The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 154

HOMILETICS. Vers. l-ll.-C'7irist and the sabbath <lay. No feature of Christ's ministry le more 11triking than his attitude towards the sabhRth of Israel, His first cou.fl.ict with the Jewish authorities was 11.'!SOCiated with the sabbath. St. John tells us the story of this conflict in the fift~ chap~r of his Gospel. A man, paralyzed for thirty-eight years, had heard the voice, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk;" and, made instantly whole, he had gathered up the pallet which for so long had been stretched by the Pool of Bethesda, and had walked. "It is the sabbath day l" cried the narrow pedants who sat in Moses' chair; "it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed." From that hour one of the things which spies and emissaries were instructed specially to watch was the conduct of Jesus on the sabbath. Behold the opportunity of accusation that is sup• plied in the incidents here related-two incidents, if not on the same sabbath, at lca"t on sabbaths separated by a very short interval from each other. In these incidents -the plucking and rubbing of the ears of cor.i, and the healing of the man with the withered hand-there are presented lessons of permanent value. Two points in par- ticular may be noticed. I. The question-Is THE SABBATH OF THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT CONTINUED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT OF OUR LoRD A..."ID SAVIOUR? In the light of Christ's teaching we can distinguish between what was dispensational and temporary and what is abiding because rooted in the fitness of things, The Christian sabbath is not merely the Jewish sabbath continued. It is a new day, reminding us of a new state of things, conjoining with the remembrance of the creation in the beginning the witness for the new creation, the new making of things in heaven and earth, through the resurrection of the Lord, calling us to acts of worship and praise and to offerings of love as tho Israelitioh sabbath <lid not. Ours is not the seventh, but the first day, and this first day is the Lord's day. To surround it with vexing and irksome restrictions is to take us ha.ck from the substance into the dim land of shadows. But, this said, the balancing atJd completing truth must not be omitted. It is urgtd by some that the fourth commandment is no longer our authority. But why is that commandment one of the ten great words? Is it not because it is the expression of something essentiaUy and therefore permanently right? because behind it there is the original commandment of the Creator-that which is written in our human nature? The sabl:ath-this is the testimony of Jesus-was no mere dispensational ordinance, no mere local or tribal arrangement. Grand and solemn is the word, "The sabbath was made for man." It is not by doing away with it, but by bringing into view its right proportions and its highest benefits, that he proves himself the Lord of the sabbath. What is the truth of the supremacy thus claimed? Some persons take the sentence of the fifth verse, "The Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath,tt as implying that any one bum of woman has authority to subordinate to the sense of his own need the sabbath which was made for rna.n. Even supposing that this use of the word " Son of man" were allowable, is the conclusion drawn permissible? Would the idea for an instant be tolerated that, because laws are imposed by the ruler for the benefit of bis subjects each subject might change them or dispense with them at his own convenience? But the;e can be no doubt that the "Son of man" spoken of is Christ himself, the second Adam, the repreaentative Man. He-realizing, on the one hand, the true pur['0&e of the sabbath, and discriminating, on the other, between such a. use as shall en. VI. 1--4!1.) nm GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 161