Jesus and the Sabbath Rest

John 5:15-29 Jesus and the Sabbath Rest Introduction: Have you ever had the experience where you have taken a vacation and come back home more tired than when you left? I personally have a very hard time doing nothing. I am naturally a very energetic person. So if you are anything like me, you know what I’m talking about. Or have you ever began your morning ever so peacefully only to be completely overwhelmed by anxiety over the news? Whether it’s news of some natural disaster, terrorism, bird flu, the stock market, the future of social security , your Facebook or twitter account being hacked and the list goes on… Worry, anxiety, fear, a lack of rest can bring great strain on our lives, and the lives of our families. And sometimes rather than protecting the ones we love, we cause pain for them over issues that will never even touch us, simply by our reacting out of fear. The Bible constantly speaks on this issue of fear and anxiety. And the Bible is very realistic to the issue. Rather than consoling us on matters concerning our fears, it rather affirms them. There is much tragedy and hardship in life, their is great wickedness on earth and much to be feared! But what the scripture does constantly do is to point us to something/ someone outside of this earthly mess; someone who would come and bring true rest, rest to our souls…. There is true rest in Jesus The writer of Hebrews writes to the church, “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” 1. The Sabbath 1. The understanding of Sabbath that most of us are familiar with is the fourth command of the Ten Commandments: 2. YAHWEH taught the children of Israel through Moses,8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” -Exodus 20:8-11 1. As the commandment teaches this law was based upon the pattern of God’s work in Creation. God made the world in six days, we are told, and on the seventh day he rested, he Sabbathed or ceased, from his work of Creation. 3. “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” - Genesis 2:1-3 4. The Sabbath was created for mankind, not just to enjoy the work that he had done, but to enjoy the God who created this wonderful world, it was originally to be a day for reflection, meditation, relaxation, peace, appreciation etc. 5. From here on out the Biblical understanding of Sabbath carries a dual picture of both physical and spiritual rest for God’s people. Mentioned again in Psalms and then again in the book of Hebrews there is an indication that what God was continually offering his people in the practice of Sabbath was the opportunity to “rest” (from their physical labor, from their striving, from fear, from death) it was a time to reflect on the providence of God, because their ultimate hope, peace, sustenance was found in him and provided by him. Yet the children of Israel we are told failed to enter into that rest, they failed to trust God, though his faithfulness and providence was continually offered and proved to them. 6. This is the first thing we need to understand about this passage. Sabbath is all about rest, true rest. 2. The Jews Issue with Jesus 1. “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” 2. The second thing we need to understand is why the Jews want to kill Jesus over healing on the Sabbath. 3. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had added 39 articles to what work on the Sabbath entailed. Again, Sabbath rest had originally carried an understanding of not doing business or your customary work, but they added to the law in such a way that people saw the Sabbath itself as a restriction instead of being restful or a joy or delight. 4. The Jews believed that only God was above the Sabbath. The Jews and Jesus agreed on the point that God was always working. He was the one individual who was above the Sabbath law. God continues to work without Sabbath rest; if he didn’t all things would collapse… This is commonly called providence. Even with the original Sabbath God did not cease to sustain all things he simply ceased his work of Creation. 5. So the Jews take great issue with Jesus working on the Sabbath. But here is John’s point: Jesus is working precisely because he is the Son of God and therefore the representative of God….God through the Sabbath therefore jesus works through the Sabbath. 6. Rather than deny the accusation, Jesus takes it. He basically says, “Yes, my Father and I always work, even on the Sabbath.” 1. As Jesus makes his claim to be the Son of God, we must remember that the Jews were monotheist, they believed in one God. They we’re not trinitarian (One God, three distinct persons),this was a teaching that was illuminated by Christ and the teaching of the New Testament. Therefore, what they heard was Jesus claim something similar to what the Serpent offered Eve in the Genesis account: to be a rival to, or equal with God. To the Jews this heresy and blasphemy - deserving death. 2. But Jesus teaching here clearly shows that he does not replace the Father, nor is he an alternative to the Father. He is the only son of the Father, the one the Father loves…. 