Luke 6 (Part 1)

Luke chapter 6, beginning at verse 1.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, open our hearts to the ministry of Your Word. Fill us, Lord God, with understanding, fill us with insight, fill us with truth. We ask it in Jesus' precious name, amen. First part of Luke chapter 6. We are beginning to see this increasing hostility that Jesus is experiencing from the Jewish religious leaders. And it's really plain from looking at these two events that are given here to us that the main or the primary issue. Or we would say, their bone of contention with Jesus was the Sabbath day, and the fact that they believed Jesus was breaking God's Law, concerning keeping the Sabbath.

And in this first story, we're told that as they were walking along, some of Jesus's disciples went into a nearby field and they plucked some heads of grain, and they ate them. Now, you need to know, first of all, that this alone was not unlawful in any way. In fact, the matter is God had made provision in the Law of Moses for people to do this very thing, and it was primarily for the poor. You could go into somebody's field, and you could eat some of the grain. Let me show you the passage on the screen from Deuteronomy chapter 23. It says,

If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain. So, as long as you didn't bring any harvest or farming tools in the field with you. If you just happened to be walking through and you got hungry… and a lot of the paths between cities, towns, and villages would go right by someone's field. You could just divert into the field and grab some grain and eat it, providing it's at a place where it's ready to be eaten and so forth. And this is, by the way, considered one of the laws of mercy, that is factored into God’s Word concerning taking care of people. It's God's laws…, it’s the best I could think of, laws of mercy. There you go. The problem, you see, wasn't what these guys were doing, it was when they were doing it. We're told here, and Luke records for us, that this all took place on a Sabbath day. What is the Sabbath? Saturday. The Sabbath is Saturday. It has always been Saturday. It always will be Saturday, and you might be kind of thinking, what's the big deal? I mean, so what? It's the Sabbath day. You're walking along, you grab some grain off the stalk and eat it… It's like, what? Who cares? Well, it was a big deal to the Jews. Because, as far as they were concerned, the disciples were guilty of all kinds of violations related to just picking grain off the thing. Get this, by picking the grain, they were guilty of reaping.

By separating the grain from the stalk, they were guilty of threshing on the Sabbath day. By rubbing the grain in their hands, and Luke tells us they did that, and separating the kernel from the chaff and they would basically just go like this (Pastor Paul rubs his hands) and then go (Pastor Paul blows air into his hands while rubbing them) blow the chaff away, and then they kind of press it together with their hands and eat it. By rubbing it with their hands, they were guilty of winnowing on the Sabbath, and by popping it in their mouth, it proved that they were obviously guilty of food prep on the Sabbath. These are all violations according to the Jews. According to the Jews. I didn't say according to the Law, I said according to the Jews. We read stuff like this and to us it's like just over the top ridiculous, and we're kind of like…but you got to remember, in the eyes of a strict Pharisee, this was a major thing. This was more than a major thing, this was a life and death thing, okay? Whether somebody was actually working on the Sabbath. And so, the Pharisees asked again in verse 2, “Why are you doing what is not lawful…” Keep in mind, they believed with all their heart that these men were breaking the Law of God! All right. So, Jesus responds here in verse 3, and He begins to recite something to them from the Old Testament past. He starts talking to them about David, and this is before David was king. Actually, he was on the run from Saul. It was very early on when David was running from Saul, and Jesus is making mention of the fact that he and his men were hungry, and they came upon the priest. And Jesus tells them, don't you remember? They actually entered the house of God, and they took bread that was only to be eaten by the priests. It was the bread of the Presence. It was holy bread, and they ate it. Not only did David eat it, he gave some to his men.” This is a story that's actually related to us in 1 Samuel. I'll just give you the essence of it here on the screen. 1 Samuel 21:1, 3-4, 6 (ESV)

