[Read Mark 3:20-35]
Which Battle, Which Victory?
Which side, which battle? Your options are endless. Religion, or politics? Or, how about both? Influential elites, religious moralists, or militant radicals? In which should you trust? How can you save your nation? What cause matters most? What allegiances?
You are in first century Judea – the world into which Jesus enters – and it’s a mixed bag of parties and causes and conflicts.
The Pharisees defended the morals of the community, were experts in the Law of Moses and the traditions of the elders, and were loyal to Israel. They were trusted teachers of the people and taught in the local synagogues.
The Sadducees were also experts in the Law of Moses, but rejected much of the rest of Scripture – and were the wealthy, ruling elites who ran the priesthood and the temple and had allegiances to Herod and the Romans.
The Essenes were a religious sect which sought purity and holiness, above and beyond the average synagogue-goer, cloistering themselves into communities similar to what we might call monasteries.
The Hellenists went along to get along. They were greek speaking Jews who, to some degree or another, adapted their lives to Greek culture and language.
On the other hand, the Zealots were loyal to their Hebrew nationality to the extreme. They were militants who engaged in violent revolutions, following various false-Messiah figures.
Conflict between Greek culture and Hebrew culture – conflict between Roman rule or Israelite rule – groups and groups within groups – the fight for righteousness – a lot at stake.
Many groups, many causes. Jesus, the Son of God born of Mary, came into this world and joined none of them. Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots – Jesus joined none of their causes and fought none of their fights.
Jesus came to fight a very different battle to win a very different victory.
Jesus’ victory was not the victory these many groups and causes were seeking, nor could they attain it by any of their methods. But it was the victory they needed and the true answer to their many concerns.
The many parties, conflicts, and causes in the world are generally either addressing the symptoms of, or are the symptoms of, the greater underlying disease —
— like a man who spends his life in and out of the hospital, with a vast team of doctors and specialists, all in conflict about what the real solution to his problems is.
But they’re all only treating the man’s symptoms. The one doctor who can cure the cancer causing them all is the doctor he really needs.
Our world’s many conflicts, causes, and factions are a whirlwind of symptoms. Jesus came, not to join the world’s many battles, but to conquer the underlying cancer. Jesus conquers the disease of sin.
On the cross, Jesus took this underlying disease – all our sins against God, all our blasphemies, all our unrighteousness, and all our lack of goodness – upon Himself. He died for our disease as the cure. He conquered it. He made your cancer of sin His own and won the battle we couldn’t.
This is the victory God promised to the world from the beginning – victory over sin, death, and the devil for our salvation. Jesus is that promised offspring of the woman, the man whose heal was bruised as He crushed the serpent’s head – “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” [Genesis 3:15].
Jesus, in today’s Gospel, compares the devil to a strongman holding stolen goods in his house. Jesus is the Stronger Man who binds the devil and plunders his house, taking back those lost men and women who were in his grip.
That’s the real underlying conflict – that the devil has had men and women in his grip, but Jesus has delivered them back to God by forgiving the children of man “all sins… and whatever blasphemies they utter” [Mark 3:28]. When sin is forgiven, the devil no longer has anything to hold you by – he loses his grip.
The Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, and Essenes in first century Judea – and all the various groups, parties, conflicts, and causes in our world today – probably were all addressing, or attempting to address, some real symptoms of the brokenness of sin which they saw in their world.
But each group – and each group today – also has aspects in it that are contrary to God’s Word and actually end up perpetuating the brokenness of sin and its effects. Man’s efforts are man-focused and have their faith and trust in man.
This is the blasphemy and sin against the Holy Spirit. Man’s unbelief. And man’s faith and trust in himself and in the gods he creates. This is the sin that receives no forgiveness (as long as we keep committing it) because it’s a rejection of faith in the Savior, faith which the Holy Spirit carries into our hearts.
The world is full of causes, but rejection of the Savior is so pervasive in prideful mankind that in first century Judea – and in our world today – rejection of the Gospel of Jesus becomes a common characteristic of many otherwise conflicting groups.
