Second Sunday after Pentecost
(Proper 4B)
June 2, 2024
Text:
Mark 2:23-3:6
The Lord Jesus Christ is our
Sabbath. Sabbath, rest, to cease from
work. In the Old Testament, the Sabbath
was a day, the seventh day, Saturday. As
God rested on the Seventh Day of Creation Week from all the work that He had
done, not because He was tired, but to set the pattern of work and rest for His
people, so now Israel was to rest on the Sabbath Day. Thus the Third Commandment as we have it in
Exodus: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy… For in six days the LORD
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the
seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy”
(Ex. 20:8, 11; ESV). In our Old
Testament reading from Deuteronomy, the Commandment is framed by another
rationale: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt,
and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an
outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath
day” (Deut. 5:15). So, first of all,
you are to have some empathy with those who work for you, your servants (here,
we may say, employees, or students, or family members), and even your beasts of
burden, because you know what it’s like to be a slave and have no rest. Give them a break. But second, and even more profound, in the
resting of the Sabbath, you are confessing that you are no longer a
slave, thanks be to God! You are free. The LORD has freed you. Therefore, you can rest from
work. And so, far from being a burden,
a restriction, a binding of freedom, the LORD gives the Sabbath to
free you from burdens. Do you see
where the Pharisees got it all wrong? Do
you see where you get it all wrong, this whole idea of Sabbath?
But now, in the New Testament,
Sabbath is no longer bound to a day of the week. Sabbath is not a day, but a Man. THE Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the
culmination and fulfillment of the Sabbath.
The Sabbath was, all along, a type, pointing us to Him. He is our rest. Submitting Himself to the taskmaster of the
Law in exchange for our freedom… A Slave
in our place… Suffering under whip and scourge… Having died for our sins on the
cross… Then, taking His Sabbath rest in the tomb on Holy Saturday, the Seventh
Day, having completed the work of New Creation… Inaugurating the eternal Eighth
Day by His resurrection on Easter Sunday… our rest is now every day, every
moment, in Him. Faith, that basks
in His presence, and clings to His Word.
He gives us rest from our endless quest to justify ourselves, to save
ourselves, to work our way into God’s good graces. No, all of that is at an end in Christ. He gives us rest from our preening and
positioning, posing and pretending that we are what we’re not… that is, good
people, who have it all together, and are always on the right side of every
issue. You know… the way we paint
ourselves on social media and when we tell our stories. Unlike everybody else, whom we know to fall
far short of our own glory. Although we
also know, in those rare moments of honest self-evaluation, that it’s all a
sham. We’re lying to ourselves. We’re lying to others. We’re lying to God. But all the lies come an end in Christ. He puts them all to rest. He has taken them all away in His suffering
and death. And now, He alone is our
righteousness. And so, Sabbath. Rest.
Shalom. Peace. Healing.
Wholeness. Christ.
The Sabbath frees you from all
burdens. Now, insofar as Old Adam still
hangs around your neck and must be killed (because otherwise he’ll try to
convince you the Sabbath is a great burden), you still need the Commandment. You still need to hear this as Law: “Remember
the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,”[1] or, “You shall sanctify
the Holy Day.” But if it is not a day
for us in the New Testament, but a Man, then how do we keep it
holy? Dr. Luther helps us out in the Small
Catechism, doesn’t he? “We should
fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it
sacred and gladly hear and learn it.”
That is, go to Church, listen to the sermon, receive the Sacrament, as
often as possible. Read the Bible. Study it, at home, and with your fellow
Christians here in Bible class. Say your
prayers. Teach your children the
faith. Raise them to be faithful
Christians. You can and should hear that
as Law insofar as you resist it and chafe at it. Repent of that. This is a holy Commandment. Christians are to do these
things.
But then, stop a minute and really
listen to what God is saying to you in this Commandment. “You shall receive My free gifts in
Christ, My Son. You shall receive
the forgiveness of all your sins, redemption, eternal life, and salvation. His righteousness for your own. My love.
My Spirit. My unfailing
providence. Again, My Sabbath rest. My Shalom, which is to say, peace, healing,
wholeness. Freedom. No longer a slave.” … Dear God, why do You have to burden us with
all that?! Do you see how ridiculous we
are? It’s like saying to your kids, “You
must open your Christmas presents and eat your Christmas cookies!” “Ah, gee, do we have to?”
In our Holy Gospel, we see what the
Sabbath means for disciples of Jesus Christ.
Grain for the hungry. The Bread
of the Presence (the Showbread in the Holy Place, indicating God’s presence
with His people in the Holy of Holies).
The Bread of Life, the bodily presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Far from violating the Sabbath, the disciples
are reveling in its fulness. There is
the grain in the field, and there is Jesus with them. The healing of the man with the withered
hand. This is what the Sabbath is all
about. Releasing him from his
burden. The doing of good, and not evil. Healing and wholeness in Christ, our
Shalom. Is it lawful to heal on the
Sabbath? What else is the Sabbath for,
if not for that? Filling what is
lacking. Mending what is broken. Relieving.
Restoring. Raising to new
life.
That is why we are here. Now, it doesn’t have to be Sunday. Sunday is not the new Sabbath. Jesus is our Sabbath. But we do need a day to literally rest
from our labors, and we do need a day when we all know to come together and
have opportunity to hear God’s Word and receive His gifts, bask in the Presence
of Christ, eating His Bread (the Bread that is Him!), and receiving His
healing. Sunday is a good day for that,
because Sunday is the day Jesus rose from the dead, and now every Sunday is a
little Easter Feast for us. Let not
hardness of heart prevent you from participating in that. Let it not hinder you from receiving
that. Let it not resent Jesus for
pouring His gifts out upon your neighbor.
And don’t you dare resent your neighbor.
That hardness of heart… be warned… makes Jesus angry. That is what it says in our text (v. 5). And it grieves Him. He grieves when you despise what He
gives you. (As your pastor, I grieve,
too.) And that kind of hardness of
heart, understand, eventually seeks to destroy Him. But you can’t destroy Him. Not finally.
He was destroyed on the cross, but He is now risen, never to be
destroyed again, therefore He will destroy all who reject Him in the End. Be warned.
You either have Jesus as your Sabbath, or you will have no Sabbath for
the rest of eternity.
So… just repent. That’s always the answer. Repent and believe the Good News. Your sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake. And you’re completely restored. Just believe it and receive it. It’s really that simple. Come and hear it anytime you want in Holy
Absolution. And then… rest in it. Rest in Him, your Lord Jesus
Christ. Here He is, for you. To feed you, and release you. That is what He does in His Word and
Sacrament. This is the balm for all your
care and sadness (LSB 906:1). This is
your healing for body and soul.
Everything you are seeking, everything you need… the elusive rest and
peace for which you are yearning… It is all here for you in Christ. He is your Sabbath. He is your Shalom. “Come to me,” He says, “all who
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you”… what?... “rest”
(Matt. 11:28). Rest. The Lord Jesus Christ is your Sabbath. And here He is, now, for you. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X,
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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