Repairing
the Breach
// 3
“At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
Matthew 12:1 & 2 (NKJV)
“And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, ‘Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!’
Matthew 12:1 & 2 (NKJV)
“For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.“
Matthew 23:4 (NKJV)
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me,
Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV)
“for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV)
“‘Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means,
Matthew 12:6–8 (NKJV)
“‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.’“
Matthew 12:6–8 (NKJV)
“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.“
Mark 2:27 & 28 (NKJV)
“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done,
Genesis 2:1-3 (NKJV)
“and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
Genesis 2:1-3 (NKJV)
In his rest, God made himself uniquely available to Adam and Eve.
This was not just an exemplary act, it was a demonstrative act of what mattered most: knowing God.
John 17:3 (NKJV)
“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.“
Mark 2:27 & 28 (NKJV)
Jesus asserts that, as the head of humanity to whom the gift of Sabbath had been given, he was within his rights to define its use.
“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
Matthew 12:7 (NIV)
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
Romans 10:1–3 (NIV)
“For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.”
Romans 10:1–3 (NIV)
“So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.”
Mark 3:2 (NKJV)
“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
Matthew 12:10 (ESV)
“Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"
Mark 3:4 (NKJV)
“But they kept silent. And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts."
Mark 3:4 & 5 (NKJV)
“They were following upon his track to find occasion for falsely accusing him; they were hunting his life with bitter hatred and malice, while he was saving life, and bringing happiness to many hearts. Was it better to slay upon the Sabbath,
—Ellen White (2 SP 199)
“as they were planning to do, than to heal the afflicted, as he had done? Was it more righteous to have murder in the heart upon God's holy day, than to have that love toward all men which finds expression in deeds of charity and mercy?”
“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues;
John 16:1-3 (NKJV)
yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.”
John 16:1-3 (NKJV)
“What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?”
Matthew 12:11 (ESV)
What’s the problem in their logic?
“Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Matthew 12:12 (ESV)
“Then He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.”
Matthew 12:13 (NKJV)
“Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.”
Matthew 12:14 (NKJV)
“When Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, ‘Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.’ And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
Luke 13:12 & 13 (NKJV)
“But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation … and he said to the crowd, ’There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.‘”
Luke 13:14 (NKJV)
“Six days you shall labor and do all your work.”
Deuteronomy 5:13 (NKJV)
“Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?
Luke 13:15 & 16 (NKJV)
“So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”
Luke 13:15 & 16 (NKJV)
She had been sick for 18 years, so she would have been at no risk waiting to be healed until after the Sabbath. Thus, Jesus’ act of healing was fully deliberate.
“Then He said, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?
Luke 13:18-21 (NKJV)
“‘It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.
Luke 13:18-21 (NKJV)
“And again He said, ‘To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.’”
Luke 13:18-21 (NKJV)
“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.”
Luke 14:1 (NKJV)
“And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
Luke 14:2 & 3 (NKJV)
“And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’ But they kept silent.”
Luke 14:2-4 (NKJV)
“And He took him and healed him, and let him go. Then He answered them, saying, ’Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit,
Luke 14:4-6 (NKJV)
“will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?’ And they could not answer Him regarding these things.”
Luke 14:4-6 (NKJV)
John 5:1-3 (NLT)
“Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches.
John 5:4-6 (NLT)
“One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, ‘Would you like to get well?’
John 5:7-8 (NLT)
“‘I can’t, sir,’ the sick man said, ‘for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.’ Jesus told him, ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!’
John 5:9 (NLT)
“ Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath .”
“For this reason He had chosen the Sabbath upon which to perform the act of healing at Bethesda. He could have healed the sick man as well on any other day of the week; or He might simply have cured him, without bidding him bear away his bed. But this would not
“have given Him the opportunity He desired. A wise purpose underlay every act of Christ's life on earth. Everything He did was important in itself and in its teaching. Among the afflicted ones at the pool He selected the worst case upon whom to exercise His healing power,
“and bade the man carry his bed through the city in order to publish the great work that had been wrought upon him. This would raise the question of what it was lawful to do on the Sabbath,
—Ellen White (DA 206)
“and would open the way for Him to denounce the restrictions of the Jews in regard to the Lord's day, and to declare their tradition void.”
“The Sabbath was Christ's busiest day for healing the sick. On this day He could best reach those who were laboring during the week. Wherever He went, He was a medical missionary, an unerring physician, speaking words of comfort and love!
“From Him flowed a stream of healing power, and the sick were made whole. He healed men and women with unhesitating willingness and with hearty joyfulness; for He was glad to be able to restore suffering ones to health.”
—Ellen White (5 MR 84)
“So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.’”
John 5:16–17 (NIV)
So what is God’s work?
Luke 4:18-21 (NKJV)
“‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
“‘To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’
Luke 4:18-21 (NKJV)
“Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. … And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’”
Luke 4:18-21 (NKJV)