The Purpose of the Sabbath (Mark 3:1- 6)

Right after Jesus declares that as the Son of man he is Lord of man’s Sabbath comes this lesson about legal rights versus grace. It is a story of legalism as evil as legalism can get. It is interesting that men are so quick to think that policies and laws will cure the ills of our human society. Yet the declaration of the writer to the Hebrews is much more on target to our real need when he says law is not the answer but “grace and truth” that has come through Jesus.

The Jewish people were worshipers of the law and Moses. The Hebrew writer honors Moses for he says law came by Moses but the real goal for Moses was to point to Jesus the bringer of truth and grace. If the hero of this world is a person who presses for legal rights then they do have the right prince.

The greatest legalist in this creation is Satan. He argued with Eve for her legal rights. He claimed legal rights on Job. He claimed them on Jesus. He claimed them on Peter. Jude says that he claimed them in an argument over the body of Moses. So living by your legal rights does not seem to put you in good company. In this story it the legal people who definitely set up a ‘good thing’ as a bad thing.

The legal beagles were looking for a “reason to accuse Jesus” and seeing how Jesus was Good incarnate there was only one way to trap him. They must trap him doing a good that went against their legal system. What better trap than the breaking of the Legal Sabbath. They have no concern for the man in our story. He is nothing to them but a pawn in a game so they can legally kill Jesus.

To Jesus doing good is the purpose of the Sabbath. So the greatest Good does good on the greatest day for good in this new kingdom of the Grace and Truth He is here to establish. Immediately the steel trap minds of the legalists are closed so tight that they are unable or unwilling to engage in a discussion with Jesus as to what the real purpose of a Sabbath.

Jesus even starts the conversation with their favorite concept “Is it lawful”. But law is law to them and it had long before Jesus appeared among them been divorced from “good or evil” or even “saving life and killing”. Look at their response. They were silent.

Here is a scene of Jesus that Mark allows the man Jesus to be shown to us not an evil man a righteous man and he looks at them in anger. But his anger is not ego of knowing he is right but grieved at the self-deception of their own hard hearts.

Here is something to note of the difference between Jesus and Your Enemy. Jesus is always after your heart but Satan is after your head. These men were secure in their heads as to their actions but their hearts were hard. The world is full of secured heads by Satan among these are atheists, agnostics, cultists and plain intellectuals. Paul the Apostle was right Satan loves knowledge that puffs up but not love that humbles down.

Then Jesus action proved His words, as the Lord of the Sabbath he told the man to stretch out his paralyzed hand. I don’t know if the man did so instantly in obedience to the voice of Jesus authority that it was a surprise or if he did it eagerly. Whatever the man’s thoughts or actions the point is that he was healed in an atmosphere of faith.

An atmosphere of faith; isn’t that something to ponder? The enemies of Jesus did not doubt for a minute that he could do this thing. If the paralytic was there as a part of the trap he also had no doubt that Jesus could and would.

So that leads me to ask if the enemies of Jesus had no doubts that Jesus could do this what does it say of us who are his followers when we doubt in the paralyzing situations of our lives the very one we say we believe?