Home -- English -- Luke -- 039 (Encounters with Strict Religious)
Previous Lesson -- Next Lesson
LUKE - Christ, the Savior of the World
A Bible Study Course on the Gospel of Christ according to Luke
PART 3 - JESUS' MINISTRY IN GALILEE (Luke 4:14 - 9:50)
5. Encounters with Strict Religious Leaders (Luke 5:17 - 6:11)
LUKE 6:1-11
1 Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first, that he was going through the grain fields. His disciples plucked the heads of grain, and ate, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?” 3 Jesus, answering them, said, “Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry, he, and those who were with him; 4 how he entered into God’s house, and took and ate the show bread, and gave also to those who were with him, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone?” 5 He said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” 6 It also happened on another Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and taught. There was a man there, and his right hand was withered. 7 The scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against him. 8 But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Rise up, and stand in the middle.” He arose and stood. 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you something: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?” 10 He looked around at them all, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did, and his hand was restored as sound as the other. 11 But they were filled with rage, and talked with one another about what they might do to Jesus.
One Sabbath, Jesus and his disciples walked through the golden fields of grain. The disciples became hungry, for their Master was not wealthy, but he used to ask his heavenly Father for the minimum necessary bread to support each day’s life, with all simplicity and humility. Some of the disciples plucked the heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate their delicious kernels. According to the law of the Old Testament, the poor and the needy were allowed to pick grains or fruits for immediate consumption. Therefore the Pharisees complained that the disciples were violating the Sabbath, and taking that was not lawful. They considered ears of corn work comparable to harvesting.
However, Christ explained the meaning of the law to those extremists, referring to David the anointed king, who entered into the holy tabernacle of meeting and along with his hungry companions ate the showbread that was consecrated to God and his priesthood, for satisfaction of their hunger was more important than observing rites. Laws are made to serve man, and man is not a servant of them. Thus Christ made a fundamental change in the meaning of the law, and revealed himself as the divine Lawmaker who explained the old principles in a new manner, and summed them up in the unique commandment of love. By this powerful work, Christ delivered us from formal keeping of the law into the thought and work of love, as Paul said many times. No man can keep the law of himself, but he that is righteous by the blood of Christ receives the power of the Holy Spirit who leads him to keep the commandments. In the New Testament, the sword of law is not hanging over your head to destroy you. It has become the motive of power and joyfulness for you.
It is regrettable that Sabbath Day Adventists still keep the Sabbath in the Jewish spirit. They keep their Sabbaths as a symbol of the day of God’s rest when he had completed his creation, without realizing that Christ died for our salvation, and made a new creation, showing his eternal life by his resurrection. In the New Testament, our Lord did not command us to keep any specified day, but he sanctified man himself, in order that all his days should be holy. Every day the Christian partakes of God’s rest in his conscience, for Christ’s life dwells in him, and consequently we have become justified freely by grace through faith, and not by keeping of the law.
Yet lawyers had no ears to hear the voice of the life of grace. They spied on Christ to condemn him, but the Lord exposed their blindness to them, saying, “Which is the most important: to keep the Sabbath without mercy, or to break the Sabbath for the sake of mercy?” Jesus Christ infuriated the Pharisees one after the other by his sharp insight, and abolished their twisted principles with his question, emphasizing the necessity of performing good deeds every day without exception, and avoiding evil deeds every day without exception. Thus he showed us that the Sabbath, in the New Testament, has no greater significance than any other day of the week, for love alone makes all days kept for God, as Paul said, “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men”. In this manner, the life of man is made completely for the service of God, praising his glorious salvation, and not only on a certain day of the week.
When Jesus healed, in this new spirit, the man with the withered hand, by speaking a word, in the midst of the Sabbath meeting in the synagogue, the lawyers became enraged much more against him, for they immediately realized, with their intelligence, that Christ did not only tear the tent of their judgments by his divine love, but also condemned them personally, at the same time, for they knew good, and restrained men from doing good by their laws.
There are churches and several religions witch seek to bring their followers to heaven through the keeping of laws. They in fact are bringing them into judgement. Keeping the law can never save us. Only Christ saves us. He puts his law into our hearts through his Holy Spirit, so that the sensibility of his love may guide us, and we may be holy at all times. Have you become free from the law, or are you still enslaved by it? Dos the law of Christ dwell in you, so that you walk in the fullness of his love with humility all the days of your life?
PRAYER: O Heavenly Father, we are filled with sins, impurity, blindness, and abominable fanaticism. Please forgive us our hard hearts, deliver us from our self-righteousness, and break our self-righteous spirit, so that we may glorify you with praise, love, and service to all men, at all times.
QUESTION 48: What is the meaning of the statement, “Christ is the Householder”, and why do Christians celebrate Sunday joyfully instead of the Sabbath?