When Christ asked the Pharisees whether it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath, he was really asking whether they knew the purpose of this day of rest. And in the end, he is asking them if they know God’s salvation in the first place. And to this, they have no reply. For the Pharisees, the Lord’s salvation is severely misunderstood. In their eyes, the Old Testament laws of the sabbath should be kept by the letter in order to be a good Israelite and to be saved. In our Lord’s questioning, Jesus shows them the frailty of their interpretation as he asks them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” Here, Jesus shows the absurdity of their belief. For who would not put more value on saving a life in danger than a day of rest?
By healing this man from dropsy, the Lord teaches us that the sabbath day was created by God from the very beginning for the purpose of mankind. It was meant for hearing God’s word and for serving our neighbor. For one cannot be saved by strictly obeying the law, yet it also instructs us how to live our lives before God, and to our neighbor. As Jesus sums up the entire law in these two words: to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. If Jesus had turned the man away, he would have used the Ten Commandments against their purpose, and therefore neither would have shown love to this man nor to his father in heaven. The Lord instructed the Pharisees that the true meaning of the day of rest is to put aside our work for God and for neighbor.
It is for this reason that Christians should not neglect the third commandment, “You shall remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” We do not intend it as the Pharisees do, believing that by not lifting a finger on one day of the week, we will keep God’s word. Instead, Christians keep the third commandment whenever they hear the word of God. As Luther explains this commandment in his small catechism, “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and his word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” This is not a commandment that only affects us on Sunday, but in every day of our lives. For we find our day of rest whenever we hear the word of God. When we pray before meals, saying “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest…” When we wipe the dust off our catechisms to find comfort in those words we used to know so well. Either before we start our day or before we close our eyes to open our Portals of Prayer, to hear the words of Christ crucified for us. These are all times we keep the third commandment, not in order to be saved. Instead, because God desires us to find rest in his word.
Of course, there is Sunday morning Divine Service. This is where we, the people of God, find rest in the word of God as the community of the baptized. In this unique way, God comes to us all in the absolution pronounced by the ordained minister of the word, in the corporate reading of the scriptures, in the preaching of the word of God in the sermon, in the prayers as we commit our cares to the Lord. And finally, in the Lord’s supper. For holy communion is the very word of God, the body and blood of Christ, in bread and wine for your forgiveness, to restore you to the Father, and give you rest. It is in the Sunday service that you are drawn away from the worries of this world, which leave you anxious and dreadful for the next day. Your worries assail you, for the purpose of taking you away from the promises of God. For in the house of God, there is no poor or rich, as we are all poor sinners seeking the mercy of God. Here, there is no one who has better health than the other, for we are all infected and tormented by sin as we all come from the one Adam. And no matter how great your sin may be or how far it has led you astray from God, Christ Jesus is here to give you rest. If it’s your first time in church in a while, or you were here last week. God rest is for our good for all those who put their trust in him.
This miracle also teaches us that the sabbath is for our neighbor. For we hear the word of God and allow teachings to conform our lives, we find that keeping the third commandment brings us to the latter six. How we are to love and serve our neighbor. Just as Jesus loved this man and had compassion on him, the man was healed of his disease. The word of God teaches us to have compassion and mercy for those in need. The faith that is given to us by the Holy Spirit is not simply knowledge, beliefs, and principles that we know about God. Yet, when it is given to us, it is meant to be lived out, to conform us to his will, and make us more like Christ. So when we love our neighbor as ourselves, put the needs of others before our own, or act with mercy and compassion, we do not do this in order to be saved. We do this because we are given the gift of faith, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and saved through Christ. And when we do these things, it is Christ in us who does them. For apart from him, we cannot.
And if you feel that your mercy and compassion may be lacking, let me assure you that it is not. As they do not come from yourself, but they come from Christ Jesus. Rely on him and his word, and he will give you rest.
It is by the power of his cross and his suffering and death that our Lord Jesus Christ comes to give Sabbath rest. For he has first looked upon all humanity with mercy and compassion. And as he sees our human race lost and restless because of our sin, he takes sin upon himself and dies on the cross and rests in the Earth for three days. And as believers in Christ, we will inherit his eternal Sabbath in the kingdom of Heaven, where there will be no worry or anxiety or fear. And he comes to you even now as he says, “Come to me, all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” So let us come to him in this sacrament, and we will find rest for our souls.
St. John's and Grace Evangelical Lutheran Parish 