July 19, 2026 - The Gospel of Luke - Week 12 - Lord Over it All

Highland Christian Church - Asheville, NC

Communicator - Jason Garris

Luke 6:1-11 - "I am Lord even over the Sabbath." Jesus confronts rigid religious practice and reclaims what the law was meant to do.

Transcript

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Understanding Sabbath this way. God was not trying to put another burden on people. It was meant to free them from their burdens by drawing their eyes back to God. That's exactly what the Pharisees meant. This gift. Sabbath sounds amazing when you're thinking about it this way. This gift had become a burden for all the people now. Instead of helping people see the god who reigns, they turned Sabbath into something people had to survive. They became more concerned with protecting the rules of the kingdom rather than knowing the actual king. The gift turned into a burden because of man-made traditions. Welcome in everyone. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the pastors of Highland Christian Church. And on behalf of our team, I just wanted to say thanks for taking some time to journey with us through the scripture. Our hope is that these words would cause you to think carefully about this Jesus we proclaim and that you would choose to trust him in your day-to-day. And as always, if you're in the Asheville area, whether you live here or you're visiting, we'd love for you to come join us at the corner of Livingston and Depot Street in person at the Dr. Wesley Grant Senior Southside Center. Our prayer is that God's words would equip you for every good work that He's prepared for you to do today. All right, so I may I may be um dating myself by asking this, but I mean, again, when when a when a store is open in 1902, who's you're you're dating yourself if you refer to anything? So how many of you have shopped at a JC Penny's before? Anybody? All right. So when I was in high school, I started going into JC Penny's, and I think JCPenney was kind of on the way down. The the lights in there were bad, the paints was bad, but they had these bins of like deals. So I would be able to come home and be like, I got this shirt for $3, I got this shirt for $5, I got this shirt, you know, it was amazing, okay? Well, in 2011, and I didn't realize that this was a huge debacle in JCPenney's world, but in 2011, they hired the guy who designed the Apple store to come in and make JCPenney relevant again. All right. And they got rid of all the things that made JCPenney JC Penny. Now, JCPenney was actually founded, they were called in 1902 Golden Rule Stores. They were, they were called golden rule stores because he wanted to do unto others as he would have them do unto him. So they were, you know, it was lots of coupons, lots of bargains. Like he loved the idea of hunting for something and finding a value, and people who were middle America loved the idea of saving a dollar. And so JCPenney was like, he loved the hunt. That was the point of some of these stores. In 2011, the executive who put this plan in place to make JCPenney relevant and cool, they got rid of all the bargain bins, they got rid of all the little red stripes across the tags, and everything was one price, and you knew what price it was, and it became more boutique style and bright lights, and everyone hated it. In 17 months, this dude was actually fired, and it there's there's books written on this dude and him getting fired for this job because he didn't know the message of the founder. He didn't know that the idea of JCPenney was founded with these people in mind, and he lost them, right? And the so there's all these different studies on the farther you get away from the founder or the CEO, you can get away from the mission, you can get away from the meaning, you can get away from the heart. And we've seen it happen to tons of businesses that we know and love, especially when there's a takeover or all those different things. And so, with this, we're gonna see something like that in the Pharisees in Luke chapter 6. This image that we're listening, that we're gonna actually read through, is gonna cause us to question can we be so obsessed with doing Christianity right that we're gonna drift from the one who founded it? And what I mean by that is, can we become so passionate about protecting our practices of faith that we end up practicing Christianity without looking like Jesus? And I think it's possible. The Pharisees are a picture of that. Luke chapter 6, one Sabbath day, as Jesus was walking through some grain fields, his disciples broke off heads of grain, rubbed off the husks in their hands, and ate the grain. But some Pharisees said, Why are you breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath? The last couple of interactions we've seen with the Pharisees in Luke chapter 5 alone, the last couple of weeks, they've had a lot of questions. In the last chapter, Luke chapter 5 alone, who does Jesus think he is for giving sin? Why is he eating with sinners and scum? How come you guys don't fast like we do, and John's disciples do? So there the tension is building with the Pharisees, and Luke is communicating that. And Jesus just keeps getting knocked and notched down in the Pharisees' view, because in their mind he does not do things the way a holy person should. Right? The Pharisees weren't trying to be villains because they really didn't want Israel to go back into exile. And if Jesus is coming in doing things the wrong way and messing