Did Jesus Break the Law When He Healed on the Sabbath?

Why do so many Christians try to pray away suffering instead of praying for God-given strength and endurance? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. That's 1-833-843-2673.

You can also email us with your question at questions at corechristianity.com, and you can post a question on our Instagram or Facebook accounts as well. First up today, what do you do when your college hockey season gets canceled by the coronavirus? Well, you go roller skating. A pair of collegiate hockey players recently embarked on a multi-state fundraising journey, and they did it all on roller skates. Over the course of 10 days, University of Massachusetts teammates Andrew Walker and Jacob Adkins traveled nearly 900 miles on roller skates from Boston to Lansing, Michigan, as they raised money for the American Cancer Society. The men departed from Massachusetts on July 13, keeping their supporters up to date with their travels on their Men in Blades Instagram account.

And by the end of July, they had reached their final destination. Pretty cool, huh? That is very cool. Scary for me, though. I don't do well. I mean, I have a hard time walking sometimes, Bill. I'm just way too clumsy. So putting wheels or blades on my feet. I've done ice skating, I think, twice in my life, and it was one of the most painful experiences right next to skiing. I mean, I tried to go skiing once and it was an absolute disaster. So I feel like I'm just not meant for these extreme sports like rollerblading.

How about you? I'm not real good at roller skating. I have ice skated a few times, but I am a pretty good skier. I mean, I can hold my own on the slopes.

Now, my kids are starting to bypass me because they've been skiing since they were like three, because we introduced them early. So yes. But no, I'm not going to be roller skating to Lansing, Michigan. That's not on my account. All right, let's get to our first question of the day. Alma posted this on our website. She says, When Christ died on the cross, why was he in hell for three days? Well, Alma, I think you're probably referring to that clause, that sentence in the Apostles' Creed. Now, a lot of people might not be familiar with the Apostles' Creed. There are many churches that don't really use it in their worship anymore. But it's a creed used by Western Christians, dates from about the third or fourth century, and it articulates really essentially core Christianity.

I just want to read it, because as I said, there are a lot of people who are not familiar with it. But this is really core Christianity. It says, I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead and buried. He descended into hell.

That's the clause you're, I think, referring to. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Amen. Now, one other thing that a lot of times people have questions on regarding the Apostles' Creed is that phrase, the Holy Catholic Church. Well, the word Catholic actually only means universal. I believe in the universal body of Christ is another way to put it.

Well, what about that clause? And it's probably the most controversial in all of the Apostles' Creed, He descended into hell. The earliest way that this was understood by Christians was that it referred to the suffering that Christ bore on the cross. Jesus went through hell, essentially, was the idea for us. He bore our punishment, our curse on the cross.

And the only way to describe the magnitude, the severity of what it was that He experienced was to use a word like that. There was also an early belief that Jesus descended into hell to release the captives who were in a sort of holding tank prior to His redemptive work. You see that in some of the writings of the Church Fathers, that He was essentially proclaiming victory over Hades and releasing those who were captive in Hades. Well, here's what it isn't, and this is one thing that you can be sure of, and I think this is why there's so much confusion on that clause is I think people hear that and they think, is that saying that Jesus went to hell for three days and then we conjure up in our minds those images, those graphic images of hell, burning fire, demons with pitchforks and thinking about Jesus, their suffering or something like that.

Well, that's not at all what the Apostles' Creed is getting at, and that's just a sort of absurd idea. But I think a lot of times people are confused by that phrase because when they think about hell, that's what they think of. And so when you hear, you know, He descended into hell, that's why it's so alarming. No, it's probably Alma referring to the fact that Jesus bore our suffering, our pain, our curse on the cross. The reason we don't have to be afraid of God's judgment, God's wrath, is because on the cross Jesus bore it for us, and that's precisely what the New Testament teaches. He himself is the propitiation for our sins, John said in 1 John, and not only for our sins but also for those of the whole world, and that word propitiation, it refers to a wrath-removing sacrifice. Jesus, by his sacrifice, removed God's wrath from us. When we turn to Jesus, we don't have to be afraid of punishment, not enduring God's wrath, because Jesus has taken our curse, and that's the good news of the gospel. And I think that's what's being referred to there in that phrase in the Apostles' Creed, He descended into hell. Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and if you have a question for us, you can call us anytime at 833-843-2673.

That's 833-the-core. Hi, my name is Luke, and I'm from Kansas City, and recently I heard from a pastor who said that God broke the law to save us. And I had a friend point out the fact that Jesus, he worked on the Sabbath, not just in healing the man's hand, but also with his servants or the disciples plucking grain. I was wondering if you guys could clarify that a little bit.

Thank you. Yeah, Luke, happy to clarify for you. I would be concerned, I mean, I think it's wrong for anyone to say, a pastor to say, Jesus saved us by breaking the law.

It's the exact opposite, actually. Jesus Christ was born under the law so that he might perfectly fulfill the righteous requirements of the law so that in him we might be justified. You and I break God's law. We're law breakers.

We receive through imputation. That means Jesus credits to us the righteousness of Jesus Christ, his perfect obedience, so that you and I can stand justified before God's judgment seat. And so when we talk about Christ's saving work, it's not that Jesus broke the law so that we might be saved, it's that he perfectly obeyed the law so that you and I, who fail to obey God's law, might be saved.

So that's a really, really important point. It gets into the doctrine of justification, this idea of imputation, us receiving Jesus' perfect obedience so that we might be confident before God's judgment seat, because God knows that in and of ourselves we can have no confidence. God is perfectly holy, and every day we sin against God in thought, word, and in deed. If you're trusting in yourself to be justified before God's judgment seat, you are in trouble. You can only trust in Jesus, in his work for you.

