Some erroneously think
Jesus’ intention was to contrast His own
teaching with that of
Moses and thereby declare Himself as the true
authority. They assume
that Jesus was either opposed to the Mosaic law
or modifying it in some
way.
Jesus’ Teaching on God’s Law
solemn and emphatic
proclamation of the permanence of the law and
emphasizing His own high
regard for it, would now
undermine
the
authority of the law by
other
pronouncements. Jesus
wasn’t inconsistent;
He honored and upheld the
law in
all
His statements.
In this passage He is not
pitting Himself against the Mosaic law, nor
is He claiming a superior
spirituality. What He
was
doing was
refuting
the wrong interpretations
perpetuated by the
scribes and Pharisees. This
is why He declared that
one’s righteousness must
exceed
the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees. Jesus was restoring, in the minds of
His listeners, the Mosaic
precepts to their original place, purity and
power. (For a better
understanding of these laws, request or download your free copy of the booklet
The Ten Commandments.)
It should also be obvious
that because the same God is the Author
of Old and New Covenant
alike, there can be no vital conflict between
them, and that the
fundamental laws of morality underlying both must
be and are in full
accord. God tells us in Malachi 3:6, “I am the
Lo r d
,
I do not change
.
”
Jesus and the Sabbath
Among those who claim to
follow Jesus, no biblical command has
aroused as much
controversy as the Fourth Commandment—God’s
instruction to remember
the Sabbath day and keep it holy (Exodus
20:8-11). Here in
particular we find that people’s interpretations of Jesus’
teaching are all over the
map.
Some argue that Jesus
annulled all of the Ten Commandments but
that nine were
reinstituted in the New Testament—all except the Sabbath. Some believe that
Jesus replaced the Sabbath with Himself, and
that
He
is now our “rest.” Some
believe that no Sabbath at all is needed
now, that we can rest or
worship on any day or at any time we choose.
Regardless of which
argument one uses, an overwhelming portion of traditional Christianity believes
that Sunday, the
first
day of the week, has
replaced the Sabbath, the
seventh
day of the week.
Can we find support for
these views in Christ’s practice or teaching?
In light of Jesus’ clear
teaching on the permanence of God’s laws, what
do we find when it comes
to His attitude toward the Sabbath day?
In studying the Gospels,
one of the first things we should notice is
that Jesus’ custom was to
attend the synagogue for worship on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16). This was
His regular practice.
On this particular
occasion, He even
announced His mission as Messiah to those in the
synagogue that day.
Interestingly, we later
find that Paul’s custom was also to worship and
teach in the synagogues
on the Sabbath day (Acts 17:2-3). Neither he
nor Jesus ever so much as
hinted that they needn’t be there or that they
should worship on a
different day!
Confrontations over how, not whether,
to keep the Sabbath
Where many people jump to
wrong conclusions about Jesus and the
Sabbath is in His
confrontations with the scribes and Pharisees. Yet these
confrontations were never
over
whether
to keep the Sabbath—only
over
how it should be kept.
There is a crucial
difference between the two!
For example, Jesus boldly
challenged the Jews concerning their interpretation of Sabbath observance by
performing healings on the Sabbath
(Mark 3:1-6; Luke
13:10-17; 14:1-6).
According to the
Pharisees, rendering medical attention to someone,
unless it were a matter
of life and death, was prohibited on the Sabbath.
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