In their legalistic mania to justify themselves in the sight of God, the Pharisees took God’s Sabbath requirement and blew it up to ridiculous proportions. It was work to have a snack while walking through a field (Luke 6:1-2)? It was work for Jesus to do a miracle of healing (Luke 6:7)? Really?

Yes, it’s easy for modern Christians to read this passage and come to the conclusion that we shouldn’t worry about Sabbath-keeping anymore. But if we do that, we will have made just as big a mistake as the Pharisees did. For what does Jesus tell us the Sabbath is for? In Luke 6:9, He tells us it’s all about doing good and saving life. And this is just common sense, isn’t it? How many of us return to the workplace refreshed after a weekend or holiday that we spend with friends and family? So, how can we doubt that taking a day off every week is a healing thing?

But in Luke 6:5, Jesus also tells us that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, and this reminds us of another important truth: the Sabbath is the Lord’s Day, a day for us to turn our attention away from our worldly cares and concerns and turn to look at God. It’s a day to shift our focus off of the creation and onto our Creator, the One Who made us in His image so that we might be in relationship with Him.

So, perhaps if we look at the Sabbath in relational terms it will make more sense. For at root, it’s all about spending quality time with our Heavenly Father, isn’t it? And how can we doubt that such a day spent with God and with God’s people would be good for us and our relationships with others?

So, I suppose we could look at the Sabbath the way the Pharisees did: as an onerous, restrictive commandment. But how many of us would have to be commanded to take a day off from work and spend it with our sweethearts? The good news is that the God Who loves us enough to give His Son to die for us wants a weekly date with us. Let’s not disappoint Him.

Luke 6:1-11 (NASB)

Now it came about that on a certain Sabbath He was passing through some grainfields; and His disciples were picking and eating the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.
2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
3 And Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him,
4 how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread which is not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?”
5 And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
6 And it came about on another Sabbath, that He entered the synagogue and was teaching; and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.
7 And the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely, to see if He healed on the Sabbath, in order that they might find reason to accuse Him.
8 But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Rise and come forward!” And he rose and came forward.
9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm, to save a life, or to destroy it?”
10 And after looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored.
11 But they themselves were filled with rage, and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.