12 Sept 2014 by Adeline Lum CM-
On Sept 7th, Vicar Rev Joshua Ong in St Paul’s Anglican Church in Petaling Jaya shared a message that convicted me to seek to understand the purpose of God’s commandment in the Bible, instead of blindly following them.
He shared about a passage of Jesus healing a man with shriveled hands on Sabbath (Mark 3:1-6), a crime that calls for capital punishment! (Exo 31:14-16; Num 15:32-36)
Yet, Jesus turned to the Pharisees and asked this question, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” (Mark 3:4)
What Jesus asked are the reasons for God to ordain the Sabbath day. Is the reason to ‘permit good deeds’ and ‘save life’ or to ‘do evil’ and ‘destroy life’?
While the Pharisees were more interested on whether Jesus executed the commandment, Jesus was more interested on its purpose. The irony is when the Pharisees’ sheep fell into the pit, they had no problem lifting it up. (Matt 12:11-12)
He (Jesus) said to them (the Pharisees), “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath?” (Matt 12:11-12)
Like the Pharisees, sometimes, we are so focused on executing the commandments of God that we forget to examine the purpose behind them. We lost the beauty and essence of God’s Ways. And we fail to give the reasons for our faith.
God is not angry when we seek to know the reasons of His commandments from a humble and sincere heart. To question is not a crime.
Perhaps, we can understand more the importance of knowing the purpose of a commandment instead of just the commandment, from the passage of Jesus healing the man with shriveled hands.
Why did God ordain the Sabbath day?
The first purpose God appointed Sabbath day for all the Israelites and their livestock is to commemorate it as the day He rested after six days of making heaven and earth, thus setting the seventh day apart or making it holy. (Gen 2:3; Exo 20:8-11)
The other purpose God appointed Sabbath day is more of a functional purpose—which to provide rest for the Israelites, their servants, and livestock. Like how the Israelites were slaves in Egypt before God redeemed them, the Lord reminded them to give rest to their servants on the Sabbath day. That is why Jesus said in Mark 3:4 that it is a day to permit good deeds and save lives.
To sum it up, God created Sabbath to firstly, commemorate Him resting on the seventh day, thus making it holy; and secondly, to provide rest for all men and livestock.
What does the Law of Sabbath mean?
The Lord defined resting as not doing work or laboring. (Deut 5:12-15) But what defines working? We can see how ‘work’ playing out in two levels, namely the household level and economic level.
In the household level, work is defined as the kindling of fire in the dwelling place, possibly for cooking. (Exo 35:2-3). Hence, to prevent kindling of fire on the Sabbath day, the Israelites were required to bake and boil the manna for food on the day before, to store for consumption on the Sabbath. (Exo 16:23-29) In Jeremiah, work meant carrying a load out of the house or bringing it through the gates of Jerusalem. (Jer 17:21-27)
As for ‘work’ in the economic level, work meant treading winepresses and loading goods (i.e. grain, wine, grapes, figs, etc) on donkeys to trade on Sabbath day. (Neh 13:15-22)
To sum it up, work is the physical exertion to perform household duties and work obligations.
How did the Pharisees see Sabbath day?
Rev Joshua shared that the Pharisees were a group of people who are deeply devoted to all the laws. Unfortunately, the law becomes the end to itself. Instead of achieving its purpose, they built fences or several other laws around the original law—fences that nullified the original purpose of Sabbath day, which is to permit good deeds and save lives.
In this instance, we can see how we lose sight of God’s heart when we don’t understand the purpose of His Commandments.
What can we learn from this?
#1 You can observe the law but not know Jesus
Although the Pharisees observed the law, they did not know Jesus Christ, the Lawgiver. They did not know that Jesus is the Lord of Sabbath. (Matt 12:8)
Likewise, some of us act a certain way because it is ‘the Christian way’ to do things or ‘the Christian thing’ to say. But deep down, we never had an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ in our lives.
#2 Self-righteousness causes a critical spirit
The Pharisees’ self-worth is based on how well they followed the law, which also fueled their self-righteousness. In fact, their hearts were so stubborn that instead of listening to Jesus (telling them about the purpose of Sabbath), they immediately plotted to kill Him after He healed the man. (Mark 3:6)
Some of us may be role models of ‘Good Christians.’ But that does not give us the right to be self-righteous and to be critical of our brothers and sisters-in-Christ who are in different faith journeys than us.
#3 The heart of every Commandment is love
The Pharisees were more concerned with fulfilling the law than understanding the essential purpose of setting the Law.
While God is pleased when we obey his commandments, take time to think the purpose God made the commandments, because it would shed light on the ends of the Law. What are we trying to achieve here?
The book of Matthew gives us the answer. When Jesus was asked, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (Matt 22:36)
Jesus replied, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt 22:37-40)
In other words, the verse—all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments—meant that the heart of all commandments is in loving God and others. To put it simply, God’s commandments cannot be separated from these two elements.
The purpose of God’s commandments is therefore, based on love!
But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?”
When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” (Mark 2:16-17)
So, the next time you carry out God’s commandments without love, think again. Jesus always acted with a heart of love. May your heart be filled with the love of God and the love for others.
The article above is written based on the principles shared by Vicar Rev Joshua Ong, which sparked the commentary of this sermon. It is an expanded version of his sharing with elaboration by the writer.
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