up God's ways, then if that happens and the people start following Jesus, we're gonna go back into exile. So we cannot have that. And so the Pharisees came about to make sure Israel did not break God's laws or brought or God's ways so they could stay where they were. But over time, protecting God's law became way more important to them than reflecting God's heart. There's a problem, there's a disconnect. Now, why were the Pharisees so offended? Their eyes, they were that why were they so mad about what Jesus was doing? Especially, and it seems like that's such it's not a big deal. Like they're walking through a grain field, they're they break some head of the wheat off, and they're either eating it. Why are they so frustrated? Well, the word Sabbath, as we can best understand it, does not mean relax. All right, some of us think Sabbath means just chill, relax. It's actually not a positive word, it's actually a negative word. Stop. That's what Sabbath means. Stop it. Like I know we're like Sabbath, I just need a Sabbath rest. I need a spa. It sounds like spa, and so somehow I think we think Sabbath and Spa go together. No, it just means stop it. And for Israel, Sabbath keeping or to cease or to stop from creating was the day God gifted humanity with in the creation account. So this is not just going back to Exodus 20 and the Ten Commandments. This is actually a command written in the fabric of creation. Like you need it for your health because God is like, you gotta stop. Okay? And so it's written there, it's a unique sign to their relationship with God. It was not something that all the nations around them did. So this was unique to Israel, and it was a sign that they were a part of the covenant. And so what Jesus is doing is he's doing something, he's giving food, they're eating, they're actually living out what the Sabbath was meant to be done with, as they're being fed and they're being nourished and all of the things. And the Pharisees have an issue with this. After God created and separated everything in Genesis, he gives unique boundaries and distinctions, and he names everything, and he says it's very good on day six. Genesis chapter two says this. On the seventh day, God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all of his work of creation. When Genesis says that God rested, it doesn't mean God was tired or he took a nap. Okay? And I know some of you parents have used God rested, so take your nap, son, right? Like we don't need to say it that way because he did not take a nap. Yes, it means that he stopped his work of creation, but in the ancient world, when a king finished building his kingdom or people finished building a temple to their God, that king or that God was expected to come and take his rest on the throne, not by going to sleep, but when a king sits in his throne, he is resting in his authority. This is all mine, everything is mine. And so it was understood that after building and creation was completed, resting was going to be the part of the king or that God. It's on the sixth day that God creates human beings. And believe me, it's not lost on me that the very first thing Adam and Eve get to do is wake up to rest. They were created on the last day. It's not like God was like, I'm gonna create Adam and Eve at the very beginning and day one, and y'all just gonna work real hard, and you're gonna get to the last day, and then you can rest. No, you know what the first thing is they get to do when they wake up? Rest. And then he sends them and says, Go, be fruitful, multiply. That's an amazing picture of the gospel. It really is. Like Genesis to Revelation is one story, and it's a reminder that we work from rest, not for it. Some of you all are like, I'm working for the weekend, I'm working for the vacation. That's gonna kill you. But if you're able to go, I get to work from a place of everything is completed, and I'm not trying to prove or earn acceptance or my value or my worth ever again, even if I fail, it doesn't make me a failure. I get to rest in what God has done. That's how we're sent into the world. We aren't working for the weekend, folks. We work from the rest that God has gifted us with. Genesis presents creation as God's temple. And that's what's unique about this story in Genesis. The world isn't simply a place that God made, it's the place where God chooses to reign with his people. Right? In traditional uh Near Eastern creation stories, you'll see a temple that's built by a God. And what that God will do is he'll say, Now you go out there and bring me all of my resources. God doesn't do that. In fact, in Isaiah chapter 45, it says, For the Lord is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. I am the Lord, he says, and there is no other. Isaiah 66 says, This is what the Lord says: Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that? I love that, right? Where everybody's building a temple for their God or for their king, and God's like, heaven and earth are mine. You think you could build me a temple better than that? No, you could not. Could you build me such a resting place? There's the word, right? Not sleeping, but a place where I will rule from. My hands have made both heaven and earth. They and everything in them are mine, I the Lord have spoken. So Sabbath was never primarily about recovering from your exhaustion. That is the way we picture it. It was about stopping long enough to remember who is king. Is it your money? Is it your next fix? Who's king? And it's an