The Sadducees and Pharisees, for example, were natural enemies – but they were united in their desire to destroy Jesus. Either group would have received Him if He had joined their cause, but instead – when He was of no use to them – they slandered Him. “By the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
Maybe others tried to use His name for their own cause, as is done today. But the true Christ has made His own group with its true cause. Christ’s group is the Church, which has its own cause in the world – preaching God’s Word and bringing people to the knowledge of repentance and to their Redeemer for salvation.
Which side, which battle, which group? “Who are my mother and my brothers?”, Jesus said. “And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers!’ – Here’s my group in the world – “Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.’”
Your group in this world is the family of Jesus. Jesus said it this way in Luke: “Those who hear the word of God and do it” [Luke 8:21].
You are His mothers, sisters, and brothers. Hear His word and then bring it out into this world by living according to it. This is your group and your cause. It will be effective. Because it’s God’s cause.
May God grant it to each of us to trust less and less in the battles of this world and to trust more and more in the battle and victory which Christ has won – the redemption of lost sinners. And may God use each one of us to bring knowledge of this victory to more and more of our neighbors who do need to know it. Amen.
[Mark 2:23-28] One Sabbath [Jesus] was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” 27And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
Jesus, Our Sabbath Rest
“I’ll do it all; I’ll do it all myself; and, no, I don’t need a break.” I don’t need help, and I don’t need rest. Being overly busy, or doing it all ourselves, is a point of pride – a red badge of courage. But it’s not God-pleasing. It’s not God’s will.
We are limited creatures. God could’ve created us with no need for sleep, no need for rest. But He did not. God created day and night, waking and sleeping, working and Sabbath. Part of accepting God as God is accepting how He has created us and accepting what limited beings we really are.
It’s our sin-fallen nature that does not want to accept God’s help or rest. Our sinful nature wants to be God and to do it all. Humility (which is a virtue; pride is not), admits we need sleep and rest, food and drink – and God to be our provider.
So, when God created man, He created a Sabbath for man. A day of rest. Which is needed even more since our fall into sin, because we are even more limited. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work” – nor were you to make anyone else do any work. You were commanded to rest and to give rest. [Deuteronomy 5:13-14]
So, what’s going on in today’s Gospel reading? Jesus is walking with His disciples through the grainfields on the day of rest, and they are hungry. The need not to work and the need to eat collide. So, the disciples pick heads of grain and eat.
The Pharisees object. What did the Law forbid on the Sabbath? Among other things, you were forbidden from harvesting. And technically… that’s what the disciples were doing, right? The Pharisees also objected when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath – because healing is work.
The Pharisees took a command which was meant to give man rest and, instead, applied it in such a way that it became a greater burden than labor itself. The Sabbath command became a burden on the conscience instead of rest for the body.
Jesus rebukes and reminds them with the words, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” And Jesus tells them further – speaking of Himself – “The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Declaring Himself to be God.)
What rest is most needed? What rest does the Lord of the Sabbath give? And when and how does He give it? What is the Sabbath for us today, now that the Lord of the Sabbath has come and become our Savior?
A few weeks back, we had, for our Old Testament reading, the whole Ten Commandments from Exodus 20:1-17. At that time, we heard a little about the difference between ceremonial law in the Old Testament and the moral law in the Old Testament, and in all Scripture.
The ceremonial law was the worship law of the Old Testament. It was temporary, in force only until the time of Christ, and it dealt with times and seasons and foods and Sabbath days. When Christ came, the real substance of the matter was now here and those ceremonial, symbolic aspects of the Law were laid aside.
But the moral law – the commandments regarding what is always right and wrong, in relation to God and our neighbor – that law is forever.
The commandment – “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” [Deuteronomy 5:12; Exodus 20:8] – has both ceremonial and moral aspects to it. That we must rest is the moral command. And that we find our rest in God’s holiness is the moral command.
That we must do this on the seventh day of the week – Saturday – was ceremonial and applied until the Christ would come and give us our true rest, which He has done.
