Lord of The Sabbath

Well, we are here on this Sabbath day, and what a wonderful time it is to gather together. We're going to turn our focus on to that. And if you would like to write down the title of today's message, it is, Lord of the Sabbath. That's the title of our message today, Lord of the Sabbath. And we're going to read those specific words in just a moment. And those words are found in the Gospel account. So I invite you to turn with me to the Gospel of Luke, Luke 6, beginning in verse 1.

We are going to return to our studies here in Luke. We took a little bit of a break to focus on the fall Holy Days. But now we return. And in doing so, we just come to Luke chapter 6. We're going to begin reading verses 1 through 11, where we're going to see Luke records two incidences, specifically two conflicts, both surrounding the Sabbath and what is lawful or not lawful to do on the Sabbath.

Let's see this. Luke 6, beginning in verse 1. Luke records, Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first, that he, that's Jesus Christ, went through the grain fields. And his disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. And some of the Pharisees said to them, Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath? But Jesus answering them said, Have you not read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those who were with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat.

And he said to them, The Son of man is also the Lord of the Sabbath. Verse 6, here's the second incident. Now it happened on another Sabbath also that he entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. So the scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man who had the withered hand, Arise, come and stand here.

And he arose and stood. Then Jesus said to them, I will ask you one thing, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or destroy? And when he had looked around at all of them, he said to the man, stretch out your hand, and he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.

Verse 11, But they were filled with rage and disgust with one another, what they might do to Jesus. So let's stop there. So quite a passage here, and this is a conflict here, of course. A conflict between Jesus Christ and the religious leaders, the so-called religious leaders of the day, the scribes and the Pharisees. And again, you'll notice that this particular conflict surrounds the Sabbath. Both of these incidences take place on the Sabbath.

And we have the punctuation, if you will, happening when Jesus Christ himself there, as we read, declares himself, in fact, as the Lord of the Sabbath. So while these are incidences that we can look at, and we are going to look at today, we do note that they are specifically surrounding this whole issue, this whole notion of the Sabbath. So before we get into these conflicts, I think it would be profitable for us to just take a moment to set our foundation with regards to the Sabbath, and to just think a moment about this day and why this conflict would occur like it has here.

Did you ever wonder why God took six days to create everything, and then remarkably choose one day, the seventh day at the end of that week, to rest, to set it apart, and to bless it? Did you ever just sit and think about that? It is clear, he very intentionally did that. He set a particular day aside to rest, intentionally set it apart, and to bless it.

I want to show you this so we can be clear about this, because these Sabbath incidences we need to know the background. We need to have a secure understanding of the background so as to understand that. So if you will keep your marker here in Luke 6, I just want to take just a moment to set a little bit of a foundation for us regarding the Sabbath. Turn with me, if you will, to Genesis 2, verse 2, where we do find the very establishment of this day, the Sabbath day. Genesis 2.2, you can listen along, or you can read here where Genesis 2.2, we have the description of the completion of creation.

And now we're going to read how it describes where God stopped working and ceased working and rested and set this day apart. Look at this, describing the completion week of the creation. We're now finished with that. Genesis 2.2. And on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had done.

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work, which he had created and made. Let's stop there. If you think about this, this Sabbath day, clearly we know that God didn't need six days to create, did he? He could have in an instant created everything in a moment, a snap, if you will. But he did take six days to work, to create, and then very intentionally rested on the seventh day.

Was he tired? You know, did he need, was he fatigued? No. It just simply says he rested on the seventh day from all his creation, and he set it apart. He sanctified it, and he blessed it. So from the very beginning, he now establishes this pattern. This is a pattern in the whole cycle of life as we know it.

