Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm?
Tue, 31 January, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
1 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. 2 And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” 4 And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
I’ll be the first to admit that I struggle with what is proper for Sabbath observance. The command to set aside one day in seven for the worship of God is in the ten commandments. It is clearly moral law, and so I can’t just throw it out. There would have to be an explicit New Testament command overriding the fourth commandment to convince me that we aren’t still obligated to keep the Sabbath. I find no such override in the New Testament, and so I’m left to the conclusion that we must observe the Sabbath (although on the Christian Sabbath of the Lord’s Day).
But what we do see in the New Testament are passages like this: The Pharisees are the legalists of the day. They have their rules and regulations, and they are watching eagerly to see if Jesus will violate their understanding of the Sabbath. They see the Sabbath in negative terms and seek to pounce on anyone who does anything outside of what they set as the bounds of what is proper for the Sabbath.
Jesus knows what the Pharisees are up to, and He welcomes the opportunity to confront them. He even challenges them by asking “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” In other words, Jesus is making it clear that He is going to heal this man on the Sabbath day. The man has a withered hand, an ailment that clearly isn’t life threatening. He could wait until the morrow to heal the man. Or Jesus could quietly heal the man in a private setting. But Jesus heals the man in front of the Pharisees on the Sabbath, purposefully to challenge their understanding of the Sabbath.
What do we learn from this?
It is because of things like this in the New Testament that I am afraid of holding a legalistic attitude toward the Sabbath. It certainly is easier to approach Sabbath observance on the Christian Sabbath of the Lord’s day with a checklist of things that we can’t do. But to think of it in purely negative terms is to approach the Sabbath in the same way the legalistic Pharisees did. It is to see the Sabbath as a joyless day of seeking to confront others and condemn them for their sin. It is a day that is characterized by what we don’t do rather than by what we do.
I could easily be a Pharisee. It’s in my blood to make checklists, and to follow rules for conduct. I can make all the rules and condemn others for not keeping them. And I can easily turn the Sabbath into a joyless day characterized by what we don’t do. That would be easy for me. What is harder is to understand what Jesus teaches here.
Jesus tells us that when on the Sabbath we pass up the opportunity to do good, we are doing harm. Jesus chose to heal the man on the Sabbath (a good deed) rather than to do nothing for the man (an evil deed).
I still don’t understand what the right balance is in observing the Sabbath. I know I lean toward being a legalist, and I’m afraid I would have been one of the crowd of people who were scandalized by what Jesus did that day. But I am greatly challenged by this passage to see how my Sabbath observance can be a positive good to others rather than a harm to them. I wish it were as easy as making a checklist. I still don’t know what is the right way to do everything on a Sunday. But I do know that my desire is to be more like Jesus than like the Pharisees.
Where is Christ in this passage?
Jesus’ act of healing the man with the withered hand leads the Pharisees to join with their natural enemies, the Roman sympathizing Herodians, for the purpose of destroying Jesus. This early in the book of Mark we see the plans are laid for killing Jesus as his enemies on the left and right are joining forces against Him.
Their hatred of Jesus will continue to build until they finally are successful in their plans and have the Romans crucify Jesus. But God uses their act of sin and turns it into good, as Jesus pays the price for the sins of all His people on the cross. It is there that He wins salvation for all who come to Him in faith. It is for this purpose that Jesus came.
Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm?
Tue, 31 January, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
1 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. 2 And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” 4 And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
I’ll be the first to admit that I struggle with what is proper for Sabbath observance. The command to set aside one day in seven for the worship of God is in the ten commandments. It is clearly moral law, and so I can’t just throw it out. There would have to be an explicit New Testament command overriding the fourth commandment to convince me that we aren’t still obligated to keep the Sabbath. I find no such override in the New Testament, and so I’m left to the conclusion that we must observe the Sabbath (although on the Christian Sabbath of the Lord’s Day).
But what we do see in the New Testament are passages like this: The Pharisees are the legalists of the day. They have their rules and regulations, and they are watching eagerly to see if Jesus will violate their understanding of the Sabbath. They see the Sabbath in negative terms and seek to pounce on anyone who does anything outside of what they set as the bounds of what is proper for the Sabbath.
Jesus knows what the Pharisees are up to, and He welcomes the opportunity to confront them. He even challenges them by asking “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” In other words, Jesus is making it clear that He is going to heal this man on the Sabbath day. The man has a withered hand, an ailment that clearly isn’t life threatening. He could wait until the morrow to heal the man. Or Jesus could quietly heal the man in a private setting. But Jesus heals the man in front of the Pharisees on the Sabbath, purposefully to challenge their understanding of the Sabbath.
What do we learn from this?
It is because of things like this in the New Testament that I am afraid of holding a legalistic attitude toward the Sabbath. It certainly is easier to approach Sabbath observance on the Christian Sabbath of the Lord’s day with a checklist of things that we can’t do. But to think of it in purely negative terms is to approach the Sabbath in the same way the legalistic Pharisees did. It is to see the Sabbath as a joyless day of seeking to confront others and condemn them for their sin. It is a day that is characterized by what we don’t do rather than by what we do.
I could easily be a Pharisee. It’s in my blood to make checklists, and to follow rules for conduct. I can make all the rules and condemn others for not keeping them. And I can easily turn the Sabbath into a joyless day characterized by what we don’t do. That would be easy for me. What is harder is to understand what Jesus teaches here.
Jesus tells us that when on the Sabbath we pass up the opportunity to do good, we are doing harm. Jesus chose to heal the man on the Sabbath (a good deed) rather than to do nothing for the man (an evil deed).
I still don’t understand what the right balance is in observing the Sabbath. I know I lean toward being a legalist, and I’m afraid I would have been one of the crowd of people who were scandalized by what Jesus did that day. But I am greatly challenged by this passage to see how my Sabbath observance can be a positive good to others rather than a harm to them. I wish it were as easy as making a checklist. I still don’t know what is the right way to do everything on a Sunday. But I do know that my desire is to be more like Jesus than like the Pharisees.
Where is Christ in this passage?
Jesus’ act of healing the man with the withered hand leads the Pharisees to join with their natural enemies, the Roman sympathizing Herodians, for the purpose of destroying Jesus. This early in the book of Mark we see the plans are laid for killing Jesus as his enemies on the left and right are joining forces against Him.
Their hatred of Jesus will continue to build until they finally are successful in their plans and have the Romans crucify Jesus. But God uses their act of sin and turns it into good, as Jesus pays the price for the sins of all His people on the cross. It is there that He wins salvation for all who come to Him in faith. It is for this purpose that Jesus came.
