The Lord of the Sabbath

3:1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.
4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other..

Luke 6:1 And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.
2 And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?
3 And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungred, and they which were with him;
4 How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?
5 And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

6 And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered.
7 And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him.
8 But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth.
9 Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?
10 And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
11 And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.

Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

The real issue was not a legal technicality, but the intent of the law: Was it designed to saddle God's people with unreasonable restrictions, or was its purpose to honor God through their daily lives?  The Sabbath day, Jesus said, was designed by God for the benefit of man.  We all need a time of rest from the stress and toil of daily existence; God is our example, and just as he rested from the act of creation, so we, too, need a time to let our minds and bodies recover.  The effects of stress are well known, and one of the main causes of stress is the unwillingness, or inability, to relax.  We are perpetually, as a people, running on adrenalin, in fight or flight mode.  Over time, the constant flood of powerful natural stimulant damages both bodies and minds.

Beyond the physical and mental needs met by a day of rest, though, a more important purpose was to show reverence and respect for the God who created all things, and all men, to begin with.  The Sabbath was set aside as a holy day, a day dedicated to God.  It was from that premise, at least in theory, that so much time and effort went into trying to define just what constituted a "holy day".  Like all legalistic efforts, though, the mass of regulations that built up around the day represented a human effort to attain to holiness without God.  Rather than being sensitive to human needs, though, the object became to control the behavior of others.  There was no desire to attain to holiness, but to increase the power and authority of a privileged class.

God's very nature is to love (1 John 4:8), and his nature determines his response to the law of the Sabbath, as with all the other commandments.  Jesus pointed to examples in the Old Testament accounts of the Sabbath's being an occasion when human need was met, such as for priests who served then, and another temple law's being violated to meet David's need for food.  The issue with the disciples was not whether or not it was a Sabbath day, but that they were hungry, and no other way existed for them to meet their hunger than to pluck grain (which was what "corn" meant in King James English).  The man with the withered hand had an immediate need, and showing compassion for that need was much more important than meeting some meaningless definition of what constituted "work".  That's the whole point of these stories: the law of love is the overriding commandment, as Jesus himself stated. (Matthew 22:36-38).

Whatever the circumstances, and wherever he went, Jesus' overriding concern was, and remains, the needs of others.  "Compassion" is, perhaps, the one word that best describes his earthly ministry, and should also be the one applied to our own service in Christ's behalf.  A sad saying from the recent past was, "The church is the only army that kills its wounded".  Our kindness should extend to our own who have fallen, or who face great need or crisis, as well as those in the world around us.  The needy will always seek out those who show compassion, and evil cannot stand against it, when it is based and founded in godly love.