BEING AT REST IN THE PRESENCE OF JESUS WHO HEALS: THAT’S WHAT THE SABBATH IS ABOUT
Prayer: Lord Jesus, at our dinner tables we ask You to be our Guest. But there’s a greater table: Your holy Supper, Your body with the bread and with the wine the blood You shed. You say this food is for souls who are distressed, for hearts that long for peace and rest. You make it so we will be Yourguest, at Your banquet we’ll be blest. Amen. (Adapted from “Jesus Christ, Our Blessed Savior” v. 2, 6, 8)
Sermon Text, St. Luke 14:1-11 (v. 1-4). Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and the Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him and let him go.
Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your Words. Purify our hearts by the truth. Your Word is truth. Lead us to walk in Your truth so that we rest in You. Amen.
Dear people loved by God in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God the Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
I count seven different times in the gospels that Jesus was criticized or accused by the Pharisees and others for what He did on the Sabbath, often because He healed someone. They considered this work, and thus breaking the Sabbath law. Here we have the seventh and last of these confrontations.
In this case it was obviously a trap. Jesus had been invited to someone’s house for a meal. This someone was a Pharisee – not just a Pharisee but one of the leaders of the Pharisees. He would be known as someone very scrupulous about keeping all the laws, especially the Sabbath.
He not only invited Jesus to his house for a meal, but made it for a Sabbath day, with many guests. It was a trap, because he also made sure this “man who had dropsy” would be there. (Luke, who was a physician, wants us to know precisely his medical condition.) Today we call this “edema,” retaining fluid due to another condition; there’s swelling or bloating in the legs or feet. Guess where they put this man? It says: “before Jesus,” right in front of Him.
This is ugly. The guy invites Jesus, making it sound wonderful. He invites this poor ailing man, tells him Jesus will be there, giving him hope of being healed, this chief Pharisee making it sound like he thinks it’s a good thing. But he wants Jesus to heal him just to accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath law. He’s just using the man so he can bring down Jesus and also look good to his Pharisee friends. This is what he uses the Sabbath for?!
What Jesus makes clear is that they didn’t know what the Sabbath was for. They didn’t know what the Sabbath was really about.
The commandment about the Sabbath is the 3rd commandment. The way I learned it as a youth, it says: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” In the newer catechisms we say, “You shall keep the day of rest holy,” removing the word Sabbath. The reason for this is so we know what it’s really about.
God did set the day aside as a day of rest. But this is the part of the com-mandment that was part of Israel’s ceremonial law: religious ceremonies like the sacrifices, the rules for being clean or unclean in regard to worship, etc. Resting the seventh day of the week was part of that. These were all signs that pointed to Christ and would only be valid until He came and fulfilled all the Law. These ceremonial laws don’t apply to us now that Christ has come. The “seventh day” part of the commandment doesn’t apply to us. In freedom under Christ, we Christians worship on Sunday.
It was part of how they were to wait for the Messiah: not passively, not just sitting around, but worshipping in a way that would say the Messiah had not come yet, but you were waiting for Him. This was exercising their faith. To abstain from work, to rest on the Sabbath was saying: “I’m waiting for the Messiah.” So what was the Sabbath about? It was about Christ.
It wasn’t just about physical rest, although that’s certainly in the picture. God created our bodies, He knows we need rest, and He provides that. But He takes care of us both physically and spiritually, body and soul. Even with rest for the body being a part of the Pharisees’ understanding, it’s amazing that they want to insist it’s a sin to help this man’s physical pain.
But the reason God had them set aside this day was to worship Him. This is the part of the commandment that does apply to everyone still. It is a sin to neglect worship except, for instance, if you’re sick or required to work. This part is why we think of this as the “go to church” commandment. But it’s not just that we go to church. We can wreck the Sabbath even if we go to church – by making it be about us, or social time, or how pious we are and how sincerely or well we praise God. What do you come to church for? It’s to hear God’s Word, to nourish your faith, to be forgiven by God, to be comforted. It’s to see Jesus. The worship must center on Him!
