Mark 2:23-28 - Jesus Ends the Legal Debate - June 13, 2021

If you pay attention to politics (which, by the way, I don’t recommend doing these days if you want to live a long and happy life), you know that when you boil it all down, all it is is a great big debate over laws. Which are fair, which should be enacted, which should be enforced. That’s what government does. But do you know what? Legal debates don’t only happen in capitol buildings – they happen right in our own heads, too. There’s a legal debate perpetually going on in our own hearts and minds. What is the law? Did I break it or keep it? Should I feel guilty? Why do I always feel guilty? How do I get rid of this guilt? I know the debate. You know the debate. Today, Jesus ends the debate.

The Pharisees thought they had Jesus nailed dead to rights under God’s 3rd commandment to remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (Exodus 20:8). You think big brother and cancel culture is bad today, picture this: Jesus and his disciples were simply walking through a grain field and some of the disciples (not Jesus) began grabbing handfuls of grain as they were walking through – and the Pharisees were on them like white on rice – accusing Jesus’ disciples of breaking the Law. Did they have a point? No, not according to God’s Word. This wasn’t stealing, this was permitted under God’s OT Law (Deuteronomy 23:25). Nor was this a violation of the third commandment – because God had not forbidden activities essential to human life – like, for example, eating – on the Sabbath Day (Deuteronomy 5:12-15). This “regulation” against grabbing a handful of grain for a snack was simply one of 39 types of “work” the rabbis had declared forbidden on the Sabbath day. [1] Jesus ends the debate by referring to a similar incident in the life of King David: “If you’re upset that my disciples are grabbing a snack as they’re walking through a field, why aren’t you equally – or even more – upset that David and men ate the Bread of Presence, which is not lawful for anyone to eat, except for the priests.” If God didn’t condemn David and his men for clearly breaking one of God’s commands, why would God condemn Jesus’ disciples for breaking a man-made regulation? In other words, Jesus is making the point that in both cases there was a higher law at work: the law of love and mercy. In Matthew’s parallel account, Jesus says that God desire[s] mercy, and not sacrifice (Matthew 12:7). The Pharisees come at Jesus with law – so Jesus hits them right between the eyes with a higher law: love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18).

Is that where this text hit you? Why would it? What do you care about Sabbath days or holy bread or grabbing a handful of grain – because as we heard in Paul’s letter to the Colossians, those rules don’t apply to us anymore (Colossians 2:13-17)? And yet, Jesus’ words should hit you right between the eyes. Why? Hear it again: have you never read what David did? The Greek makes it clear that Jesus was expecting a “yes” answer. Yes, the Pharisees had certainly read this account. Have you? Have you ever read 1 Samuel 21 for yourself? Have you ever read the Old Testament? (Roughly 70% of God’s words to us are contained in the Old Testament – doesn’t that fact alone make it worth our time?) Even if you have, do you remember it, did you digest it, do you understand it? The Law hits us this morning by showing us that even though God wants us to cherish and constantly be meditating on his Word, all too often we think that if we sit through a 60 minute service once a week we’ve spent enough time in the Bible.

That’s what the Law feels like when it hits you right between your eyes. It doesn’t leave any room for excuses or justifications or comparisons to other people. It’s just you and God’s holy law – and it’s not much of debate, is it? God wants us to meditate on his Word day and night and we can’t do it (Psalm 119:97). So we adjust it to something we can do. Maybe we commit to reading a daily devotion. Maybe we commit to listening to the Bible on our way to work. Maybe we even commit to reading the entire Old Testament. (Someone estimated that it takes around 52 hours to read the entire Old Testament. [2] That means that if you read the Bible just three hours a day you could read the entire Old Testament in less than 18 days.)

Now that’s doable, right? A few weeks without TV, we can do that, right? Sure. That’s what the Pharisees thought. They thought that by not picking a handful of grain on the Sabbath they were pleasing God. They knew they couldn’t keep the spirit of the 3rd commandment, so they adjusted it to something they could do – just as you and I can commit right here and now to reading through the entire Old Testament and know that we could probably be done before the 4th of July. So what’s the problem? Well, when do you know that you’re done – really done – reading God’s Word? When is it ok for you to stop? What if your eyes begin to glaze over as you’re reading the long lists of names? What if you begin to nod off? What if you read for 10 minutes and when you’re done you can’t remember what you read about? Or what if your mind starts to wander away from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to the problems of yesterday, today and tomorrow? Does it still count then?

The point being: you can’t fulfill the law by customizing it to your own standards; by making it “doable.” Allow me to illustrate using the recently lifted mask mandate. The mandate said that you had to wear a mask. But then the experts and media layered all sorts of additional regulations on the mandate. It couldn’t just be a single layer – it had to be double-layered. Then it was two or three masks – with an N-95 being the gold standard. But that’s not all. You better not touch it, adjust it, scratch your nose or take a sip of water – because then you’ve contaminated it. Everyone who thinks that the mask mandate was easy, simple, wonderful and virtuous – didn’t really understand how strictly you had to follow the rules in order for it to be at all effective. So what did everyone do? They lowered the bar to a standard they could do. “I’ll wear the mask, but keep it under my nose.” “I’ll wear a breathable mask.” “I’ll wear my mask except when I need to speak or eat or breath.” We all did it. Don’t deny it. Why did we do it? Because it’s doable. The mandate to wear a mask of a material and in a manner which provides 100% protection for you against others and for others against you was impossible. And what do you do with an impossible-to-keep Law? You lower the standard to something you can do.