The cycle of life, in which has to do with six work days and one day of rest, the seventh day. This is the pattern, and we see this here began at the very beginning, the very plan of creation. From the very beginning of time, God establishes the seventh day. And then remarkably, what began as a creation ordinance is then placed and codified directly into the divine commandments. Of course, if you turn forward Exodus 20, if you'd like to turn there, we discover Exodus 20, verses 8 through 11, that what God established as a creation ordinance is now followed by placing the Sabbath and the observance of it and the remembrance of it right into the very divine, perfect law of God. This is when he codified it here. So Exodus 20, verses 8 through 11, here it is. Remember the Sabbath day. Why? To keep it holy. Verse 9, six days you should you, so God did this, but now it's you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work. You, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor the stranger that's within your gates. Why? Why? Here it is, verse 11. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. So I just want to point out, you know, the fourth commandment, following it here, the fifth commandment, the honor of your father and mother, and six, the nature of murder and adultery and stealing and lies and so on. You know, important to note that the fourth commandment comes just after the third commandment and just before the fifth commandment. Profound. I know. I know. But I make that point to say that you cannot separate these. You cannot separate from the other commandments. So what we're seeing in just a matter of two verses, the Sabbath, the seventh day, is built in the very cycle of life, the very cycle of time as we know it. And also, then the Sabbath is part of the very divine commandments which govern His creation. So it's part of the creation cycle of life. And then the commandment is the fourth command. Now, Sabbath is to govern. It's part of the divine commandments that govern the creation. Pretty remarkable. And then one more place to consider as we think about the Sabbath here at the beginning, and we're going to get back to the Sabbath, those conflicts in just a moment. But I want to show you one more place to consider. Deuteronomy 5, verses 12-15. Let's turn there, if you will. Deuteronomy 5, verses 12-15. Here we're going to see reiterated for us the fourth commandment, just as we read there in Exodus. But what we're going to see is just something remarkable as to what the Sabbath points to. So, so far we have the creation ordinance. We have it part of the very divine law. And now look what is also added to this remarkable day. So Deuteronomy 5, beginning in verse 12, here we have it again.

So let's stop there. In other words, again, the Sabbath day, when you come to the Sabbath day, like we are here today, you are not only to remember that it is established in the very ordinance of creation, and you're to remember not only is it part of the divine law, which governs the creation, but there's also in the Sabbath a remembrance of the mighty work of God in redemption.

With a mighty hand, He led you out. And of course, that's physical Egypt. Well, how have we been let out? We've been delivered from spiritual Egypt. You know, we've been delivered from the power, the penalty of sin, all that Egypt symbolized at that time. So these are things you're to remember. So when you come to the Sabbath day, every seventh day, these are things that you remember, and it's beautiful. You have been redeemed by an outstretched hand, brought from the bondage of Egypt. The Sabbath is to remind you of that. And so when we get in a moment to the withered hand man with Christ asked him to stretch out his hand, you know, we're starting to see some really connections. And what you find is all throughout the gospel accounts, you see these themes of creation and law and redemption. You see it all many instances surrounding the Sabbath. So these are what we are to remember when we come to a day like this.

So on our way back to Luke 6, I want to stop at Mark chapter 2 verses 27 and 28.

I want to just show you one other thing that the gospel writer Mark reveals about the incident that's happening in Luke 6. But Mark 2, let me just read briefly verses 27 and 28, because Mark is also going to add something else to a fact to this Sabbath day that's important for us. We know Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath, but Mark's going to add something here in his gospel account. So Mark 2 verse 27 through 28, Mark records, and he Jesus said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man, for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is also the Lord of the Sabbath. Let's stop there. So it's an interesting statement. What Christ is saying here, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So in other words, the Sabbath, it was not merely given to the Jews. You can't say that. The Sabbath wasn't merely given to the Israelites. You can't say that. No, rather the Sabbath was given initially and fully to all of mankind. The Sabbath was made for man. And we know this, just that little bit of journey that we just took through Genesis and Exodus and Deuteronomy from the beginning. It was for everyone's benefit. Where even the cycle of life, the cycle of events that God created in Creation Week, the Sabbath is embedded in those origins, in the origins of time itself, part of the divine commandments which guide the creation. And then it directly points to our redemption, the redemption of all of mankind. So when we get to Luke chapter 6, we can see how any any incident, any conflict surrounding the Sabbath is going to be really crucial for us to pay attention to because they have they're really eternal in their significance and they're here for our edification. So we have to understand what was around these conflicts. We know the we have the foundation of the Sabbath. Why was there a conflict here? Well, turning back now to Luke chapter 6, if you'll get back there now, we do want to take a look at these conflicts and I'll give you a little bit of build up here. Now, the the scribes and the Pharisees, their anger was building. Absolutely. And they were confronting Jesus and his disciples because in their eyes, they were not doing what they should be doing.

