In Luke 6:1-11, we have two cases in which Jesus and His disciples are falsely accused by the Pharisees of breaking the Sabbath. And in both cases Jesus responds by showing them that the problem that the Pharisees had was that they had missed the whole point of the Lord's Day.

The Sabbath Day was meant to be a blessing from God. The Sabbath was made for us to rest in Christ. The Sabbath was made for us to worship God. The Sabbath was made for us to put the busyness of the week aside so we can ENJOY Christ without the distractions of the world.

Over 150 years ago, J.C. Ryle said, “Our Sundays and how we use them is one of the most sure signs of our spiritual condition.” The reason that some people feel the Sabbath to be a burden and not a blessing, is because these people are not really enjoying what God intended us to enjoy on the sabbath, namely, himself!

We can miss the point if our hearts aren't right, because you can't worship the Lord unless your heart is set on the right thing. And the problem began with the Pharisees not just with their misinterpretation, but within their hearts, being in the wrong place. They’d missed the whole point of the Sabbath Day, and Jesus makes that clear, and we can do the same if Jesus is not our Lord of the Sabbath! How do you use your Fridays? How do you use your Lord's Day? What's at the heart of your Lord's Day?

Luke is telling us something that not only reveals the hearts of the Pharisees and what was the heart of their experience of the Sabbath, but he is also forcing us to look at our own hearts and ask ourselves, "who is the Lord of our Sabbath?"

Discussion Questions

1. Can you remember the definition of Sabbath?

2. Read Isaiah 56v1-7; 58v13-14; Jeremiah 17v10-27; Lamentations 1:7; 2:6; Ezekiel 20v1-26; 22v1-8; Daniel 9v1-10. What was the burden of these prophets? And what evidence were they looking for from the people?

3. Read Luke 10v30-37 and describe some similarities with 1 Samuel 21, then explain why Jesus uses the story of David (1Sam21) to defend his actions in Luke 6v3.

4. What does Jesus mean in Luke 6v9: “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm…?”