Jesus said it: “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” [Matthew 11:28-30]. We come, not merely to a day, but to the Lord of Sabbath rest Himself who gives us rest from the labors of body and soul.
Jesus has delivered to us the permanent thing – the rest He labored for, for you – and now that the permanent has come, the temporary has passed away. That the Sabbath command is no longer about a specific day of the week, like in the Old Testament, is made clear enough in Scripture:
“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” [Colossians 2:16-17]. “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” [Romans 14:5].
Also, it’s clear in Scripture that the very first Christians, during the time of the Apostles, were gathering for worship on the first day of the week, not the seventh: “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread…” (a reference to the Lord’s Supper) [Acts 20:7; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 10:16; Matthew 26:26]. And, “On the first day of every week…” they were to collect their offering [1 Corinthians 16:2].
The earliest Christians worshipped on Sundays, the first day of the week, to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus [Mark 16:2]. Their Sabbath rest was from the Lord of the Sabbath Himself, as is ours today. “Come to Me, and I will give rest to your soul.”
What is the rest Jesus gives you, and, lastly, how does Jesus give it?
In Exodus 20:8-11, the Sabbath command is based on the days of creation: God created the world in six days and on the seventh day rested from His work, and the people were to do the same.
In Deuteronomy 5:12-15, the command to rest is based on God’s work of redemption – when He redeemed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and, thereby, gave them rest – “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.”
Rest from the labor of their slavery. Jesus is now your Redeemer who has redeemed you and given you rest from the greatest slavery – your sin-fallen nature’s slavery to sin and disobedience. Jesus said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” – “slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness” [John 834; Romans 6:19]. But “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” [John 8:36].
Jesus labored as a slave, suffering under the burden of your sin which He made His own. Jesus made the sins of the world – and your sins – His and worked them off, paid the price, worked off the debt, by the labor of His sufferings and the payment of His life.
Jesus suffered the curse for sin, cursed by God in your place [Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:23], to free you from the eternal labor and burden. You are not now permitted to “do it on your own” between you and God. God has commanded rest – that you find your rest in Jesus, who is risen from the dead and received into heaven.
Jesus is your Sabbath rest – and there is an eternal day of rest into which you will enter through Him alone – “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his” [Hebrews 4:9-10].
Your soul’s labor against sin, death, and the devil has ended in Jesus. He has won the battle and gives rest to your soul – and forgiveness and peace to your conscience – now, and in heaven.
To rest in Jesus is not optional. It is commanded. And, more than that, it is promised.
How does He give it? You are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. All He did is yours. As your rest fades each week, He restores it each week through His saving Word preached, through His Word taught, and through His Supper given and received.
His holy Word for your rest is given for you not only one day per week, but every day – and weekly in this gathering. Where His Word is, there He is as food and rest for soul and body.
This rest, given in the morning here, is more restful than any day of sleeping in – and nothing adds to your tiredness more than going without it. Going tired and on your own is not God’s will for you. His rest is commanded and given in Jesus. So, let’s receive the Lord’s rest as often as it’s given. Amen.
[Acts 2:1-21] When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? …we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
Holy Spirit: Comforter and Communicator
Doctors and car mechanics face a similar three-fold challenge in their work. First, they have to diagnose the problem. Lastly, they have to fix the problem. And somewhere in between, they have to try to explain the whole issue to you and me.
The medical or mechanical jargon is clear to them. They face the challenge of telling it to you in the words you know and use – words that you can wrap your mind around.
Things which are known to the expert may be difficult to communicate to the non-expert – but it’s the non-expert, the patient or the car owner, who has the most at stake. You really need to know.
No expert knowledge stands more outside our mind’s grasp – no knowledge sits further beyond our understanding – further beyond our reach – than the knowledge of God. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” [Romans 11:33]
No knowledge is more incomprehensible, yet no knowledge is more essential for us to know. We really need to know Him! Yet we cannot! Now enters the Holy Spirit.
On the Day of Pentecost, which we commemorate today, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon Christ’s disciples to communicate the knowledge of God – specifically, knowledge of God the Father as revealed in Jesus His Son.