And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread–

Then David came to Nob the Ahimelech the priest. “Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread–So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away. Now, all right, understand something, this holy bread or the bread of the Presence. Or also referred to as the show bread, was to be kept on a special table in the Holy Place, not in the Most Holy Place, but in the Holy Place of the temple. And it was…, it had a symbolic meaning. It symbolized God's fellowship with His people, the breaking of bread, but this bread was holy and only the priest and his family could eat it. And they had to be in a holy place! They couldn't just take it out on a picnic, and they could only eat it once it had been replaced by fresh bread. Jesus is relating this story and He's telling them that David and Ahimelech, the priest, broke the rules. And so, the question comes up in our minds; why did God overlook the breaking of the rules? Because didn't God tell them only the priest shall eat the holy bread in a holy place? The answer is yes. God said, Only the priest may eat this bread. And yet, David came, took it, Ahimelech gave it to him…Why did God overlook it? Why didn't God strike them dead or something? Well, there's a good answer to that question. Are you ready for it? We'll put it on the screen so we can all see it together. You might want to remember that. Human need is more important than religious ritual. Human need is more important than religious ritual. Now, somebody might, at this particular point, say, now, wait just a minute, pastor. I've read through the whole Bible, and I've never heard those words once. I’ve never read the Bible and heard that phrase, human need is more important than religious ritual. It doesn't exist in the Bible! Well, it is true that those exact words do not appear in the Bible, but the idea is scattered throughout God’s Word. Not only here in this passage I put up a moment ago from 1 Samuel, where David ate the bread of the Presence and gave it to his men. But it also in several other passages, let me show you a few. First from Hosea,

Hosea 6:6 (ESV)

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. This is God speaking. The next one is actually kind of long, it covers three slides. Beginning in Isaiah 58 verse 1, Isaiah 58:1-7 (ESV)

Look at this last part, Isaiah 58:1-7 (ESV)

Wow! You see this conversation going on between God and the people, and they're like, but we're doing this religious ritual, how come you're not paying attention? He says, because you have no care for your fellow man. That's why. Human need trumps religious ritual! One last passage from Psalm 51, Psalm 51:17 (ESV)

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Remember when David made that comment to the Lord when he was praying his prayer of repentance, after committing adultery with Bathsheba and conspiring to kill her husband. David knew. The sacrifices You're looking for are a broken heart. You're not looking for me to go out and sacrifice a bunch of animals and do a lot of religious ritual. Right? So, again, and again, and again we see this idea through the Scripture. Human need is more important than religious ritual. But frankly, it was an idea that the religious leaders in Jesus’ day just couldn't accept. And I got news for you, Pharisaism is alive and well today. There are Pharisees, they don't call themselves Pharisees anymore, but Pharisees still exist. Pharisees still exist. The spirit of pharisaical thought and attitudes still exists today when people are just saying, that's… (Pastor Paul makes an angry face) They don't think about people first, they think about rules, and doing it right, and regulations, and stuff like that. Listen to what I read. I actually found this in the commentary of one of the guys I read, just to kind of prove this stuff still goes on today. Listen, “In 1992, tenants let three apartments in an Orthodox neighborhood in Israel burn to the ground while they were asking a rabbi whether a telephone call to the fire department on the Sabbath would violate Jewish law. It really happened. Observant Jews are forbidden to use the phone on the Sabbath, because doing so would break an electrical current, which is considered a form of work. In the half-hour it took the rabbi to decide, yes, it was a violation, The fire spread to two neighboring apartments.” Is this stuff still going on today? You betcha! And not just among Orthodox Jews, it happens in the Christian church. It happens in the Christian church. And then, check out this statement that Jesus makes in verse 5 again. Look with me again in your Bible in verse 5, “And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” Which is really, an incredible statement. What He's basically saying is, I am the Lord of the Sabbath, and if I wasn't offended by the actions of these men, there's nothing to be offended about. Right? The Jews were the recipients of the Sabbath. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath! And you're offended for Me? I'm “the lord of the Sabbath.” I wasn't offended. Don't you think as lord of the Sabbath, I would know if a Sabbath violation had taken place? And here you are… I mean, think about it for just a second. It's really amazing. These Pharisees were offended that the commandments of God were being violated, and here was God standing right in front of them! And they were essentially accusing Jesus, who is God in human flesh, with being party to a violation of God’s Word. Isn't that ridiculous? And the answer to that is yes. But then again, we humans get pretty ridiculous from time to time. Oh, one more point before we move on to the second story, I'm sure you noticed that after these Pharisees started complaining about what they were seeing, that Jesus asked them a question. And those… and the question He asked them began with these words, “Have you not read…” “Have you not read…”

