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The Sabbath, the law, and love, parts 3 and 4

Lynne Baab • Tuesday February 3 2026

The Sabbath, the law, and love, parts 3 and 4

Overall theme for the next few months: God’s law is love

Lesson 2, parts 3 and 4:The Sabbath, the law, and love (for parts 1 and 2, look here.)

Passage: Luke 14:1-6

Key verse:Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the Sabbath, or not?” But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away. Luke 14:3-4

3. Reframing the Sabbath

Some Christians have argued that Jesus abolished the Sabbath, but most scholars argue that he redefined and reshaped it, returning it back to God’s original intent: a day of feasting and enjoyment that reflects the abundant love of God for all God made. God longs to bless people, to bring us into closer relationship with Jesus so we can receive the gift of being part of God’s family. The Sabbath reflects God’s intent to shower love on us and help us enjoy the privilege of being God’s precious. However, both Jews and Christians have found it challenging to preserve God’s intent in the way we structure the Sabbath.

The Ten Commandments appear in both Exodus and Deuteronomy, and nine of the commandments are virtually identical between the two versions. The Sabbath command, the fourth commandment, differs in the reason given for Sabbath observance in the two versions. Exodus 20:11 cites God’s rest on the seventh day of creation as the reason for the Sabbath. In Deuteronomy 5:15, the people of Israel are commanded to remember that they were slaves in Egypt, and God set them free.

These themes, the abundance of God’s provision at creation and God’s deliverance from slavery, provide a foundation for Sabbath observance. Jesus evokes these themes in his Sabbath healings. Of course, the God who made animals and humans would want an ox or a child to be rescued from a well on the Sabbath day. Of course, the God who freed the Israelites from slavery would want sick people to be freed from illness on the Sabbath day. Jesus is engaged in a ministry of restoration of God’s original purpose for humans and all creatures.

Jesus knows that he is being closely observed by the religious leaders who accompany him to the dinner. He knows that healing falls into the cracks between the rabbis’ various instructions for the Sabbath. He knows the human tendency to want things clearly delineated, to take comfort in obeying rules. As an expert teacher with a mission to make known God’s love, he takes advantage of the situation to teach through his actions and words that rules work only when they are grounded in God’s purposes.

Consistently in his teaching, Jesus makes clear that all structures, rules and regulations are subordinate to the one great commandment, that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and love our neighbor as our selves. Jesus uses those specific words in Mark 12:29-31, and much of his teaching amplifies and clarifies that central teaching.

In what ways do you think that that the great commandment is illustrated in the story of the healing of the man with dropsy?

4. Stepping into the World

One of the ironies of life at the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first is that Christians continued to affirm the significance of the Ten Commandments while participating in a 24/7/365 culture that stresses constant work and devalues rest. In many Christian settings, the Sabbath command is one of the most neglected of the Ten Commandments. Many reasons contribute to that trend, one of which parallels the situation in Jesus’ time.

Strict rules of what could and could not be done on Sunday, common at the beginning of the twentieth century, turned off a several generations of Christians. Strict Sunday observance came to be viewed as something out of date, too rigid, and mostly irrelevant. Cementing the trend is the seven-day-a-week pattern of shopping, kids’ soccer games, many forms of entertainment, and the pressure to be available by email and cell phone every day.

Humans need rest. We thrive in a life of rhythms. We simply don’t do well when we work seven days each week, and studies of human productivity reveal the benefits of giving ourselves periods of rest. Our current challenge in the area of Sabbath keeping and rest is not the same as in Jesus’ time. Very few of us in in the 2020s are rebelling at Sabbath rules that are too rigid. Instead we wonder how in the world to find down time in a rapidly swirling world that seems to continually need our attention.

We need to return to the simplicity of Jesus’ words to the religious leaders. Who wouldn’t rescue a child or animal that has fallen down a well? We have fallen down a well of pressure to be productive and active at all times, an overwhelming and overstimulating place that feels confining and compelling. We need to remember the love of God for us, shown in the abundance of creation. We rest because God rested at creation.

We need to remember God’s love as shown in freeing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. We are not slaves, we are freed in Christ. Only slaves work seven days each week. Free people take the opportunity given by God to have a life of rhythms, a balanced life of work and rest that brings wholeness. We are children of a loving God who desires our well-being in every area, including our emotional, physical, and social health. We are brothers and sisters of Jesus, who calls us to faith, hope and love and invites us into life-giving patterns of life that help us to embrace God’s love.

What are your thoughts and feelings about Sabbath keeping? In what ways do you think a Sabbath helps people receive God’s love?

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Next week: Jesus gives God glory, parts 1 and 2. Illustration by Dave Baab: Bellevue Downtown Park, Bellevue, Washington.

Check out my Lenten devotional, Draw Near. For each day of Lent, you’ll find a psalm, brief reflection questions, and a watercolor by Dave Baab. Lent starts on February 18 this year.

This lesson appeared in the Fall 2023 edition of The Present Word adult Bible study curriculum published by the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Used with permission. 



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