opportunity to be reminded that God is king. It is a weekly and it's seven days, right? Six days of work. Seventh day was the Sabbath, the last day of the week was their resting day. So remember, God is creator, God is provider, God is sustainer, God is enough. I can stop striving because God is reigning. Right? I mean, I've seen the shirts, right? God, God rested, so take your nap, right? Now, if you're saying that God took a nap, I disagree with you. But if you're saying God is resting on his throne, so go ahead and close your eyes, go to sleep, he's still at work, then I agree with you. Right? God is reigning on his throne, so please take your nap. Please get some rest. Please close your eyes. Understanding Sabbath this way, that God was not trying to put another burden on people, it was meant to free them from their burdens by drawing their eyes back to God. And that's exactly what the Pharisees forgot. This gift, which Sabbath sounds amazing when you're thinking about it this way. This gift had become a burden for all the people now. Instead of helping people see the God who reigns, they turned Sabbath into something people had to survive. They became more concerned with protecting the rules of the kingdom rather than knowing the actual king. It's a gift turned into a burden because of man-made traditions. Now we can talk about the grain. Once you understand God's purpose for Sabbath, suddenly the grain is not the issue anymore. The issue becomes whether the Pharisees have misunderstood the gift of Sabbath that God has given them. And what's the big deal? Walking through a grain field, popping the heads off of grain, rubbing it between their fingers. And the Pharisees are somewhere hiding in bushes, going, Aha, we see you working, Jesus. We see your disciples working. They were preparing a meal for themselves on a day when they were supposed to stop. They were eating the edible part of the wheat from the chaff, they were separating the chaff, and that was actually called threshing, and you weren't supposed to do that. Now there are some people, and I've seen them do it, where if you can take the moisture or the sweat from your hands and you can rub the grain together, you can actually make this paste and roll it up, this ball, and you can eat it. It's kind of disgusting because it's made with your own sweat. But regardless, regardless, the disciples and Jesus were working on the Sabbath. And as little as that was, the Pharisees saw him ignoring the Sabbath. Now you might be like, well, it looks to me like they're stealing, right? Because they're walking through somebody's grain field. Actually, the Lord wrote into the law of Israel that on the outskirts or the corners of your field, you were always to leave enough for the traveler or the foreigner or the poor so that they could get their own food from your property. It was written in to the way they did things. What if we did things that way now? That would be so crazy to see that happen. But they were actually looking like they were working. And so Jesus schools the Pharisees and he says in verse 3, Jesus replied to them, Haven't you read in the scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God, broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests can eat. He also gave some to his companions. And Jesus added, The Son of Man is Lord even over the Sabbath. Huge phrase, but it's so funny that Luke is like, and Jesus added, right? This is a huge statement. Jesus isn't breaking or violating this law. Jesus is actually confronting the Pharisees' understanding of the law. Okay? And I and I know we love to paint Jesus as a rebel who's always breaking laws. He's actually breaking your understanding of the law. That's really what's happening. Is he breaking the Pharisees' heavy burden that they're carrying and putting on the people? Jesus is breaking those views down. Jesus lived and fulfilled the law on our behalf. So Jesus wasn't a lawbreaker, he was a breaker of people's views of the law. And the heartbeat behind it, he was constantly revealing to people. David and his men, the story that he's talking about, you can actually read in 1 Samuel 21. But they're starving and they go into the tabernacle and they ask the priest that's there for the bread. And it's the bread that the priest is supposed to eat, the bread of the presence or the show bread that was placed before the Lord in the tabernacle. Holy bread, right? Unto the Lord. Many ancient cultures had bread that they would lay out on tables and wine for their gods. But that bread and that wine was to uh provide for the God. They were offering to the God and keeping that God nourished. This bread, different. This bread was not for God. It was actually the bread that the priests would eat, and they would take these stacks of six and six, and there would be twelve, and they think it's in line to the twelve tribes of Israel. But there was this reminder for the priests that one day a week they would bake this new bread, it would sit on the table, and they would eat this bread. The priests would eat this bread, so it was provision for them, and so this bread was a providing, powerful God reminder that I provided for you in the wilderness and will provide for you forevermore. And Jesus says, David and his dudes walk into the tabernacle, eat this fancy bread. Y'all don't get mad at that story, but I'm eating sweaty bread paste and you're upset. He's like, this doesn't make sense. Oh, and by the