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Do Soul-saving Work on the Sabbath, May 13
I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, a man more than the golden
wedge of Ophir.
Isaiah 13:12
, NKJV.
If it was right for David to satisfy his hunger by eating of the bread that had
been set apart to a holy use, then it was right for the disciples to supply their need
by plucking the grain upon the sacred hours of the Sabbath. Again, the priests in
the Temple performed greater labor on the Sabbath than upon other days. The same
labor in secular business would be sinful; but the work of the priests was in the
service of God. They were performing those rites that pointed to the redeeming
power of Christ, and their labor was in harmony with the object of the Sabbath. But
now Christ Himself had come. The disciples, in doing the work of Christ, were
engaged in God’s service, and that which was necessary for the accomplishment of
this work it was right to do on the Sabbath day.
Christ would teach His disciples and His enemies that the service of God is first
of all. The object of God’s work in this world is the redemption of humankind;
therefore that which is necessary to be done on the Sabbath in the accomplishment
of this work is in accord with the Sabbath law. Jesus then crowned His argument
by declaring Himself the “Lord of the Sabbath,” One above all question and above
all law. This infinite Judge acquits the disciples of blame, appealing to the very
statutes they are accused of violating....
Upon another Sabbath, as Jesus entered a synagogue, He saw there a man who
had a withered hand. The Pharisees watched Him, eager to see what He would
do. The Savior well knew that in healing on the Sabbath He would be regarded
as a transgressor, but He did not hesitate to break down the wall of traditional
requirements that barricaded the Sabbath. Jesus bade the afflicted man stand forth,
and then asked, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save
life, or to kill?” It was a maxim among the Jews that a failure to do good, when
one had opportunity, was to do evil; to neglect to save life was to kill. Thus Jesus
met the rabbis on their own ground. “But they held their peace. And when he had
looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their
hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and
his hand was restored whole as the other” (
Mark 3:4, 5
).—
The Desire of Ages, 285,
286
.
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