Jesus told His disciples about this outpouring of the Holy Spirit ahead of time in the Gospel: “When the Helper comes, whom I will send from the Father, the Spirt of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about me…” [John 15:26]. The Holy Spirit bears witness about Jesus. And, in Jesus, we see who God is [John 14:9].
What happened on Pentecost? On the day of Pentecost, which was originally an Old Testament harvest festival, the disciples “were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.”
“And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
In Scripture, “tongue” refers to language, and to your tongue. What appears to be divided tongues of fire came and rested on the disciples – similar to how the Holy Spirit rested on Jesus in the form of a dove in His baptism.
Having received the Holy Spirit in this way, the disciples then began to speak in a multitude of different tongues, different languages – human languages which were well understood by a very diverse group of travelers who were in Jerusalem for that season of festivals, from Passover to Pentecost.
When the disciples ‘spoke in tongues’ they didn’t speak nonsense or gibberish. The Holy Spirit was bearing witness through them about Jesus, in such a familiar and human way that the words cut straight to their heart and also comforted their conscience [Acts 2:37-39].
“There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.”
The disciples speak the same hometown language with the same Galilean accent, yet they are heard in the various languages of the multitude around them, each man in the crowd hearing the message in his own language.
And it might even be more specific than that. You wouldn’t know it, but there are actually two different words being used here for “language”. One is “tongue”, as we’ve mentioned. The other is a Greek word, “dialektos” (dialektoV), from which we get the word – you can guess it – “dialect”. Maybe more specific than just a language.
“They were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own dialect.” And maybe it goes even further. Next the crowd says, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?”
“Own native language”. At first that sounds broader. But the words here say, translated much more literally, “How is it that we hear, each of us in the dialect in which we were born” [Acts 2:8]. “We are each hearing this message about Jesus in the language of our own birth.”
So perhaps not just your own language, and not just your own regional dialect – not just the language you speak at work or at school – but the language your mother spoke to you on her lap when you were born. The language of home. The language of being comforted or corrected by mom and dad. The words your bedtime stories were spoken in.
God is your Father. Heaven your home. Jesus your brother. The church your mother. And the Holy Spirit is the great communicator. The Holy Spirit – for people of every background or upbringing – and for people of every level of ability or inability – the Holy Spirits meets that three-fold challenge of diagnosing our trouble, giving us the solution in Jesus, and making this knowable to each one of us.
Jesus said, in today’s Gospel, that when the Holy Spirit comes “He (the Holy Spirit) will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” [John 16:8].
Our sins in thought, word, or deed – our wrong-doing and wrong-being – is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit working through the word of God’s Law. The Holy Spirit, as only He can do, makes known to us the true measure of our guilt. He diagnoses our disease and makes it known to us to then show us the solution.
The Holy Spirit points us to Jesus on the cross as the remedy and cure. Jesus carried your sins to the cross and there became the sin-offering, the sacrifice, for you. By His death in your place, every sin is absolved, forgiven. And this is the only way to be righteous to God. You, a sinner, are righteous to God – clean and pure to Him – because of Jesus’ sacrifice, which Jesus now presents to God for all eternity, having ascended into heaven.
And the ruler of this world, the devil, has been judged. Evil will not continue forever. The devil’s deeds in the world are coming to an end. He has already lost the battle; Jesus already has the victory. When Jesus returns for judgment, sin, death, and the devil will be sealed up and put away for good.
All this work of Jesus is called “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints” [Colossians 1:26] – to you who believe. This is the miracle and work of Pentecost today. The Holy Spirit, in what is still truly a miracle, communicates this mystery to us, not as experts, but as His children sitting on His knee.
Jesus said, “When the Helper comes… He will bear witness about Me” [John 15:26]. Then He said, “You also will bear witness” – not as experts, but as ones through whom the Expert does His work.
The effective communication of the Gospel of Jesus – the speaking and the hearing – is the work of the Holy Spirit. May this make us confident and bold in serving Him and in inviting others to hear His Word. Amen.