way, the Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath. Right? This is where we're at. The Pharisees have forgotten that in order for that priest to fulfill the law, he has to lift the burden of David and his men, and they're starving. To love neighbor is at the heart of the law. And is it is it burden lifting for Jesus' disciples to remain starving? No. Is it burdenlifting for David and his men to be told by the priest, this is holy bread? No. Burden lifting is to say you're hungry, I'll put food in your stomach. And that's what happens. Jesus tells the Pharisees, You are seriously okay with this? And uh it was, and I didn't think this was real, but when I was in Israel, uh there were some elevators that I did not understand. And so they had what were called Shabbat elevators, and then they had normal elevators. And if you've been to Israel in this, it's very interesting. But if on the Sabbath there's a rule that you can't press the button of the floor that you need to go to in the elevator because it's considered work. So on Sabbath, they have elevators that ding ding ding go to every floor. Up, every floor down. So that you are not breaking Sabbath by pushing a button. And they also have heathen Gentile elevators that you can push the button for. Didn't think it was a real thing, but I ended up seeing it. But this is how things have gotten. The point wasn't that David broke the rules. The point was the priests knew that God's law has always been aiming toward what is life-giving. It had become a burden and it was put heavy on the shoulders of the people, and Jesus is helping them go, you guys don't get the heart of this. You keep putting burdens on people. The law just keeps piling onto you, onto them. Then Jesus tells the sneaky, field-hiding Pharisees, the Son of Man is Lord even over the Sabbath. This would have given the Pharisees a fit. Son of man, we talked about a couple weeks ago. In Daniel's vision, and I've heard people say, Son of man is Jesus' favorite title because it relates to his humanity. Actually, it's the opposite. Son of man promotes, he is the sinless God man who was able to walk into the presence of God and was given all authority, and one day will come in the clouds of heaven. So Son of Man is actually a divine title. It carries a heavy title. Messiah, Christ. He's the one who's going to come in the clouds. He's the one who's going to judge. He's the one whose teachings everyone in the world will one day know and obey. Like the Son of Man is a big deal. And Jesus says the Son of Man is even Lord over the Sabbath. All authority is his. By calling himself Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus isn't just defending his disciples. He's not just going, guys, back up. We're doing okay, we're fine. He's claiming authority over creation, over the covenant, over the scripture itself. And that's a big deal because Jesus isn't trying to settle the question. Is it okay if I eat some grain on Saturday afternoon? That's not the question. Jesus is answering the question, who gets to tell us what God really means? That's where Luke is going with this. The Pharisees for so long had stood in a place where, like, we tell you what God means, we tell you what God has said, we tell you, and Jesus is saying, but I tell you. And you will hear that all through Jesus' teachings. You've heard it said, but I tell you. You've heard it said, but I tell you. Because Jesus is the one with all authority to bring. The heart behind the law to the people. We'll finish with the second encounter because they're both connected. Verse 6. On another Sabbath day, a man with a deformed right hand was in the synagogue while Jesus was teaching. The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched Jesus closely. If he healed the man's hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath, but Jesus knew their thoughts. He said to the man with a deformed hand, Come and stand in front of everyone. So the man came forward, then Jesus said to the critics, I have a question for you. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it? He looked around at them one by one and then said to the man, Hold out your hand. So the man held out his hand and it was restored. At this the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him. This scene is fascinating to me because everyone is watching. The Pharisees don't even care about the man. All they're doing is watching Jesus, but Jesus is watching the man. Slowly, the Pharisees are looking for violations, right? They're doing this. Like, what's he doing? Is he gonna do it? Because if he does, we got him. Like their whole intention, trap Jesus, capture Jesus. And Jesus wrecks the Pharisees' position. And he says, Should I do good or evil on the Sabbath? He says, Should I save life or destroy it? And this phrase just shouted to me this week, verse 10. He looked around at them one by one. Can you feel that tension? Like when you are so obsessed with your view of something, and then someone asks you such a real question that you know you're got, but you don't have an answer for it. Like and Jesus looks at the Pharisees and goes, Can you honestly tell me I should do evil on the Sabbath and not lift this burden? And to look at them one by one. I bet they all looked down when Jesus looked at them. I bet they all were like, because they know they're God. Jesus is reminding them of the heart of the law, and I bet there might, maybe there was like a young Pharisee who wasn't so schooled in the old Pharisee