Sabbath Rest [Trinity 17; St. Luke 14:1-11]

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Jesus speaks to you today, in your hearing, saying:

“One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.”

There was another Sabbath when the rulers of the Pharisees were watching Jesus as scrupulously as they are watching Him in today’s Gospel reading. Yet, on that Sabbath they were watching a giant stone, instead of a Body, but the Body they were so intent on was behind the stone so…

Their disappointment was as palpable that day as it is today. But before you throw stones at them, carefully look at your glass windows. You are also disappointed in what Jesus says today, because Jesus is telling you that you would leave your ox or son in the well and that you would rather exalt yourself, than be humiliated.

Before you cry out in the name of civil sensibilities, let me remind you of your sinful nature which you only believe to be under control, because you can walk about as a good person in other people’s eyes. It is not under control. It controls you.

If you have other oxen, you would leave one in the well, because the cost of hauling it out would be greater than leaving it in. It is just an animal after all and that is just good business practice. And depending on if you are rich or poor may influence your decision, because it may be worth it to go get that ox.

But Jesus doesn’t just leave it at an ox, He adds a son, which is almost a ridiculous addition, if you think about it. How can you compare a son to an ox? Yet, to our sinful nature, neither of them is as important as our own self-righteousness. And this is the point. We would rather keep our private covenants we think we have with God, than to do anything else, such as an act of mercy to someone weaker than ourselves.

The Pharisees deem it against the Law of God to do any work they say on the Sabbath, even holy deeds such as rescue and healthcare are within the realm of the forbidden, Sabbath acts. This is a big problem, because it is true. God demands only rest on the Sabbath. Yet He also demands mercy. So which command do we follow and which command do we break?

Repent. When Joseph’s brothers threw him into a pit, he was pulled out by enemies, not by friends, and was sold to a far off country, making it as if he were dead to his family. Moses was placed in the seat of honor in front of the people of Israel and they did nothing but plot his demise.

You are no different. When you come up against the perfect Law of God you are bowled over and crushed under its weight of perfection that it demands. In order to soothe yourself, you pick a little piece of it, work hard at it so that you accomplish some small feat and declare yourself holy. And you retain this holier-than-thou state at all costs.

But this is not enough, just as it was not enough for the Pharisees to observe the Sabbath day by the book. They thought that by knowing the book as perfectly as they could, they would find life, but instead they used it against others. Really, they and you had no choice. Sin would let you live no other way.

It is only in Jesus’ ridiculous addition, that there is a glimmer of hope. Last week there was also the dead son brought forward to us as a lesson and here it is no different. Jesus is the Son that is tossed into the well and left as an offering against these Sabbath laws.

When the Jews persecuted and convicted Jesus, they were doing it all in the name of the Good, right, and holy Law of God. Not because God demanded it, but because sin twisted God’s Word to demand it. Because Jesus claimed to be God Himself and god is no man, that is blasphemy. They put their own holiness over the Son and threw Him into the well of hell.

But God bore all that sin. He gladly went and sat in the lowest place, the place reserved for those guilty of the sins of the world, and hung there till He was dead. On the cross, the sin for pitting God’s Word against God is paid for. The sin of wanting holiness and favor instead of mercy and love is atoned for.

The Good Son, Who is God and man, not only heals on His own Sabbath Day of Rest, but also takes on all the impurities of sin and death as His own, falling under the curse of His own Law, and yet rising from the curse, punishment, and death of it.

Sin is not just doing the wrong thing. Sin is not just a mistake made here or there or every once in awhile. It is a fatal sickness that every single person is afflicted with. Thus, the Sabbath is not a day of Law, but a day of Gospel. A day where we rest and God works, for Jesus says to the sin-wearied soul, “I will give you rest”.

As we see in the Resurrection of Jesus, the entire world is resting from the horror that had occurred on Good Friday, yet it is a new day where the Law is no longer in the way of salvation. Though it wasn’t in the first place, Resurrection Sunday is now the day where you can rescue son and ox and still be leading a holy life in faith. Sunday is now the day that you can heal and do good works and still be considered Christian, in faith.

For in commemoration of that Sunday, we believe that Jesus descends from His own exaltation in heaven to dwell in humility, in our flesh. He comes to bring rest in this way, because He not only freely gives His life for us, taking the lowest seat in our place, but He also brings us into the Sabbath rest in His Church. This is because true rest; true Sabbath rest comes in the belief that God came to save you in Word and Sacrament.

It is the Work of God that accomplishes your salvation, that sends Jesus to earth, that causes Him to suffer and die in your place, and raises Him again on the third day securing salvation for all you believe and are baptized. It should be no surprise then, that He continues to save people in the same way: by His works.

The Lord does not care what day of the week it is, He is going to come to you and rescue you from your sins. He is going to jump down into that well and take your place in order to boost you out of it. He is going to create a washing of renewal and rebirth and regeneration to save you. He is going to set His table before you for the forgiveness of your sins.

It is in this humbling knowledge that you are humbled. Not by your own work, but in the face of all that God has accomplished for you. Therefore, when you bring one for baptism or remember your own, or when you approach the Lord’s Supper, you are reminded of two things: the first is that you don’t deserve to be there and the second is that you do deserve to be there.

You don’t deserve to be at the table because you did nothing to get here. In fact you did everything to be excluded from here. Yet as you gaze upon the torn body of Jesus Christ, you hear Him say to you, “Friend, move up higher”. He says this for His Name’s sake, because He has suffered and died to atone for the sin of the world.

In this way of the Church, the Sabbath is made for us. In this way, the Lord’s Word is fulfilled when He said, “I have come not to be served, but to serve” and also “Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man”. These two Scriptures come together in the Lords Supper and make sense there, as they do no other place.

Likewise, we can now include healing on the Sabbath and retrieving your son from a well, in those Scripture passages that are fulfilled in the same way, as well. For it is not Jesus that needs healing and retrieving, but you. And no truer medicine on earth can be found than the Body and Blood of the Son of God, given and shed for you.