Martin Luther says about the 3rd Commandment in the Large Catechism that it’s “not sitting with folded hands behind the stove and doing no rough work, or putting on our best clothes. But we occupy ourselves with God’s Word and exercise ourselves in the Word. Indeed, we Christians ought always to keep such a holy day, and be occupied with nothing but holy things. This means we should daily be engaged with God’s Word, and carry it in our hearts and upon our lips. God’s Word is the treasure that sanctifies everything.” See, all of this is about the Word.
So now to return to the dinner that Jesus was invited to, we see two things that happen. The first is that Jesus heals the man: “He took him and healed him, and let him go.” The second thing we see is that Jesus speaks about people who exalt themselves, who come in and “sit down in the best place,” presuming to have a higher status or better place than others. This is what He was seeing as He looked around the room. They were self-righteous men who considered themselves to be in the right with God for how meticulously they obeyed the Sabbath law and other laws. They weren’t thinking at all about looking toward the Messiah coming – only thinking of themselves and how good they were, or better than others. So Jesus says: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Applying this to ourselves, the 3rd commandment, and how we worship, we can see what Jesus is clearly teaching us: that the point of the “day of rest” and the worship that God has instituted is that we see Jesus, that we are in His presence, and that we receive from Him what He wants to give.
What does He want to give? He wants to heal you. That’s why He came. That’s why He comes in the divine service. Why does He need to heal you? Because you have sins. Your sins make you unclean before God.
Just like the swelling of the man’s legs or feet was seen on the outside, but came from a condition of illness on the inside, the sins that you do that you’re so ashamed of and have terrible regrets about on the outside – things you’ve said, evil thoughts, the things you’ve done to hurt others or yourself, the good that you fail to do – they come from a sickness, a condition on the inside. It’s your sinful condition, the sinful corruption, the evil that’s inside you that’s your sinful nature. You can try everything to obey more carefully, to improve yourself. But it doesn’t work. It leaves you frustrated, disgusted with yourself, feeling pessimistic, hopeless. So your working can’t fix it.
But One is here, mighty for your cure. He came down and bore our infirmities. He became Sin, for you to become the righteousness of God in Him. Do you know the last time the Sabbath is mentioned in the gospels, is right after Jesus dies, and the Jews ask Pilate to do something about the bodies on the cross, because it was the Preparation Day for the Sabbath. And that’s when Jesus’ side is pierced, and blood and water pour out – the water being a picture of baptism, the blood picturing His Supper. See what He does? He makes it about His work, not yours. His gifts, not your obedience.
Jesus lived the life that’s demanded, kept the Law to the letter. It was to count for you. When He took the punishment you deserve and carried all your sin to the cross, He gave you His righteousness. He rose from the dead, He lives, so He can be your true Physician.
Jesus is here to give, for you to receive His healing. This is what His Word is for: to heal you from your sins and from the sin inside you. This is what Baptism is for: washing away sin. This is what the Lord’s Supper is for: for cleansing – making you clean from the sins you do and the sins done to you. This is what true worship is: being where Jesus is present to heal you.
He also makes it clear that when we come to worship, and in His Church, it isn’t about one person having a higher status than another. We come to be equally humbled by His Law, which shows us our sins and defeats self-righteous attitudes. Then His Gospel exalts you, lifts up your head, to see that your Savior – He who humbled Himself unto death and then was exalted in His resurrection – He’s smiling at you, He’s pleased with you, He enjoys you. His entire wish, in worship, is for you to enjoy Him.
Finally, we want to see that Jesus not only was invited by that Pharisee. He really chose this setting, used the occasion of a supper, and Jesus chooses to say “wedding feast” in His “parable” – can you guess why? When He says “wedding feast,” He has taught us to think “marriage feast of the Lamb,” in heaven. He has instituted a feast, a supper, on earth that is a picture of it.
In the Lord’s Supper, He has us come forward, humbly, bringing our sins to Him, coming into His presence. He is really present with His body and His blood in and with the bread and wine, through the speaking of His words. He is here. Why is He here? To heal you from all your sin: to give you perfect health in body, mind and spirit. He really does that. Then He exalts you; He lifts you up, lifts up your head, for your shame to be turned into glory. This is why you come to church. And this is what you take with you. Amen!