way, and he was probably like, that feels right. That feels good. Oh, wait, nope, nope, we're not, we're not with Jesus. Okay, I got you, right? Like they look at the Pharisees, the other Pharisees, and they're like, I'm not gonna say yes. That felt right, but nope, all right, we're not going there, okay. But for Jesus to reveal the heart of the law, and then he does it. He looked around at them one by one, and before confronting their theology, Jesus confronted their hearts. Jesus doesn't hesitate, he tells the man, reach out your hand, and he is restored. Now I could be wrong in this, but as I'm learning about Luke and the way he writes, I believe Luke may have had another intention of using that word restored, because he could have said he healed that guy's hand. Not just to communicate the man's hand being healed and returning it to its original state. To be restored means to bring back into original existence, use, function, or purpose, which is exactly what the Son of Man, who is the Lord over the Sabbath, was doing when it comes to God's purposes, God's kingdom, his creation, and even God's laws. I have a feeling we don't give Luke enough credit for the words he chooses through his gospel. I believe he was communicating two things in that moment. When we have corrupted things, Jesus is busy restoring and refreshing. As the band comes and we close our time this morning, where the Pharisees created heavy burdens by interpreting more do's and don'ts. For them, it was about what you did and what you didn't do. And I have a feeling there's some of you in this room who have felt like being a Christian is all about what you do and don't do. And you've forgotten the heart of the Father, that Jesus was lifting burdens by making sure that stomachs were fed, pains were healed, burden carrying was shared. And I don't want you to walk out of here with the same tragic end to your story as this story is. Verse 11. At seeing all that Jesus did, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with Jesus. At this, the law being revealed as something that is to give life, right? That's what Luke says. At this, what has Jesus just done? What is this? He has just shown them that the law and the Sabbath were given to bring life. And in other passages and in the other gospels, it says that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, meaning the gift of Sabbath was for human beings to experience and know, not to try and figure out, can I lift a paperback book or a or a hardback book? What's work? What is what do I do with that? And then and then living in the fear of all of those things, that's not what we see. At this, the Pharisees are wild with rage. That word wild with rage, it's the same word that's used for like if an engine is flooded. Right? It's filled, and you there's nothing you can do until it just goes back down, right? Until that evaporation happens in the flooded engine, you can't do anything with it. The Pharisees, you could not even talk to because they were so filled with rage at what they were seeing. A man receives life. A man receives life, and the religious leaders start plotting a murder. You don't think that's ever possible in our own hearts. But the truth is, when Jesus starts busting out of our boxes that we have him in, we can all get a little upset. When Jesus isn't working the way you want him to work in your life, or he's not doing what you think he should do, or he doesn't fit in the box that you want him to fix it, fit in anymore, we can get a little wild with rage. And so in this moment, think about JCPenney lost its way because it forgot the vision of its founder. The Pharisees lost their way because they forgot the heart of their God. Where have you forgotten his heart? Not just for other people, but even for yourself, as Jacob even mentioned, that the love of God is for you. It's not just for others. You may be like, well, the people, yeah, God loves them, but I don't think he likes me very much. See, that's not humility, it's pride. It's to reject God's words for your life, too. Luke's two for one Sabbath special isn't about whether or not we're doing it right. Luke is aiming for our hearts. What happens when Jesus doesn't fit inside your religious expectation? Do you care more about being right than bringing life? Does your faith make people feel burdened or restored? You can tell a lot about a person by how your faith makes other people feel. Now, yes, the gospel is offensive and it can make people feel uncomfortable, but when we're talking about our faith, are we putting burdens on people's shoulders or are we lifting burdens? That is something you get to wrestle with. Are you more concerned with protecting your system than helping hurting people? Jesus causes us to think about all of these things. Whenever our religious practice stops giving life, whenever it stops lifting burdens, whenever it stops looking like Jesus, then we have stopped following the Lord of the Sabbath. And we've stepped right into our traditions. Luke isn't asking, did Jesus break the Sabbath? He's asking, who gets to define God? If Jesus really is the Lord of the Sabbath, then he gets to define what faith looks like. Not me. Not you. And wherever Jesus reigns, burdens become lighter, hungry people get fed, broken lives are restored, and God's ways once again become life-giving. That's what the Lord of the Sabbath came to bring. Let's pray.com, or you can send us an email at info at highlychristian.com. God bless you guys.