3. “What Jesus, as the one and only Son of God, claimed was to be sent by God, on mission for God, doing the works of God, obedient to God, and bringing glory to God. That is not the role of someone who displaces God but one who is a representative or emissary of God.” -Borchert 7. Jesus clearly shows his equality as well as his subordination to the Father and therefore his authority over the Sabbath. 8. Jesus authority over the Sabbath comes from the fact of his relationship to the Father. 3. Jesus Breaks the Sabbath as a Sign. 1. The last thing we need to understand is why is Jesus breaking the Sabbath on purpose? 2. Remember the signs of John are not just miracles they are pointers, they are indicators of what Jesus is here to do. As we saw with Jesus turning the water to wine being a picture of what Jesus has come to bring- he has come to bring celebration and ultimate joy. 3. so also his work of healing the boy or healing the lame man at bethesda is a picture that Christ has come to restore. All of the signs that Jesus does in the book of John point to his ultimate work of Joy, restoration and Sabbath… 4. What’s this sign saying then? I think something like this. My Father and I created a perfect world, a paradise, and then we rested, not that we were tired, but stepped back as it were to enjoy the perfect display of our own glory revealed in our creative handiwork. That’s what Sabbath is for—the restful, focused, enjoyment of God. 5. But then sin entered the world, and through sin came sickness and calamity and death. And from that moment, my Father and I have been working again. We have been working—in many ways that you don’t understand—to restore a Sabbath paradise to the universe. We have been working to overcome sin and sickness and death. 6. Even your own law, which contains the Sabbath command, was part of our working to conquer sin and hold back the miseries of unrighteousness and point you forward to a Messiah, a Savior, who would come and perform the decisive acts of restoration and transformation toward the new heavens and the new earth. 7. When I heal a man, and intentionally do it on the Sabbath, I am showing you something about myself. What was happening at the pool of Bethesda was that my Father and I were revealing the world that is coming. It is a world in which there will be no sickness and a world in which there will be no sin. “My Father is working until now, and I am working” to bring about the true and the final rest! Conclusion: “The purpose of Sabbath is not simply to rejuvenate yourself in order to do more production, nor is it the pursuit of pleasure. The purpose of Sabbath is to enjoy your God, life in general, what you have accomplished in the world through his help, and the freedom you have in the gospel—the freedom from slavery to any material object or human expectation. The Sabbath is a sign of the hope that we have in the world to come.” - Tim Keller Isn’t this what Sabbath is? We can rest because our God does not rest day or night until the bringing in of his righteous reign? Shabbat or Sabbath is such a special time for Jews that it has been likened to the Messianic Age. A well-known midrash (ancient Hebrew commentary) expresses this thought: When God was about to give the Torah to the Jewish people, God summoned the people and said to them: "My children, I have something precious that I would like to give you for all time, if you will accept My Torah and observe my commandments.” The people then asked: "Rule of the universe, what is that precious gift You have for us?” The Holy One, blessed by God, replied: "It is the world-to-come (the Messianic Age)!” The Holy One, blessed be God, said: The Shabbat is a sample of the world-to-come, for that world will be one long Shabbat." What does Sabbath mean for us? We can truly rest. We can truly lay our work down. Christians of all people should be people who are free from workaholism, who are free from worry, not because we have everything figured out, and not because what we do doesn’t matter, and working hard doesn’t matter, but because we know ultimately that God is working all things together for our good, for our glorious future. We can rest because our Father is always working… We can also rest spiritually from the work of self righteousness or self justification. In Christ we have already passed through judgment, and God has justified us, we stand before him clothed in the righteousness of Christ. He accepts us now, as we are… Also, there is an offer, for those who have never known this kind of physical rest or spiritual rest. You don’t even know or remember what it means to have a good night of sleep, or peace in your life, because you constantly worry. Today you can know the one who is constantly at work, the one who sustains you and gives you breath even as you sleep. Today you can know the one who says, Behold I was dead and I am alive forever more and I have the keys of hell and death. You can know the one who is the final judge, the one who has authority to pardon and to condemn.