Yeshua and the Sabbath

As believers the Bible tells us in 1 John 2:6:

⁶ He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

If one is to walk as Yeshua, one should follow His example and not the example of others.  There are those that may tell you, we no longer have to observe the 7^th Day Sabbath.  However, what is the example of our Messiah?  This is the question we all need to answer.  Scriptures clearly record the example Yeshua left for all believers, Luke 4:16.

¹⁶And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

Not only did Yeshua go to the synagogue on the Sabbath Day, it was His custom to go to the synagogue.  Yeshua went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day on a regular basis.  It was what he did when He was raised and He continued it throughout His ministry.

Mark 1:16-20

¹⁶Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. ¹⁷And Yeshua said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. ¹⁸And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. ¹⁹And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. ²⁰And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.

Yeshua had 4 of the 12 Apostles with Him.  Next in Mark 1:21-22:

²¹And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.

The first thing Yeshua does is take the Apostles to the Synagogue on the Sabbath Day.  Yeshua set the pattern that was to be followed throughout His ministry and beyond.  Yeshua made no attempt to change the pattern, because it was what the Apostles were to do their lives.  And, it is what we are to do in our lives.

Often people like to use Matthew 12:1-2 to prove that Yeshua dishonored the Sabbath Day.  However, this could not be further from the truth.  Yeshua was explaining the nuances of the sabbath.

¹At that time Yeshua went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. ²But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day

The Pharisees were trying to catch Yeshua in a loop hole by accusing the disciple of harvesting on the Sabbath Day.  The fact was, they were not harvesting they were gleaning.  Gleaning is always allowed for substance of life.  Yeshua further explains in Matthew 12:3-4:

³But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; ⁴How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?

David was hungry, and shewbread was only for the priest.  The greater law is to preserve life that was what the disciples were doing.  This is described in Leviticus 23:22:

²²And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am Yehovah your God.

This is still done in Israel to this day.  The corners of the fields are not harvested so that the poor can eat.  This is what Ruth did in the fields of Boaz.  Yeshua’s disciples were gleaning.  They did not break God’s law.  They were preserving life.

Matthew 12:11-13

¹¹And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? ¹²How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. ¹³Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.

This is often used as justification for working on the Sabbath.  People claim that Yeshua is saying if you have to work, then work.  However, Yeshua explains in Mark 3:4:

⁴And 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.

One pulls the sheep out of the ditch for respect of life.  We are to have compassion for animals as well as others.  We are allowed to do things to help others on the Sabbath.  It is not for our benefit, it is for theirs.  And it is never to be used as an excuse to work for profit.

One other thing about working on the Sabbath, Matthew 12:5:

⁵Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?

It was proper for Levites priest to work on the Sabbath, as it is proper for the work that goes forth for the Sabbath Day today.

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