Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath. With these words Jesus teaches us about the true purpose of worship- not to fulfill obligations for God by external actions and commitments of our hearts- but instead to receive Jesus and his salvation. Sabath was made for man, just as Jesus became incarnate and died on the cross for the sake of our salvation.
The Pharisees saw Jesus and the disciples walking through grainfields and they saw the disciples plucking grains of wheat. They think thy have caught Jesus and the disciples red handed doing what amounts to work on the Sabbath. Perhaps they hoped this could prove Jesus was a false prophet and not from God.
They have no compassion for why the disciples were plucking grains of wheat. In reality the disciples were not actually breaking the law in that they were gleaning, which is permitted in the law. The traditions of the Pharisees was always to add extra requirements beyond what the law states, so that people were less likely to break it. Jesus consistently condemns them for their pride in keeping man made rules and their judgement of those who do not follow their own standards.
In response Jesus points the Pharisees to King David, who was anointed King of Israel one thousand years before Jesus was anointed as the Messiah. He is challenging them as to whether they would condemn King David for breaking one of their rules. And he is teaching them something more about what the Sabbath means through this event in the Bible that they would know well about.
David is well know to have faced persecutions from those like King Saul, and not long after Jonathan warned David of danger from King Saul, David and his men find themselves in a position where they do not have food and they go to the priest at Nob. There is no bread on hand and David asks that the bred of presence be used for food for him and his men.
What was meant for only priests to eat in this house of God was given to David and his men. The priest presided over this house of God faithfully, and when the anointed of the Lord was in his presence, he fed him with the bread that was meant to be left before God.
David’s request had the effect of illustrating that God provides for his people who are in need and call to Him. God provides for His people and the needs of His anointed King are important. The ceremonial law to have bread on the altar was like the eternal light we have in our sanctuary area, a testament to the Lord’s abiding presence.
The bread of the presence is there so that people know the Lord is present. It was there in obedience to God’s commandments, but God does not need the bread, the house of God in Nob was made for man to worship and know God’s mercy, not for God’s benefit.
David and his men eating the bread of the presence was also a prophetic foreshadowing of Jesus and his disciples facing criticism from the pharisees for gleaning wheat and healing the sick on Sabbath days. Jesus now was the one who was putting man’s well being in body and soul, above man’s duty to maintain ceremonial laws. Not that Jesus downplayed or abandoned ceremonial laws. Instead Jesus taught the proper context of what the ceremonial laws were for, that they were part of the Sabbath that was made for man.
Since the Sabbath is made for man we can understand that worship is not only about honoring God, but also about our healing. This healing is a rest for both body and soul. Rest for body in the sense of remembrance that Israel was a slave in Egypt to where they were unable to rest. Israel faced affliction and hardship just as the Lord Jesus also faced affliction. But now the Lord has saved Israel with a mighty arm, and they can remember this with Sabbath rest, and feel this in their bodies. And so, we the New Israel also have Sabbath rest for our bodies, because Jesus has freed us from the slavery of sin, freed us from the obligation to always work to earn our keep. Instead, the Sabbath gives us eyes to see the goodness of Creation and how much the Lord provides without our work.
And the Sabbath is a rest for our souls. Jesus has freed us from the curse of death. So that no matter how much the trials of this world and the frailties of our flesh haunts us, we are actually safe and secure through Christ in an eternal Sabbath rest. Jesus is the true Sabbath rest for God’s people. He invites to us, “come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give rest for your souls.”
A good way to appreciate what our Sabbath rest does for us is to think about what people are missing who do not go to church. Have you ever pictured what life is like for those who wake up on Sunday mornings and have no intention of ever going to church in their life? Think of a young man or a young woman in this community waking up late on a Sunday morning and hearing our church bells toll at 10:30 and the bells mean very little to them.
What routines do these people have, and what do they think of God’s Word. At a minimum I would imagine God’s Word is underestimated, “it’s just not for m, not my thing”. And when it comes to man’s tendency to put himself as chief false idol, God’s Word if it were understood by people, would be despised.
As we heard in our Collect prayer: Eternal God Your Son Jesus Christ is our true Sabbath rest. Help us to keep each day holy by receiving His word of comfort that we may find our rest in Him. Those who do not go to church cannot know true Sabbath rest because they do not know the Son of God.
As Luther’s explanation to the 3rd Commandment reads: “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.” Those who treasure God’s Word, who consider it sacred- those are the ones who seek to be in church, who find true rest in the joy of hearing the Word.
Here at Christ Lutheran Church Jesus offers us Sabbath rest. This church was raised up and given birth so that God’s people in this place could know and experience Sabbath rest, could touch and see the Lord’s Salvation, even with Jesus’ very body and blood. So that through every ebb and flow of life, every change in stage of life whether gradual or sudden- that the Lord is our hope and our foundation. As we confessed in the Introit:
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. 5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.
It goes without saying that Jesus is our true rest everyday of the week, not just Sundays. Sunday is the most important day of our week, it is our opportunity for the gifts given in the Divine Service shared with the Body of Christ. But each day with our Lord is also a mini Sabbath.
Although we may be on our own through the week, we are still part of the body of Christ when not at church, our Lord still intercedes for us each day as do Christians for one another.
Although we may not devote as much time during the week to hearing God’s Word as on Sunday, through the week you can read one Psalm per day or be in the Word in any number of daily routines. Not out of obligation to keep a Sabbath rule, but out of thanksgiving, and out of our need to find rest in our Lord each and every day. Amen.