically

or emotionally or

spiritually,

that's just been

withered and dried up.

And no matter how

hard you try,

you can't bring it to

life again.

And Jesus invites you

to stretch out your

hand to him.

And ask him to come

and restore and bring

life to that part of

you.

He's come to refresh

and restore and heal.

That's why Jesus has

come.

That's why he did

these things on the

Sabbath.

To show us that he's

all that the Sabbath

was ever meant to be.

So let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we pray

that you would

help us to come to you

and rest

tonight.

And we pray that you

would be here by your

Holy Spirit,

that as that man in

the synagogue,

experienced your

restoring power,

simply as you spoke

a word to him.

Lord, that your word

would speak to us.

Lord, that we might

be restored and

refreshed and

encouraged and

prepared for the work

that you do call us

to do.

But Lord, that we

might remember

tonight.

Lord, that we

are saved by grace

and not because of

anything that we've

done.

Lord, that you've

made us

and you've

redeemed us

and you're

completely sufficient

to make us

whole.

So Lord, help us to

rest in you tonight

and every week.

In Jesus' name,

amen.

Amen.

A couple

guidelines.

Raise your hand if

you have a question.

State your question

briefly and

clearly.

I'll try to repeat

it so everybody

can hear.

If your question

is maybe on a

different topic,

I might say that

it would be better

to talk about it

afterwards.

I'd be happy to do

that.

But we'll try to

keep to questions

that are mostly

focused on the

passage here.

So yeah, we've

got about eight

or ten minutes

and then we'll

end.

So any

questions?

Elizabeth?

Okay, Sabbath,

yes.

So literally it

just means the

seventh day

or the day of

rest.

Which day is it?

So in the Old

Testament, it was

from Friday night

to Saturday night.

That's the Jewish

Sabbath.

In the New

Testament, so in

the New Testament

doesn't talk about

a one particular

day as the

Sabbath.

So it talks about

Sunday as the

Lord's Day when

Christians meet

together because we

celebrate Jesus'

resurrection.

And for much of

Christian history,

many Christians have

tried to observe

something like a

day of rest,

rest on Sundays

because that's

when Jesus rose

from the dead

and so that's

why we do

that.

But it's not

in some cultures,

so Christians who

live in the Middle

East or in

Muslim countries

often have

Fridays off and

they often meet

for church on

Fridays, which is

when the Muslims

meet for their

prayer service.

But that's the

time when they

can most conveniently

meet together

because most of

them are required

to work on Sunday

and wouldn't be

able to get

around that.

So I don't

think it's a

command in the

New Testament

that we must

meet on Sunday

and not on any

other day of the

week.

But I think it

is appropriate

when we can,

when it's possible

to meet on Sundays

because Jesus rose

from the dead on

that day and

because that's

such a defining

event for

Christians.

it's a

v gruddle.

Yes.

It's a particular day when God gives you us.

You choose your Wednesdays and your other day.

Yeah.

So for me as a pastor, I have to work every Sunday.

And so I take Mondays as my Sabbath.

I'm able to do that.

I try to take that as my day of rest.

Again, you know, this, it's not always easy to do.

So in college, sometimes I would try to take from Saturday night to Sunday evening and then sort of do the sunset to sunset idea.

Again, I don't think we have to focus on the technical details.

I think part of what Jesus is saying is not so much about the technical details.

It's about the meaning.

The spiritual meaning is more important.

But I think taking some time, you know, if you have to work on Sunday, I'd encourage you, you know, is there another day of the week that you can take?

Or can you take, you know, part of Sunday and part of the next day, part of Saturday and Sunday morning or whatever?

Again, I think the day that you take is much less important.

I think setting apart some time every week for that rest and to worship God is the most crucial thing.

And I think that might look different at different stages of life.

So my wife and I have a three-year-old and a one-year-old.

Okay, so tomorrow is a holiday.

So our three-year-old does not have his preschool.

So I'm supposed to be taking a day of rest.

But my wife hasn't been feeling well.

I don't know how restful tomorrow will feel.

Like, that's just life.

You know, life intervenes.

But I'm going to, you know, trust the Lord and receive what he gives me.

And so I think that's, it'll look different at different times of life.

Yes?

Does it mean that God rested?

Does it mean that God rested?

