Go to Part One: The Sabbath Day here at AllFaith.com "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath."
As I discuss elsewhere in some detail, we know from the Scriptures that Master Y'shua did not come to start a new religion and certainly not a Gentile one! He was quite clear on this:
Matthew 15:24 But he [the Master] answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As we seek to understand the teachings of Master Y'shua we must always bear this in mind. He is speaking from within a Jewish context and for the Jews there was nothing more important or holy than Shabbat!
Does his speaking to Jews completely preclude non-Jews from his wisdom? It is true that Noahides are not under the Law of Moses and never were. Because of this some people assume that Shabbat does not apply to them. They dismiss it and say, "We're not under the law!" However note the following teaching very carefully as the risen Master commands his Jewish disciples:
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
During his earthly ministry it is true that Y'shua focused almost exclusively on his fellow Jews, but now he says to go forth to all the "ethnos," all the human groups and cultures because now HaShem accepts everyone who comes to Him!
Actually this was always true! HaShem is the God of the whole world and we are all His children! The Tanack has several accounts of godly Gentiles, of Gentiles working for and with the Jews... but they were always separate from the Chosen people even as we saw in the above verse. The disciples were uncomfortable with the woman's very presence! But the Master taught that God's love is for everyone as we continue reading:
Matthew 15:25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and cast it to dogs.
27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Previously this had been the biblical attitude: the scraps that fall from the Jewish table could be "eaten" by the Gentiles but they were not, in the Tanack, welcome at the master's table. There were a few basic reasons for this but to avoid making this too long I'll just say that throughout the Tanack the focus is on the Jews and their service to HaShem. They were told to keep themselves apart from the world and its evil ways. Despite this separation from the world, through the Jews, the eternal servants of HaShem, the whole world has been and will be blessed (Gen 12:3). Throughout the Tanack we read of Gentiles who attached themselves to the Hebrew people and to HaShem. Likewise in the New Testament those Noahides who embrace the Way of Master Y'shua are grafted on to the Tree of Israel (Rom 11) and adopted into the family (Rom 8:15) whereby we cry Abba!
In this study we are of course discussing Sabbath observance. We know the Jews were strictly required to honor Shabbat and in this study we're accepting that as a given rather than discussing the many verses that state this obvious fact. but what of the Gentiles who sojourned with the Jews? Did they observe Shabbat?
Yes! And such fortunate Gentiles are even included in the Fourth Commandment itself:
Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of HaShem thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou... nor thy stranger that is within thy gates
The strangers or "Ger" are those Gentiles who lived upon the Hebrews and often were even granted certain rights.
But this is New Covenant! Note what the Master tells his disciples to teach these new converts: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
In other words, 'the things I am teaching you Jews you are to teach to those Noahides who are embracing the Way. The Noahides, the Ger are now begin granted a seat at the table!
Why?
Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Awesome! The Noahides who once were allowed to eat table scraps now have a seat at the table!
The point is, "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."
In part one of this study I demonstrated that Shabbat was sanctified and set apart from all other days long before the days of Father Noah, Abraham or Moses. This is confirmed at Genesis 2:3:
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
The Sabbath is for all people for all time. Under the New Covenant there is neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free. We all stand as one before our Creator as we honor His Sabbath. Therefore the Master's instructions about Shabbat are for "everyone with ears to hear."
As I said above, Master Y'shua did not come to establish a new religion. He came to purify and reform Judaism.
During the Babylonian exile the Jewish people had accepted the Babylonian Talmud and other writings as holy writ. These were originally passed on orally from teacher to student and hence are known as the Oral Torah.
According to Jewish tradition the Oral Torah was revealed at Mount Sinai along with the Written Torah. By the First Century CE most Jews accepted the Oral Torah as an equal to the Written one. Some even believed the Written Torah was actually a "key" for understanding the more important Oral Torah!
But not everyone accepted the Oral Torah. This included Master Y'shua who believed the Oral Torah was merely human tradition that was needlessly complicating the message of HaShem and separating His people from their Living God. Throughout the Gospels the Master references the Oral Torah critically. This was no where more evident than in the matter of Shabbat observance.
Mark 2:23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.
24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?
25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?
26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the showbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?
27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath
Master Y'shua understood the Mind of God!
Shabbat was given as a day of joy and rest, a day to worship HaShem and to glory in his creative power. However over the years it had been turned into something else. Master Y'shua wanted to free the Jews of Shabbat so they could enter into it again with joy and praise.
... Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you
One Sabbath as the Master was leaving the synagogue:
Matthew 12:10 And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.
11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
12 How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
13 Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.
Shabbat is not a day to suffer under heavy needless restrictions, it is the day to honor God and so the Master used his faith and healed the man.
... Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you
Many such teachings could be cited but the essential point is this: The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.
The Master always honored the Sabbath but he did it as intended, not as a slave but as a free man.
Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Free yes, but not without Law. Again, the Master told his disciples:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Master Y'shua taught the proper way to honor Shabbat and:
I John 2:6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
The Master observed Shabbat. Do you?
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