@ToxicFemininitySucks
The pharisees
accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath numberous times, when he healed different people or ate from a field. The Sabbath was not a man made law. In the Old Testament a man was put to death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath.
Numbers 15
32And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. 33And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. 34And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. 35And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. 36And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses
You're right. The Sabbath was not a man made law and is not now and for all eternity ever be. And yes in the Old covenant people were punished for breaking the Sabbath law. That's why its important to understand what we can and cannot do on the Sabbath and why according to God, not man.
When God gave man the Sabbath at creation for rest, it was so His people could spend time with Him. It is supposed to be the highlight of the week and a blessing to all who keep it. I means what could be better than spending a whole day set aside for us by our creator to commune with Him without much interruption.
However the Jews had thousands of Sabbath rules that were man-made and not given to them by God. These rules were much stricter. They interpreted
"work" to include almost every physical activity. Even today, orthodox Jews consider turning on a light switch to be
"work." It was impossible for anyone to observe all those rules. Basically the Jews had perverted the Sabbath and what it was meant for. They made it seem like God was the one who gave them those rules that were so stifling. God came across as a tyrant who would punish people for any slight.
The reason the Jews had so many Sabbath rules was because breaking the Sabbath was one of the reasons they were punished by God and taken captive by Babylon where they spent 70 years in captivity. So they put so many rules in place so they do not disobey the Sabbath and be punished so severely again by God.
The gathering of sticks on the Sabbath is not comparable to healing someone on the Sabbath. The biblical Sabbath restrictions are about work for economic or personal gain. Jesus healing and doing good on the Sabbath was not work or for personal gain. But of course by the Pharisee's man made rules, Jesus was breaking the Sabbath.
What Jesus did is clarify to them that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The pharisees had been
misinterpreting the Law.
Mark 2
27And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: 28Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath
Yes He did. Jesus is the creator of this world and He would know more about the Sabbath than the Pharisees. However that does not mean He broke the Sabbath commandment.
When the Pharisees accused Jesus of healing the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath for example, in the book of Mark (as you know the story is written of the gospels of Matthew and Luke too with some variation), Jesus said to them,
"Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?" (
Mark 3:4). This means all
"good" acts including those of healing do not breach the Sabbath law and are therefore appropriate. The sabbath is a time for spiritual matters, such as Bible study, praying, preaching the gospel, visiting and healing the sick, etc.
In the gospel of Matthew there is an additional comment showing that the Pharisees were willing to rescue animals on Sabbath, implying that they too understood that saving life was more important than the prohibition against most physical activity on the day.
"What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days" (
Matthew 12:11-12). They had no answer for him but instead were angry with Him and plotted His death.
As you know the Pharisees always wanted to show publicly how righteous and holy they were but it was all superficial. Their hearts were corrupt and Jesus had told them as much. They didn't like the fact that Jesus knew they were hypocrites as He had told them.
None of the gospels imply Jesus broke any law otherwise they would contradict the rest of the Bible that tells us Jesus was sinless as I showed in the scripture I posted in my previous post.
The highest commandments are to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. When Jesus healed (even on the Sabbath) he did so out of love.
Absolutely and yes Jesus healed out of love. Everything Jesus did in this world was out of love including dying in our place for our sins even though He never sinned. But Jesus did not transgress God's law/His law. Not even out of love. And we are to do the same and follow His example.
"And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin" (
1 John 3:5).
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