Now, think about that for just a second. Who's Jesus talking to? He's talking to the Pharisees, right? These are the men who are supposed to be learned when it comes to knowing and understanding the Word of God. And Jesus is basically kind of rebuking their lack of knowledge by saying, haven't you ever read? Haven't you read what it says in the Word? And then He goes on to talk to them about the story from 1 Samuel, where David went in and ate of the bread. And He says, did you guys ever read that story? Well, guys, listen, the answer is, of course. Of course they read it, probably hundreds of times! Do you know little Jewish boys were taught to read from the Scriptures? This is what they cut their teeth on, as it relates to even learning to read. Have you never read? Of course they read it! You know what the problem was? They never understood it. Can I share a quote with you from the late William Barclay? He says, “It is possible to read scripture meticulously, to know the Bible inside (and) out from cover to cover, be able to quote it verbatim and to pass any examination on it - and yet completely miss its real meaning.” – Barclay “It is possible to read scripture meticulously, to know the Bible inside (and) out from cover to cover, be able to quote it verbatim and to pass any examination on it - and yet completely miss its real meaning.” Isn't that a great quote? And it's absolutely true. I've said to you guys, how many times have I said to you? When people come up to me and tell me about somebody they know who knows the Bible frontwards and backwards, I am not impressed, and neither is the Lord. The question is, are they living the Word of God? Because remember, we're told not to be… remember James told us, not to be just hearers of the Word, but to be doers of the Word, right?

I mean, if I see somebody walking in obedience to God’s Word, that's impressive. But just knowing the Word of God, intellectually, big deal, the Pharisees knew that story, they just ignored the meaning. They missed the meaning altogether. Compassion, mercy, human care, right? All right, now we go into the second run in with these religious leaders. This time it takes place in a synagogue, verse six. We're told here that, “On another Sabbath, (Here we are, back to the Sabbath again. They come around every week,) he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered.” And this is kind of a really, a side point that really means nothing. But do you know that, of all the story… all the Gospel writers who tell this, only Luke tells us it was his right hand. And you remember Luke was a doctor. He's just being very specific. He probably had terrible handwriting, but he really was meticulous in his detail. Anyway, so, he says, here was this man, probably I'm sure, right there in the front row with a hand withered, Scribes and the Pharisees are watching Jesus like a hawk “…to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath…” And the reason they were watching Him so closely? Okay, you’ve got to follow the logic. They believed… you ready for this? They believed to heal on the Sabbath was work, and therefore, it was forbidden on the Sabbath and unlawful. So, it's unlawful to heal. As if they were doing the healing anyway. I mean, when there's a miraculous healing that takes place, do you and I actually make that happen? No! And are they suggesting that you and I can manipulate God against His will? That's really stupid. But anyway, it's like these guys haven't actually thought this thing through! Anyway, verse 8 tells us that Jesus “…knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Come and stand here.’” So, He has him stand right up in front of everybody. And in verse 9, we're told that “… Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?”” Great question. Did you notice the essence of Jesus's question? Is it lawful to do good?” Here's why He asked that question because He knew that the Pharisees didn't care about doing good. That wasn't their emphasis. That wasn't their heart. That wasn't what they were looking to get out of life. Do good? Pff! What does do good have to do with anything? We're here to keep rules, and we are here to make sure other people keep them too. And if you don't keep the rules, you're going to come under our condemnation. That's a Pharisee. That's the heart of the Pharisee. They don't care about people, and they don't care about being kind, and generous, and compassionate. Here, Jesus asks a question. He goes, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or actually to do harm? And they're like (Pastor Paul imitates a person who is still thinking and speechless). They haven't thought that through. It's like, that's beside the point. It's a commandment! Right? Actually, Matthew tells us that Jesus asked them another question during this same event. Let me put it on the screen for you. It says,

