The Source of Sabbath (Sabbath, Part 3)

[This is a continuation of a series from the message I gave at the Creekside Women’s Retreat. To read the whole series, click here. Please also read my disclaimer in part 1!]

Luke 6:1-5 gives us a glimpse of what Jesus thinks about Sabbath:
“One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?" Jesus answered them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions." Then Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

Reaping - what Jesus was doing (technically) when He and His companions walked through the grainfields - was one of 39 forms of work forbidden by the religious regulations of the day, so Jesus took some flack. But notice that Jesus doesn’t say “Oh, that doesn’t apply to me!” or “That doesn’t matter anymore” or “How legalistic!”

Jesus says “[I am] Lord of the Sabbath”, in essence “I am what the Sabbath is all about.” And He tells us a story: when David and his companions were running for their lives, they came to the tabernacle, and they ate the showbread. This bread was a consecrated bread, prepared for the priests alone, and was an a part of worship.

It seems at first glance that David is making a mistake here, but nowhere in Scripture is he ever condemned for this. God never says that what David did was wrong.

So what is Jesus talking about, when He tells this story that seems unrelated to His current criticism? I think He’s challenging a notion. Think about what this implies: worship regulations can be set aside in a pinch.

There’s nowhere in the Bible that we see moral law set aside in a pinch, and yet we’ve just seen it twice in three verses with worship regulations - Jesus’ picks grain on the sabbath, and David eats holy, consecrated bread.

Why would it be that these worship regulations can be set aside then? Because they’re temporary, and are pointing toward something that will one day come along and make them obsolete. It seems as though He’s saying “Your regulations point to me. I am the source of Sabbath.”