They were not behaving in such a way which was acceptable to the law or to the Sabbath observance.

And so we we reach this climatic moment where we read chapter 6, Luke 6 verse 2, where they confront them and they say, why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?

And they're looking to accuse them. So the the conflict surrounds Jesus's actions and activity.

And he was moving in such a way on the Sabbath day that was in complete contrast to how the the the religious rulers of the day were moving on the Sabbath. And why was Jesus Christ and his disciples moving in such a way that was in complete contrast to the religious leaders of the day?

Well, the Pharisees had established these legalistic traditions and they were adding their own bits and pieces onto the law and they were adding all kinds of bits and pieces, regulations onto the Sabbath day. What was lawful and not their their own law, if you will. And Jesus Christ, his most scathing rebukes is really surrounding these Pharisees and what they were doing to God's law and also to the Sabbath. I just want to show you just a few of these scathing rebukes just so that you know Jesus Christ didn't take this lightly. What they were trying to do and put forth regarding the law and the Sabbath. If you'll turn just to Matthew 23 and verse 4 and 5 for just a moment, I just want to show you how they were adding legalistic bits and pieces to God's already perfect law. Matthew 23 verse 4. And by doing so, they polluted the God's law and the Sabbath and put forward where they weren't as they were intended. Look at this. Matthew 23 verse 4.

Jesus speaking to the Pharisees. Matthew 23 verse 4. He says, For they, the Pharisees, bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

And then verse 5 goes on to say that they were doing all this to be seen by men.

And then if you go down to verse 25 through 28, the chastisement continues.

Verse 25 through 28. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee first cleans the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may also be clean. May be clean also. Verse 27. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

You are like white-washed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.

Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Let's stop there. So the Pharisees who are confronting Jesus and his disciples in Luke 6 were full of extortion, self-indulgence, hypocrisy, making everything clean on the outside. This was in contrast to what Jesus Christ was bringing.

Jesus Christ was worried about the inside. He came as creator. He was creator then, and he came as creator here to create on the inside of men and women new hearts to restore, to heal, to give them the opportunity to come out of spiritual Egypt and to give them the freedom from the penalty of lawlessness. It's just so interesting to see that the accusation that Jesus Christ put on them was lawlessness, and they were adding their own laws. So the takeaway is you can't not only can you not take away from God's law, that's lawlessness. We see that in the world today, but you can't even add law. You can't add your own bits and pieces because that's lawlessness too. This is, and by doing so, Jesus Christ is giving them harsh rebukes here.

He says they pile up back-breaking burdens, particularly on the Sabbath, and they lay them on men's shoulders. You know, in many ways the Pharisees and those religious leaders of the day, they wanted to pile up laws, burdensome laws, their own laws, and regulations. You know, you want to keep people from being delivered out of spiritual Egypt. You know, keep them bound, keep them in bondage. And Jesus Christ came to show, to provide freedom from those things with His perfect law being the guide and with His strength and His mighty hand delivering people out of sin. You know, but, you know, the Pharisees, they wanted to keep people in bondage by heaping up these burdens. It's not as Jesus Christ intended for the law and certainly not for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was to be for creation and deliverance and healing. That's what the Sabbath was for. So, conflict is building. So, if you turn back to Luke chapter 6 and verse 1, we see this first conflict is surrounding the Sabbath. The Sabbath for Jesus Christ was anything but backbreaking. It was an absolute wonderful day for them. So, I don't want to... this is me adding this. This is me adding this. You know, my picture of this whole first incident is of such a wonderful day, a beautiful Sabbath day. And they're going through the grain fields feeling wonderful and happy, joyful on the Sabbath day. You know, when you think back to creation, when Jesus Christ was creating then, he had six days of work and then he sat back on the seventh day and he said, this is good. This is wonderful. So, the Sabbath day from the very beginning, the seventh day, was this. It was to be full of joy after all that he saw that was created and was good. And I think here this is a joyful day. They're making this carefree journey through the grain field, you know, picking bits and pieces of grain, rubbing them in their hands. Again, this is me. But I almost see them, you know, tossing maybe some of the bits and pieces into others' hair, you know, the other disciples' hair. And just, it's a wonderful Sabbath day.