He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? (And then He asks this, or I guess this is more of just a declaration,) Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Okay, that’s pretty incredible. So, He's calling attention to the fact that they would rescue their sheep if it fell into a pit on the Sabbath, but they wouldn't rescue a man if he fell into a pit on the Sabbath. I'm sorry, you'll just have to wait till sundown. I'll bring you a sandwich. Oh, wait, I can't prepare food. And you're out of luck. I hope you'll make it and everything's okay. But we're told here that the men made no response whatsoever. Luke doesn't tell us, but Mark actually tells us that Jesus looked around with anger. He was mad. He was grieved. He was distressed. Mark tells us He was distressed at their hardness of heart. See, Pharisees get mad at people's violations. God gets upset with people's hardness of heart that cares more about violations than people. Okay? In verse 10, it says, “…after looking around at them…” and you can imagine, can you imagine the Son of Man looking around at them? He's just going through the room and He's looking right in their eye. I would not want to have a stare down with the Son of God. It says after He did this, “…he said to him (to the man), “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored.” Now, pause there, please, for a moment again. Luke tells this like it's a kind of an everyday thing. And the man… and He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man did, and the hand was restored, then… And we're all ready to move on with the story. And the rest of us are going, what? His hand was restored? Can you imagine? Can you imagine watching that? Can you imagine with someone with a withered hand, okay? A withered hand. Oh, it was the right hand. Withered hand and he can't use it. And it's just, I don't know what a withered hand…all bony and probably looking really ugly, frankly. And totally unusable. And Jesus just says, stretch it out. And as he stretches out this hand, it is restored back to perfect health. And what I want to read right after this verse is, “And everyone in the synagogue fell on their face before God and declared that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. End of story. Let's go home. That's not what happens though! Luke says in verse 11, look at this, “…they were filled with fury…” Do you know, I looked up the Greek and it means, a senseless rage. They were filled with a senseless rage. Have you ever been just full of rage? I think most rage probably is senseless. Matthew goes on to tell us it was a murderous rage when he says that the Pharisees went out and conspired how they might destroy Him, how they might kill Him. Here's the deal, they were so mad at Jesus for restoring this man's hand to health that they thought, this man is dangerous. He needs to die. And it's shocking. Had we not read stories like this repeatedly over the years, we would…Imagine reading this for the very first time. What in the world! How shocking. But these Pharisees are a perfect example of men who love their rules and regulations more than they loved God. And frankly, this is one of many times that Jesus had a head-to-head confrontation with these guys over issues of rules, man-made commandments. Because, you see, when it comes to things like the Sabbath, God told the nation of Israel to rest on the Sabbath. And that means don't work, don't do any regular work. Just rest on the Sabbath. Well, of course, you guys know that the Jews came up with all kinds of additional rules. They decided that you could take a walk on the Sabbath, but only so far, and they referred to it as a Sabbath day's walk. That got to be a regular phrase even on if it wasn't the Sabbath. If I needed to tell you how far my house was from yours, I might say, well, it's about two Sabbath day walks. And they would know what that meant. Here's the interesting thing, they were constantly finding ways to circumvent the rules of the Sabbath, always! And they would do things like, if I had to go twice as far as I was supposed to go on the Sabbath, and I needed to go that far on the day before the Sabbath, I could take some article from my home. A lamp, a table, a chair, and I could walk out a Sabbath day’s walk and set that chair down and that would now be my home, or at least an extension of it. Now, you see, tomorrow on the Sabbath, I can go from my home to that chair and another Sabbath day’s walk legally, and God will be pleased with me. Yeah. I mean, that's the stuff that went on all the time, and it got ridiculous. God talked to them about ceremonial washing. Just washing their hands. And they got into this measuring out the water, so much water, holding their hands in a certain way while they washed. It just…it got crazy. Then, Mark records this statement that Jesus made to the Pharisees and religious leaders about all these additions, and I want you to see this. It's from Mark chapter 7, and it goes like… here's Jesus talking. He says,

You leave the commandment of God and hold (instead) to the tradition of men.” And that is such an important verse, and frankly, it's one of the reasons I'm not a real big fan of traditions. I don't think traditions are wrong in and of themselves. I don't. Our family has traditions. We have traditions we do on Christmas, different times of the year. The way we celebrate as a family, there are just things we do, and it's traditional for us. But when traditions begin to replace the Word of God, now we've got a problem, you see. And that's what was happening in Israel, and that's what Jesus was constantly confronting with the religious leaders. The fact that their traditions, the traditions of the elders, which is another way of referring to rabbinical teaching over the years, that had gotten to the point where it actually trumped the Word of God. All right. Let's talk for just a bit here before we close about the Sabbath, because I get this question a lot. Since we're dealing with the Sabbath and Jesus is being confronted with Sabbath violations, people ask a lot, why don't we keep the Sabbath today like Israel kept the Sabbath? And these are Christians asking other Christians, why don't we keep the Sabbath in the way that Israel kept the Sabbath? Here's the best answer, are you ready?

