Basic Christian Apologetics

Did Jesus abolish the Sabbath?

"Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath." Mark 2:28

Most churches either dismiss the Sabbath as it existed under the Mosaic covenant or see Sunday as a substitute for the Sabbath as a sign of the Resurrection. I'll make the case that Jesus kept the Sabbath from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.

There are multiple attestations in the Gospels and the Book of Acts of the early Christians celebrating the Sabbath.

♣The apostles regularly went and participated in the synagogue services on the Sabbath, just like Jews and Gentiles, according to the book of Acts. (Acts 13:14, 44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4).

♣Luke notes that Paul followed this practise (Acts 17:2), just as Jesus did (Luke 4:16).

♣Jesus implies that the Sabbath will still be relevant throughout the historical events of Jerusalem's destruction in 70 AD, decades after his earthly ministry, in Matthew 24:20. In Matthew 5:17–20, Christ reaffirmed the continuance of the Sabbath law.

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and eat. 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

Was it unlawful to pluck the head of grains on the Sabbath? Is it Biblical?

When you go into your neighbour's grain field, you may pick the heads with your hand. But do not cut down any of your neighbour's standing grain. Deuteronomy 23:25

The debate centres not on the disciples' picking of grains on the Sabbath, which was permitted by the Torah (law), but rather on the Pharisees' viewpoint.

The disciples' activity was seen by the Pharisees as a form of harvesting. 39 categories of forbidden work on the Sabbath are listed in the later rabbinic literature known as the Mishnah (m. Sabbath 7.2) These prohibited activities include reaping and threshing. Removing fruit from its source was seen as a prohibited practice on the Sabbath, according to rabbinic literature.

Scripture says 'When you pick the food of your land at gathering time, do not pick all the way to the corners of your field. And do not gather the food left on the ground there after you have picked it. Do not gather what is left among your vines, or gather the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for those in need and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God.' Leviticus 19:9-10

Contrary to rabbinic laws, harvesting is significantly more important than eating it immediately. According to the law, picking grain heads with your hands is not the same as harvesting, which entails using a sickle to plough through the grain. The claims of the Pharisees suggest that at least some of these Sabbath restrictions were in place in the first century. The disciples weren't harvesting anything. Therefore, they were not breaking the Torah's prohibition against keeping the Sabbath. On the basis of their own traditions, the Pharisees were judging the disciples.

What laws were the Pharisees obeying?

Talmud also called the oral traditions was later a man-made rabbinic invention which was practised by none of the prophets and Jesus never approved it. These added extra weightage to the law that was not approved by God. There are many sayings in the Talmud that are contrary to the law of God.

Jesus defends his disciples by quoting 1 Samuel 21:1-6 and Leviticus 24:9

'David came to Ahimelech the priest at Nob. Ahimelech came shaking in fear to meet David, and said to him, "Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?" David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has given me something to do. And he has said to me, 'Let no one know anything about what I have sent you to do.' I have told the young men to meet at a certain place. Now, what do you have ready? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you may have." The priest answered David, "I only have bread which has been set apart as holy if only the young men have kept themselves from women." And David told the priest, "For sure women have been kept from us while we have travelled. The bodies of the young men are holy even on everyday trips. How much more they are today!" So the priest gave him the holy bread. For there was no bread there but the bread before the Lord. It was taken from before the Lord, so hot bread could be put in its place.' 1 Samuel 21:1-6