I think that's the way Jesus Christ saw it and the disciples saw it. And if you want to get really, really to the law, nothing they were doing was illegitimate. The law actually said you can't reap. You can't, you know, you can't get out there with a sickle and start harvesting your neighbor's field. But there was nothing illegitimate in terms of what they were doing here in this grain field. But, of course, our friends, the Pharisees pop up there. They have a way of popping up just out of nowhere. I don't know how they did this sometimes, but they're there around the bin, you know, good morning. Having a lovely day, I see you and your disciples. Oh, I see you have picked some grain. You know, Jimmy, start to write this down. You know, let's go and see all the where you have all these violations, you know.

You know, how were the Pharisees able to say that Jesus and His disciples broke the law? How were they able to say that? Well, it's because they added. They added to the law their own distorted version of the law of God. And God's law is perfect. We won't go into it, but they added a vast amount of principal works, manmade principal works on the Sabbath, regulations. You can look it up sometimes. It was you could only walk this far on the Sabbath. You could only carry the weight of a date on your hand. I saw that. And so all these backbreaking regulations. So here they are, you know, violation. Violation number one, you're reaping. Just the fact that you are picking that that action of picking the grain is reaping. You know, violation number one. Violation number two, you're threshing by you rubbing the grain in your hands. That's threshing. That's in the principle of threshing, they said. Violation number two, violation number three, you're willowing. You know, willowings where you would toss up the grain and the bad stuff would float away and the good stuff would fall. You know, well, you're willowing in that way, throwing these bits and pieces. Violation number three. So, violation number four, you're grinding. I can see in your teeth, you're grinding that grain, you know.

All these, you know, violations of their own invention is what it was and they're perverting God's law. They're usurping God's authority. And if I could just add a call out for all of us here today, we need to be careful not to have our own add-ons to the Sabbath. You know, and I think we do focus on a lot of not to take away from God's law and that's highly important, of the utmost importance. But we also need to be careful about not adding, not adding what's not there. Either way, it's lawlessness. You're removing the intent of the law. So, we want to be careful that we don't impugn our own wisdom surrounding the law and maybe particularly even the Sabbath of what's allowable or not allowable. So, as to unintentionally usurp His authority. So, they address Him here, verse 2, why are you doing what's not lawful in the Sabbath? And Jesus Christ steps forward. He's a great leader. He defends His guys here in verse 3 and 4. And I won't read this again, but I'll give you a summary. You know, verses 3 and 4 here, Jesus Christ takes them back to a recording that they should already know. He might have said, you know, check those boxes. You know, they used to wear the law on their on their heads. You know, you might check this because if you check that, you'll know the story of David and his men. That's what He begins to tell them here. For your notes, if you'd like to go back and read that story, it's found in 1 Samuel 21. So, 1 Samuel chapter 21. We won't take the time to turn there, but David and his men ate of the showbread.

This bread was to be eaten only by the priests. The priests had to go in. There was 12 loaves, each representing a tribe of Israel. No one could eat them except the priests.

And of this, let me give you a reference to some commentary. This is actually from UCG commentary, our United Church of God commentary, regarding that incident that occurred with David and his men eating the showbread. So, let me give you this quote. I think it'll help us see why Jesus reached back to apply that to this grain-filled situation.