We don't keep the Sabbath like Israel kept the Sabbath because the covenant that God made with Israel is not the same covenant He made with us. In just the last chapter that we dealt with a couple of weeks ago, in Luke chapter 5. You remember that Jesus taught on the foolishness of putting new wine into old wine skins? Remember that? Well, this is a perfect example of it, and we actually even brought it up a couple of weeks ago. Attempting to cram the Sabbath regulations into the New Testament church is to take new wine and put it into old wineskins. And it doesn't work. But there's another side of this coin. We don't just tell people, well, we're Christians, we don't keep the Sabbath. That's not what we say. See, the question is, why don't we keep the Sabbath like the Jews kept the Sabbath? Here's the other side of the coin. Just because we don't keep the Sabbath the way the Jews kept the Sabbath, doesn't mean we don't keep the Sabbath. The fact is, brothers and sisters in Jesus, we do keep the Sabbath. We keep it every single day because the meaning of the Sabbath was, is, and always will be about rest! That’s what the Sabbath was always about; resting. Resting! Now, in the Old Testament, because they had a physical covenant with God, God told…gave them this command with physical commands! Rest on the Sabbath, do no work on the Sabbath. You and I have a spiritual covenant with God, so these things have a spiritual meaning. So today, for you and I, it isn't about resting on a day, but it's still about resting. And the meaning of the Sabbath is fulfilled in the person and the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Let me show you what the writer of Hebrews had to say about this, in kind of two stages. First, he says, Hebrews 4:9-11 (ESV)

…there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God… Now, I want you to see that. This is very important. This is a New Testament writer. He says, “…there remains a Sabbath rest...” There is still a Sabbath rest, for you and I as Christians, but then he goes on to say this, Hebrews 4:3 (ESV)

…we who have believed enter that rest… It's not we who keep a day, it's we who have believed enter that rest! And not just on a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, we enter into the rest of God! How? By resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and saying, it was sufficient and nothing else needs to be done. I am resting. I am resting, I'm not working. I'm not working for my salvation. I'm not working to get into heaven. I'm resting in what He did. Jesus, You did it all, and by trusting in you, I'm resting in Your work on the cross as finished, done, over, completed. How come are you Christians don't keep the Sabbath? We do. We could come right back to them and say, why don't you keep it seven days a week? So, all of this understanding that Jesus is our Sabbath rest, is why Paul wrote what he did to the Colossians, and to you and I, when he said, Colossians 2:16-17 (ESV)

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. (Look at this last sentence, so important,) These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Jesus is the substance of all of those things that took place in the Old Testament, like the Sabbath and the command to rest. It is all about Jesus. Listen, the Old Testament is all about Jesus, you guys! He is the fulfillment of these things for you and I. So, here's my question to you, are you resting in the finished work of what Jesus did on the cross? Are you resting? Or are you trying to be good enough to impress God or to get into heaven by being a good person? If you are, you're working. And working never got anybody into heaven, only resting. Resting. And if you can just say to Him, Lord, what You did for me on the cross was enough. You will be saved. It's as simple as that. It's not hard. Sue is reminding me of this.

--- We both did retreats recently. She got to fly to the coast, and I went up to the Bar M (ranch). But she loves flying on airplanes alone because she loves the opportunities that God gives her to share the Lord with people. She was flying with a woman who was going or coming from...? Going to take care of a sister who was very ill, and Sue was able to kind of share, well, your sister needs to know, because she's getting ready to go to, she's getting ready to die. Your sister needs to know what it is to be saved. And of course, this is the culmination of a fairly lengthy conversation over a period of time. But Sue shared with the woman and reminded me, it's not hard. People make it hard, but it's not hard. We’re kind of like, alright, you want to understand the Gospel? Sit down and take out your notepad and number it from one to a thousand. It'll give you all the details and if you miss one, you're going to hell. Here's the simple truth, here's the simple reality, if you are resting today in what Jesus did on the cross, you will be saved. Simple. If what He did was enough for you, to wipe out your sins, and you accept it, you'll be saved. So, are you resting? ---