Now, lowering the standards of a mask mandate is one thing – one thing that will certainly not affect where you spend your eternity. Lowering God’s holy Law is a different story. If you think you can keep the 3rd commandment and make the guilt you are feeling for not treasuring and gladly hearing and reading God’s Word go away by committing to reading it this month or over the next year or by having it playing in the background as you drive to work – then you’ve successfully become a Pharisee. That’s exactly what the Pharisees did. They took God’s 3rd commandment – which was not primarily intended to deal with what you do with your hands on the Sabbath, but rather the attitude of your heart – and added a whole bunch of their own rules and regulations that, in their mind, were more “doable.” Now, you’d think that adding laws would increase your guilt; but the reality is that when we create our own rules, we write them specifically to fit what we’re already doing. (For example, the official speed limit on the Beltline is 55 MPH. But what is the “unofficial” speed limit for you? 57? 59? 61? 65?). Does it work? No. Whether we add to or subtract from God’s Law, it stands rigid and absolute, unbending in any way; it’s still undoable.

So what’s the answer? The answer is to understand the main purpose of the Law – that God didn’t give it to us as a ladder we could climb into heaven but as a sharp double-edged sword that puts our hope of saving ourselves to death. Paul wrote: apart from the law, sin is dead. Once I was alive without the law. But when this commandment came, sin came to life, and I died. This commandment that was intended to result in life actually resulted in death for me. You see, sin, seizing the opportunity provided by this commandment, deceived me and put me to death through it (Romans 7:8-11). Don’t treat God’s Law like we all did the mask mandate: don’t twist it, pervert it, add to it or subtract from it. Rather, when you hear God’s Law, keep in mind the main purpose: no one will be declared righteous in his sight by works of the law, for through the law we become aware of sin (Romans 3:20). Hear the Law put you to death. That’s the first answer that puts the legal debate to rest.   

Don’t like that answer? Neither do I. Is there another one? What is the answer to the Law of a holy God which we are each obligated to obey and that none of us can keep? What is the answer to death? Resurrection! Paul confesses the truth in Ephesians 2: you were dead in your trespasses and sins…but God, because he is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in trespasses (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5). The answer to the impossible, undoable Law of God is God…specifically, God’s Son, Jesus Christ – the Lord even of the Sabbath. For comparison’s sake, if you find that you can’t wear the mask like you’re mandated to, what should you have done? I suppose you could have gone to Anthony Fauci or Janel Heinrich and told them – “I can’t do it!” – and pleaded for mercy. Now, I’m not sure that they would have had mercy, but here’s what happens when you come to Jesus, the Lord…of the Sabbath, and tell him you can’t do it: he says the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. This is first a chronological reality: God created Adam long before he handed down the 3rd commandment. This is second of all a theological truth: God didn’t establish the 3rd commandment or any other commandment for his own good, but for ours. Through Ezekiel God reveals the reason he gave the 3rd commandment: I…gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, so that they could know that I, the LORD, am the one who sanctifies them (Ezekiel 20:12). The OT Sabbath wasn’t something the people did for God; it was something God did for his people. It was a day for them to rest from their labors to remember God’s promise to provide for their bodily life. More importantly, it was a day for them to find true rest for their guilty consciences in the good news that God was going to send a Savior from sin.

Paul uses a different illustration in Colossians 2: these [the rules regarding food and drink and Sabbath days] are a shadow of the things that were coming, but the body belongs to Christ (Colossians 2:17). What’s a shadow? A shadow indicates what’s coming toward you. But what happens when that object comes into view? The shadow passes away – or, at least, you don’t pay attention to it anymore. The 3rd commandment was a shadow of Christ. It was specifically designed to expose the fact that they couldn’t keep the 3rd commandment well enough to satisfy his holy requirements; that they couldn’t find rest by tweaking or customizing the Law to fit their own lifestyles. There’s no rest there. Rest can only be found in Jesus. He could, he would, he did all that God commanded and demanded of you! He kept all of God’s commandments perfectly. He was never idolatrous, blasphemous, disrespectful, murderous, lustful, greedy, or covetous. And yet, because we have been, he was brutally, eternally and damnably punished on the cross to pay the price for us.

Only Jesus can end the legal debate going on in your own head and heart – to the Law that convicts and kills you. Jesus is the only answer because only under the arms he stretched out on the cross can we find protection from God’s holy judgment. Only in the water that was poured over your head at a font like this can you be reminded that you don’t live under the Law, you live under grace (Romans 6:14). Only in the Absolution can you find God’s verdict of acquittal to quiet your conscience. Only in the body and blood you receive at this altar can you find the assurance that the Lord of the Sabbath, the Lord of the Law, the Lord of all Laws has taken away your sins.

Too much of our lives is consumed in a great debate over laws and rules and regulations. Not just in politics but even in our own heads. Wouldn’t you just like to put the debate to rest? Jesus does. Take the law seriously, as you should, and it will kill you. That sounds terrible, but it’s actually good – because once you’re dead then the good news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection can bring you to life. Take some time regularly to rest from your labors and pick up your Bible – because there you will find true rest for your soul in Jesus. There can be no debate about that. Amen.  

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/39_Melachot

[2] www.euxton.com