This is from the UCG commentary. Here we see the interesting occasion when David and his men eat the holy bread. Elsewhere called showbread, which was a special grain offering to God, intended only for the priests. While the Talmud explains this apparent breach of the law, preserving the life of others is clearly part of the intent of God's law.

So, preserving the lives of others is clearly part of the intent of God's law.

And this did take precedence over the ceremonial laws God gave. Ceremonial laws, which were intended to be observed for a period of time. Christ explained on more than one occasion that saving life even took precedence over the general prohibition against work on the Sabbath.

I'll say that one more time. Christ explained on more than one occasion that saving life even took precedence over the general prohibition against work on the Sabbath.

So, Christ explains here that if David and his men, who were hungry and they went in and ate, if David and his men did not break the spirit of the law, the Sabbath, on the divine Sabbath, then also Jesus and his men were not sinful in eating the grain. It was for their well-being. So again, the principle to notice here is very important. No ceremonial provision must stand in the way of providing the essential needs of life. Whether it be in the eating of the grain or whether it be in the healing of the withered hand. We're going to read about that here in just a moment. So, the Pharisees were guilty of burying the real love of God under just a ton of man-made, foolish traditions. And so, the Lord of the Sabbath, the Lord of the Sabbath, he stands up and he is now guarding against these distortions, he's guarding against these perversions that the Pharisees had applied to God's perfect Sabbath and His perfect law.

Let me be clear. Let's just be clear. What Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath, is not doing, He's not saying that the sanctity or the holiness of the Sabbath is somehow diminished. He's not saying that at all. This is still the Sabbath. If we need to go back and read it again, we can do that. This is still the Sabbath that was ordained right at the very creation week.

Still the same Sabbath. This is still the same Sabbath that is part of the divine commandments which govern His creation. This is still the same Sabbath which points to the very redemption to which He came to bring from the power and the penalty of lawlessness. Still the same Sabbath.

Still the same Sabbath. Very clear. So if you want a phrase that might help you, Jesus was not dealing with the use of the Sabbath, rather He was dealing with the abuse of the Sabbath. Okay? Very clear. And it's the abuse of the Sabbath. So in fact, He's standing up to protect it. He's standing up to guard it against distortions that the Pharisees were adding. They were trying to make the Sabbath ugly and heavy, nothing like it was planned from the very beginning of creation. So He is actually protecting it from lawlessness, which is ironic because the Pharisees were piling up their own law upon it. So we can't take away and we can't add two.

Two things to keep in mind. So that's the first incident. Now we're going to go to the second incident and move through this fairly quickly. The second incident, you'll notice this conflict here beginning in verse 7, did surround a man with a hand who was shriveled, it was disfigured, it was his right hand. Dr. Luke is very specific in listing that. So this probably affected the man's well-being here. Once again, the Pharisees pop up. They're motivated to accuse.

Verse 7, the Pharisees watched him closely whether he would heal on the Sabbath that they might find an accusation against him. So they were not there at the synagogue to rejoice. They were there to find an accusation. Verse 8, but he knew their thoughts. If you want to call out for today, if in this study you're thinking about anything about yourself that's external only, if you are coming to Sabbath services, holy days, and it's just kind of an external routine, it's a tradition, you can be honest with yourself and you can be honest with God, because he knows your thoughts. You don't have to be anybody, pretend you're anybody else before God. So bring him this. This is okay. Bring him, say, my creator, father, through your son, created me a new heart. I don't want an external practice of your law or the Sabbath day.

Bring out your law from my heart and redeem me from this external lawlessness. So you can go back and you can think about what you're supposed to remember on this day and bring it forth.

It's okay. Just pray for God to help you in that way. So he knew their thoughts continuing here, verse 8, and he said to the man who had the withered hand, arise and stand here, and he arose and stood. This is not a small thing. I wonder if this man with this withered hand, this took a lot of faith for him. He shouldn't have been there, really.

By all accounts, the Pharisees, if they would have known that he was coming to be healed on the Sabbath, he would have been in some hot water. So it took a lot of faith to come with this expectation, and it's going to take a lot of faith for him to stand up with this impairment, have faith in Jesus Christ that he's going to do what he's going to do.

