5 Things The Messiah Taught About the Sabbath

These are some of the things the Messiah said about the Sabbath day. Religious leaders were often upset with his actions on the Sabbath, not because he was breaking God's laws about the set apart day, but because he was setting aside the tedious man made rules they had made up. Jesus was always in favor of going back to the simplicity of what Scripture instructs, so that keeping the Sabbath is doable for all of God's people.

The Messiah always kept and honored Shabbat. We see him eating in someone's home, instead of buying food in the marketplace. We see him teaching, in place of doing his carpentry work. We see him going to congregation, as opposed to working at home. He walks with his disciples, instead of saddling up a horse or hiring a chariot for transportation. All of those things he did to honor YHWH's set apart day. He also talked about the Sabbath.

Here are five things the Messiah taught about the Sabbath day:

1. "Sabbath was made for mankind." -Mark 2:27
The Living God created the Sabbath for us. Not for his own benefit. Not for the angels. Not for the sake of having rules. Not only for the people who lived 3,000 years ago. He made it for us, as a beautiful gift he knows we need! Jesus taught that the Sabbath was a gift from YHWH especially for us.

2. "The son of man is master of the Sabbath." -Luke 6:5

The Messiah chose to describe himself in relation to the Sabbath, and that shows us part of his identity that he values. Mastering something doesn't make it null and void. On the contrary, when someone says they have mastered something - whether that's organic chemistry, croissant baking, or a second language - it means they have purposefully spent a lot of time on it and it's important to them. Why would we treat the Messiah's declaration of the Sabbath differently? He was speaking of the Sabbath because it's something he cares about.

3. He made a practice of teaching people on the Sabbath. -Luke 4:31

Many of us have been told  that it doesn't matter what day of the week we worship YHWH, but isn't it worthwhile to see that our Savior made it a point to do this on the seventh day of the week? He didn't limit himself to teaching one day a week but his habit was teaching on God's set apart day. Jesus organized his life with respect to this day. We can also see that he expects his people to learn on the Sabbath.

 

4. "It is permitted in the law to do good deeds on the Sabbath." -Matthew 12:12

Many have taken the accusations of the Pharisees to mean that the Messiah violated the Sabbath. Truthfully they were only accusing him of breaking their own traditions, not commandments of God. Jesus teaches here that it's okay to disregard man made rules or expectations for what the Sabbath day looks like, as long as we honor Biblical instructions. He also tells us here that the Sabbath contradicts nothing that YHWH has said because we are free to keep all of his commandments on this day.

5. People get healed on the Sabbath. -Mark 3:5
Whoa. The number of times Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath show that God is trying to communicate something with us. While healing is certainly possible any day of the week it is worth noticing that the Messiah consistently healed those who came to him on the Sabbath!

This list is not exhaustive but we can see that the Sabbath day was something important to both the Messiah and to the writers of the Gospels. Many teachings recorded in Scripture were spoken by the Messiah on the Sabbath and then reiterated by Paul and others on later Sabbath days. We can now make the same choice to honor YHWH's set apart day.

More on the Sabbath:
What to Do on the Sabbath
Sabbath in the New Testament
Did Jesus Break the Sabbath?