Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus dines at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were very strict about the observation of the ceremonial law, the law that dictated how they were to live as people set apart from the Gentiles. Observing the Sabbath was part of that ceremonial law because it dictated when and how Israel was to worship. They were to rest from physical labor on the seventh day of the week so that they might devote themselves to hearing God’s word and reflecting on it. This ruler of the Pharisees—no doubt a man held in high esteem among the Pharisees—invited Jesus and others to dine at his home. Everyone reclining at the table with Jesus watched Him closely because He was not, according to their standards, as strict about observing the Sabbath. Perhaps they had heard what Jesus did on another Sabbath while He was teaching in a synagogue. There was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up (Luke 13:11). Jesus called the woman to Him and said, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” He laid His hands on her and immediately she straightened and began to glorify God. The ruler of the synagogue becomes indignant. He even tells Jesus, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day” (Lk 13:14). Jesus castigates the head of the synagogue, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound — think of it — for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”
This is why this group of men reclining at table with Jesus on this particular Sabbath watch Him closely. And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy—edema. Knowing that everyone is watching Him closely, Jesus answers their thoughts. He asks them, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” “Do you consider it work to heal a man on this day? Do you think it worthy of a man of God to help His neighbor in need if He has the ability, even if the need occurs on the day of rest?” They remain silent. Of course they think it’s work. Of course healing a man is unlawful in their estimation. So heals the man. He restores his health, saves the man’s life, and then sends him back to the life to which he had been called. Then He defends Him to the Pharisees. “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” Once again, they remain silent. Every one of them would do precisely that. If their animal, their farm implement, fell into a ditch or pit on the Sabbath, they would work with all their might to get it out. If the Sabbath law yields to one’s animal, how much more ought it to yield to their fellowman? And that was the problem. The Pharisees loved the ceremonial law because ceremony is all outward observance. But the law also says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). Love is first and foremost of matter of the heart. If you love your neighbor you help your neighbor in their need as you’re able to help. If these men had truly loved their neighbor—in this case, the man with dropsy—they would have brought him to Jesus and asked Jesus to heal him. But they valued the ceremonial law as more important than the law of love. Jesus shows them the opposite is true.
By healing this man, and so many others, on the Sabbath, Jesus shows how He fulfills the Sabbath. God sanctified the seventh day—Saturday—and commanded Israel to do the same. How is anything sanctified? St. Paul, a former Pharisee, tells Timothy, “ For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim 4:4-5). Israel was to rest from all work on the Sabbath so they could hear God’s Word, meditate on it, apply it to themselves, and devote themselves to prayer. The rest God commanded was not the purpose. They were to rest from work so that they focus on God’s word. They were rest from work so that God could work in them through His Word. And here is Jesus, God’s Word in human flesh, come to bring true rest to souls. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt 11:28-30). The Sabbath was a sign that taught Israel what to look for in the ministry of Jesus.
That’s why the Sabbath law is no longer in force. It is part of the ceremonial law that was a prefiguration of Christ’s work. Paul tells the Colossians, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance—literally, the body—is of Christ” (Col 2:16-17). Dietary and clothing laws, laws for public and private worship, all these were given to Israel to set them apart from the other nations so that they might be an incubator for the world’s Messiah. They were also given to Israel to teach them about the person and work of the Messiah. The Sabbath prefigures the rest Jesus brings to the conscience burdened by sin, because His gospel forgives all sins and detaches them from the sinner. The Sabbath prefigures His gospel in that it bid Israel to leave aside all work and meditate on God’s Word. Jesus bids us leave behind our works with which we try to earn God’s favor and the forgiveness of our sins, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law (Gal 2:16). Christ is risen from the dead in the brightness of His divine glory and melted the shadows established through Moses which pointed to Him. Those who insist on maintaining the Sabbath, whether Jew or Judaizing Christian, are like those who prefer a photograph of their loved one to their love one’s actual presence with them.
Jesus unburdens us from the ceremonial law given to Israel, the ceremonial which pointed to Him. He still wants us to set aside a day to hear His Word, mediate on it, apply it to ourselves, and devote ourselves to prayer. The apostles chose Sunday for that purpose, as a sign against the legalists who demand observe of the ceremonial law, and as a confession that we worship the One who rose from the grave on the first day of the week. Unburdening us from the ceremonial law, and unburdening us from the guilt of our sins, He sends us forth with His love so that we might love our neighbors as ourselves. Love isn’t ceremonial. Love takes on outward manifestations and actions, but love is a matter first and foremost of the heart. By forgiving us our sins and cleansing our consciences, Jesus gives us new hearts with new movements and motivations. Believing the gospel, we begin to love God more and more. We begin to love our neighbors as ourselves, so that we want their good, that we look our for their interests in the same way we look after our own interests. This law, the law of love which Christ writes on our hearts, knows no limit. It isn’t confined to certain days of the week or seasons of the year. Love sees the neighbor and says, “How can I help?” “What does this person truly need?” St. Paul writes in Romans 13:8, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” This also means that we must open to receiving charity of others. If we refuse other’s help and loving actions, then we deny them opportunities for Christian charity.
Which brings us to second part of today’s gospel lesson. Jesus teaches the Pharisees humility, which is part of faith toward God and love toward one’s neighbors. The Pharisees sought the most honorable seats at the table. But this is not the way of love. This is the way of vainglory, which only serves one’s ego. Paul says in Romans 12:3 that one should not think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. He says elsewhere, “In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself” (Phil 2:3). This doesn’t mean we think poorly of ourselves or depreciate ourselves. It means we think of ourselves as God thinks of us in the gospel. As we humble ourselves before God by daily repentance and reliance upon His grace, He says, to us, “Friend, go up higher.” He exalts us with His gifts and seats us at His table as sons and daughters of God because we believe in His only-begotten Son. As dear children of God, we aren’t worried about our honor or glory. We have the ultimate honor anyone could desire and no one earth can give: the honor of being sons and daughters of God through Holy Baptism. Acknowledging that brings joy. It also brings humility because we know we are undeserving of such honor. In that joyful humility that rejoices in the Sabbath rest God gives our souls, we can walk with our brothers and sisters in Christ as Paul bids us in the epistle, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Amen.
May the peace of God which passes understanding guard your hears and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