I think a lot of this man. And here now, Jesus is going to allow him to participate in this incredible teaching, in this incredible moment. And so Jesus turns to the crowd and says, let me ask you, verse 9, I will ask you one thing, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or destroy? Amazing question there. Any child, you know, could answer that. It's only right to heal. It's only right to save life.

It would be a sin to leave this man in this debilitating condition.

But the Pharisees want to use the law as a means to put a barrier between someone who is in great need and the healing that he can find. So think about that. That's a remarkable thing. He wants to they want to use the law as a barrier to healing, the healing of this man. So you got to think about that. We never want to unintentionally use the law to create a barrier for a barrier between God and an individual and their God, you know, unintentionally, maybe. So whenever we have these things that are things that come up on the Sabbath, that we really need to use discernment and wisdom, really pray and ask God, I don't want this to be a barrier. Guide me in this way.

This is a dreadful thing to employ the Word of God in the opposite way in which God intends.

So again, we never want to add to God's law. You know, we never want to add our own accretions or whatever it may be to say to someone, well, you can stay hungry.

You know, it's my Sabbath day. You can stay hungry. You know, it's my Sabbath day. You can stay shriveled, you know, you can imagine. You know, the Lord of the Sabbath stands and He says, that might be your kind of Sabbath. My kind of Sabbath is the Sabbath where people enjoy grain.

My kind of Sabbath is where people, where their hands are healed and they're made to work again, you know. And He looks around at them in verse 10 and He says, stretch out your hand. You know, that might give you imagery of what He, how the Sabbath is supposed to point to the strong outstretched hand, the redemption out of Egypt. Stretch out your hand, and He did so, and His hand was restored as whole as the other. And just remarkably, verse 11, they hated Him for it. And they plotted, you know, what they might do with Him. So here's this man, outstretched hand, totally useful, useless. His hand would have been in atrophy, you know, you think of the sin used, hadn't been used, maybe since birth. And now Jesus is asking Him to do something He clearly cannot do by Himself. So as we begin to conclude here, we want to think about what is the spiritual connection of this? He's asking this man to do something He clearly could not do of Him by Himself.

Well, in the same way, Jesus asks us sinners to repent, repent, believe in Him, and become new creations. Something clearly we're not able to do of Him by ourselves, you know. So the shriveled hand, the withered hand, is only an indication, perhaps, of the shriveled hearts of men and women.

And likewise, Jesus Christ comes to His own and He says, stretch out and take a hold of this calling, this life-giving call. My Father has given you to Me. And on this Sabbath day, I want you to remember that I'm here to create again. I'm here to create again. I'm here to create a new heart in you on this wonderful Sabbath day. This is a wonderful day to participate in this creation.

How do we participate in the creation of our new heart? Well, this is a wonderful day to read.

This is a wonderful day to pray. This is a wonderful day to meditate on our Father, you know, where we participate in God's creative work in us. And so in that, we're thinking back to the original creation week. It's a wonderful day to remember the divine commandments and how they guide our lives. And a wonderful day to remember that God stretched out His arm and delivered us from the bondage of sin and its penalty. It's a wonderful day to look outward and provide creation, help in the creation process of others, help them through God's Spirit in us to begin to create a new heart in them so we can participate in these things as they were since the beginning. It's a wonderful day to help heal others, to help redeem others from hopelessness.

It's a wonderful day to help redeem others from pain and suffering. It's a wonderful day to go visit people in need, to show them love. It's a wonderful day for acts of mercy.

And in doing so, you're going to be mimicking our Creator.

It's a wonderful day to heal someone else. So, I, in conclusion, commend us all for a renewed, careful consideration of this wonderful gift, the Sabbath Day. Think about the joyful scene in the grain field. Allow that to guide this day and enjoy God's creation in that way. Think of the wonderful act of mercy and the healing of this man in his withered hand. Allow those things to guide you on this beautiful day. And just be so grateful for this Sabbath Day and be so grateful, ultimately, for our wonderful Lord of the Sabbath.