# Christ vs The Pharisees on Sabbath



## Amazing Grace (Feb 7, 2010)

Why do you all think Christ purposely 'did things' on the Sabbath in front of the pharisees continuously? And what was their perverted Sabbath Law understanding?


----------



## Scott1 (Feb 7, 2010)

What the Pharisees often did with regard to God's Law (Fourth Command and others) was:

1) added man-made regulations to it
2) believed their salvation was maintained before God by their (self) righteousness
3) obeyed outwardly but not with right inward motivation


----------



## Amazing Grace (Feb 7, 2010)

Scott1 said:


> What the Pharisees often did with regard to God's Law (Fourth Command and others) was:
> 
> 1) added man-made regulations to it
> 2) believed their salvation was maintained before God by their (self) righteousness
> 3) obeyed outwardly but not with right inward motivation



This is a definition of a pharisee in general Scott. Can you or anyone else be more explicit? For some odd reason, Christ attacked them on the sabbath more than any other day of the week. There must be a specific reason for this, and this is what I am searching for. Was Christ confronting the heretical halakah?


----------



## Semper Fidelis (Feb 7, 2010)

Robert,

You'd need to ask about specific examples. Here's an exhortation I delivered on Luke 6:1-11 for your consideration: http://www.solideogloria.com/article/20090607-Jesus-lord-sabbath-luke-6111

I think it's probably more accurate to say that the Pharisees were constantly "picking fights" and looking for ways to trap Jesus. As a good Shepherd, in this instance, He was wont to defend His sheep against the charge they were breaking the Law (which He did) and then, in His mercy, He certainly was not going to leave a man crippled on the Sabbath and corrects their faulty understanding of the Law.

You can see parallels in Christ's condemnation of the Pharisees in the condemnations by Ezekiel and other Prophets. There is a prophetic wrath against the hardness of heart. The people had been left without a shepherd because the undershepherds didn't care about their flock but, as promised, God Himself would be their shepherd and Christ repeatedly "cleans house" in pointing out that He's the shepherd who's rescuing the remnant from neglectful under-shepherds.



> Ezekiel 34:2–10 (ESV) — 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. 6 My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them. 7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 8 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 10 Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.



Here are some excerpts from Jewish tradition, which Christ was contending with:


> *4.8 The Dispute over the Disciples’ Plucking of Grain on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23–28; Luke 6:1–5; Matt. 12:1–8) (JaS 38)
> *
> 
> m. Šabbat 7.2*
> ...


----------



## Scott1 (Feb 7, 2010)

> This passage from the Mishnah,
> 
> ....A. He who is concerned about his teeth may not suck vinegar through them.



Now, THAT'S legalism,

in the form of attempting to bind men's consciences with man-made rules as a standard of God's righteousness.


----------



## jwithnell (Feb 7, 2010)

Christ was preserving the real sabbath: rest and worship in God and looking forward to our eternal rest, while refuting the "fencing" of the law practice by the pharisees and detailed in a much more scholarly way in previous posts to this thread ....


----------



## Peairtach (Feb 7, 2010)

Jesus, as the Jew _par excellence _and the Christian _par excellence_, obviously thought the weekly Sabbath was very important, unlike many of today's Christians.

He sought to clear it of Pharisaic additions that exceeded anything over zealous Christian Sabbatarians have ever thought up, but He never struck it out of the 10C or indicated that it was going to be abolished.

It will be noticed that we have nothing like the wealth of Gospel material on the other Jewish Holy Days as we have on the weekly Sabbath. Why? Because the weekly Sabbath was made for Man, whereas the other holy days, whatever we may learn from them, were made for the Old Covenant Jews.

Thus the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Triunity, by inspiring the Evangelists to record these weekly Sabbath events, as well as Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Triunity, both emphasise, in the Gospels, the importance of the Christian Sabbath/Lord's Day for the New Covenant Christian until we enter into Christ's Heavenly Rest with Him.

Christ has entered into that Rest. The departed saints have entered into that Rest. But we haven't entered into that Rest in its fullness until we join our Lord and Saviour in the Heavenly Kingdom. There remains therefore the keeping of a Sabbath unto the [New Covenant] people of God (Heb. 4:9).


----------



## Amazing Grace (Feb 8, 2010)

Richard Tallach said:


> Jesus, as the Jew _par excellence _and the Christian _par excellence_, obviously thought the weekly Sabbath was very important, unlike many of today's Christians.
> 
> He sought to clear it of Pharisaic additions that exceeded anything over zealous Christian Sabbatarians have ever thought up, but He never struck it out of the 10C or indicated that it was going to be abolished.
> 
> ...



Rich, I hope you do not think I was attempting to abolish the Sabbath!! Just wonderin why Christ attacked them most on this day....

---------- Post added at 06:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:45 AM ----------




Semper Fidelis said:


> Robert,
> 
> You'd need to ask about specific examples. Here's an exhortation I delivered on Luke 6:1-11 for your consideration: http://www.solideogloria.com/article/20090607-Jesus-lord-sabbath-luke-6111
> 
> ...


 
Rich:

Thank you.This is more in line with my question. I have also read that the Pharisitical understanding of the sabbath was held by a small minority of Jews in those days. Perhaps they, (Jews) were more pluralistic than I originally thought.


----------



## Scott1 (Feb 8, 2010)

> *Amazing Grace*
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yes, we often think of the Pharisee in these terms.

Perhaps though it better defines what we call "legalism," which we tend to think of as characterizing the Pharisee.

It has helpful to understand that the Pharisee in his day thought himself as the one holding Israel to God's laws in the face of the pagan cultures Israel was influenced by. The Pharisee thought he was reforming Judaism back to what it had drifted from- the Mosaic law and all its applications.

One reason the Lord called them on it so frequently was that it betrayed their belief that they could add to it, by virtue of their superior motives. Also, that their hearts were not right inwardly, out of faith and obedience- that's why they often so fiercely denied and rejected the Messiah to whom the Law pointed.

All of those attributes of "legalism" are tendencies we as fallen, prideful human beings can fall into... and must repent of regularly as we grow in Christ.


----------



## Peairtach (Feb 8, 2010)

> Rich, I hope you do not think I was attempting to abolish the Sabbath!! Just wonderin why Christ attacked them most on this day....



We don't necessarily know if Jesus attacked the Pharisees most on this day, because there is much that Jesus did and said that isn't recorded in the Gospels. But presumably the Holy Spirit's choice of material reflects what was most important.

I was trying to point out that one reason why Jesus may have attacked them most on this day was because of the preciousness of God's Day to Him and therefore He viewed it as very important to clear this Day of false teaching which was ruining it.

Also this may be why the Holy Spirit records so many instances of this.

Of course the Pharisees may have been also particularly sensitive to breaches of their additional Mishnah laws (the so-called "Oral Law") regarding this day.


----------



## KMK (Feb 8, 2010)

When did Jesus 'attack' the Pharisees? He often 'stumbled' the Pharisees on the Sabbath by his healings and exorcisms but that is only because the Sabbath, more than other days, is set aside for the purpose of acts of mercy.


----------