Yes.

Yes.

So I think it's the idea of God enjoying his creation, taking delight in what he had made.

Right?

In the days of the creation story, right?

He's creating things during this six-day pattern.

And then the seventh day he rested.

And I think, actually, that seventh day, it wasn't just that God rested on the seventh day and then started creating all over again the next day.

That seventh day actually seems to be a much longer day.

It's not a 24-hour day.

I'm not sure the other days are either.

But the seventh, when it says God rested on the seventh day, it means he had completed his work of creation.

And it says that he invites us to enter into his rest.

So actually in Hebrews, which we'll be looking at in a couple weeks in the morning service, it talks about entering into the Sabbath rest that God has prepared for us as his people to share with him.

So, and one other interesting comparison.

So there were some other stories about the gods creating the world back in the day when Moses lived.

And some of them said the gods created people so that people could be slave labor for them while they got to rest.

So basically, in these other pagan religions, the idea was that the gods make us to do their work for them so they can rest.

And the idea in the Bible is that God has everything he needs all by himself.

So he doesn't need us to do his work for him.

He can finish his work all by himself.

And he does.

And then he invites us actually to share in that rest with him.

So he's perfectly sufficient in himself.

And he generously offers us to receive from his sufficiency.

So I think that's an amazing thing.

It's a beautiful thing.

So it sounds like what you're saying is it's been the Sabbath day ever since creation?

The Sabbath you mean?

Well, in a second you said, so on the seventh day God rested.

And that rest has never ended.

So would you say it's still?

Yeah, is it still the seventh day?

So I think it's maybe symbolically used in the Bible.

So in some sense, in one sense I would say yes.

It's been the seventh day ever since creation.

The only thing I would say there is that on the first day of the week, Jesus rose from the dead.

And it talks about Jesus' resurrection as his work of new creation.

So in one sense, yeah, God finished creating the world a long time ago.

And it's continued to, you know, he continues to sustain it and develop it.

And so he finished it back then.

But then the world, right, what happened?

Well, we turned away from God and fell into sin.

And the world became a mess.

And so Jesus came to do a work of new creation.

And in his resurrection, it was the first day of God's new creation.

And so, but it also talks about us still entering into God's rest.

So it's a little bit of a mixed metaphor, I think.

We're both part of God's new creation work and we're invited to enter into his Sabbath rest.

I think we got both of those at once.

All right, last question.

Chris.

Does the phrase son of man connect the two stories?

Does the phrase son of man connect the two stories?

Yeah, so Jesus refers to himself as the son of man in verse 28.

And let's see, I don't think he refers to himself in the chapter 3 part.

But I think that's the central claim that Jesus is making here, that he's the Lord of the Sabbath.

And that both of these stories and what Jesus does reflects that.

In healing the man and restoring him.

And also defending his disciples, caring for his disciples when they were hungry and in need.

You know, that's what Jesus does for us.

Let me just end with this thought.

Because it really struck me this week.

You know, Jesus' disciples were the ones who were picking some grain and snacking on it.

But Jesus stands up for them.

He defends them.

And he defends us when we're wrongly accused by others.

And so if other people have accused you and you were not at all at fault, Jesus is your defender.

If you trust in him.

And he hears every word that they have said.

And he sees everything that you did and that they did.

And he knows the truth.

And one day, the truth will come to light.

And so don't be afraid.

And don't get really mad and try to throw it back in their face when they do that to you.

But trust that you have a defender.

Who's going to stick up for you.

And he has stuck up for you and he will in the future.

All right.

Let me end with a few announcements.

Look at your bulletin.

There's a lot of...

You got an extra large bulletin this week.

Because there's lots of exciting stuff coming up.

I'm just going to run through stuff real quick.

If you're a woman, there is a fall dessert.

Elizabeth is hosting it.

Elizabeth is right back there.

If you can raise your hand.

If you have questions or want to meet her or need a ride, you can talk to her or contact Emily.

Who's also one of the other contacts for that.

It's next Tuesday.

Not this week, but following Tuesday.

If you...

From here today.

We're going to hear you from the other family.

You can do any further along.

If you're going to have a room with the USA, I need a few questions for those.

We've got some new ideas.

We go to theão Bus.

We're almost eating a bit later.

We're going to be on the other side.