That's the only hope that we have. But then the question is, well, what do we do with these passages that make it seem like Jesus broke the law? And certainly the Pharisees were accusing Jesus of being a law breaker.

I mean, they called him all sorts of things. He's a glutton, he's a drunkard, he's a law breaker, he deserves death. Well, Jesus never broke the law. The Pharisees might have accused Jesus of breaking the law, but he never broke the law, not in Mark chapter 2, verses 23 and following where it talks about Jesus plucking the heads of grain, and not in Mark chapter 3 at the very beginning where Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. With regard to the healing of the withered man, it's absolutely clear that what Jesus is doing there is fulfilling the Sabbath, the essence of the Sabbath, by doing good to his neighbor. Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, come here. And he said to them, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?

In other words, Luke, Jesus is saying, what's really lawful on the Sabbath? Now the Pharisees, the religious leaders, kept silent and he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and he said to the man, stretch out your hand. The man stretched it out and his hand was restored.

I mean, just what an amazing picture. Here's this man with this withered hand and Jesus heals him right there in front of everyone. Imagine the joy, the shock that must have filled this man. And the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. So get this, you have this really ironic contrast here between Jesus, who actually is keeping the Sabbath by helping and healing this man, and the Pharisees who are accusing Jesus of breaking the Sabbath, committing murder in their hearts, seeking to destroy and kill Jesus on that very day.

Jesus actually kept the law. And then even with regard to the text earlier that you referred to, Luke, where Jesus on the Sabbath was going through the grain fields, this is Mark chapter two, verse 23. The Pharisees were saying to him, look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? And 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, how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar, the high priest, and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for any, but the priests to eat.

And also he gave it to those who were with him. And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

I mean, what an amazing claim that Jesus made there. But essentially he says, look, David, do you remember when David in the Old Testament ate the showbread, it wasn't lawful for him to eat if it was okay for him? Well, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus is God, the eternal high priest of God's people. There in that grain field, the Lord of the covenant is walking, plucking these heads of grain and distributing them to his disciples. They're his priestly cohort, we could call them. This isn't Jesus breaking the law. This is the Lord of the Sabbath, distributing bread, heads of grain to his disciples. So on both occasions, Luke, there is no disobedience on Jesus's part.

Actually, he perfectly fulfills the law in all places, even in those two places, so that we might be justified. Thanks for your question. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. I'm Bill Meyer, and today we are offering our new 100-page softcover workbook for the Gospel of John.

And Adriel, can you explain what makes this particular study so special? I think a lot of people want to read their Bibles and find wisdom for how to live, but they have a hard time knowing where to start, or they get bogged down in the process of searching for scripture and text to look at and how to understand these passages and their relevance for today. For my life, with the Gospel of John Bible workbook, you're going to have a reliable guide that engages you from the very beginning. Each weekly lesson includes select passages from John's Gospel, reflection questions, and explanations of the key lessons that I believe, we believe, every Christian should know about John's Gospel. This study is going to help you gain a deeper understanding of what the Bible teaches, the relevant historic Christian doctrines, and we were talking about the Apostles Creed earlier, the key themes in the Gospel of John and how they relate to your life. So head over to corechristianity.com forward slash Gospel of John to get your copy of our new Bible study today. You know, one of the cool things that happened is one of our longtime supporters here at Core Christianity was so encouraged by this Bible study that he gave us a special gift. He said, I want to get this out to more people.

And that's what we want to do. We want to give you the Gospel of John study workbook for free as a special gift from all of us here at Core Christianity. You can take advantage of this by heading over to corechristianity.com forward slash Gospel of John. Again, just corechristianity.com slash Gospel of John and get your copy today. Or if you want to call us for that, here's the phone number. It's 833-843-2673.

833 the core. Adriel, let's get back to another question. This is an email we received from Jessica and Jessica says, I've seen Christians lay hands on a person and pray down heaven and the healing power of Jesus because they said it was God's will to heal that person's illness or addiction or whatever. Yet when I read Jesus and Paul, they say there will be trials of many kinds in this life. Why do so many Christians try to pray away suffering instead of praying for God-given strength and endurance? I know God can and does heal us through prayer.

I've experienced this myself, but not always. How do I bring this truth to my brothers and sisters in Christ with love and respect? God bless you, Jessica. I really appreciate your question and just your desire to be balanced on this issue. You know, it's not that God doesn't or can't heal, but it's also not that we want to presume upon God's grace and goodness and just assume that every time we're sick, it's God's will to heal us. And if we're not healed, it's not God's fault.

It's our fault. It's because I don't have enough faith or something like that. There's a lot of confusion in the church today.

I mean, I think on one side, the confusion might be, yeah, God just, he can't, he doesn't, we don't have a big view of God's power. Well, James 5 makes it absolutely clear that we can pray for miraculous healing. Is anyone among you suffering? James said in James 5 verse 13, let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up.

And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. I mean, we're told right there, and this is something I think that we ought to be doing in our churches. If somebody is sick, go to the elders of the church, ask them to lay hands on you to pray for you. Pray in faith that God would heal.

And yet you're totally right, Jessica. It's clear from scripture that we're not always healed. I mean, Paul writing to Timothy tells him to drink a little bit of wine because of his frequent stomach ailments. Hey, drink some wine, Timothy, to help settle your stomach. He doesn't tell Timothy, it's not God's will for you to have an upset stomach. You need to pray harder or pray with more faith.

No. The reality is, is the people of God throughout redemptive history, even in that apostolic age, didn't always experience healing because it's not always God's will to heal. And so how do we bring this truth to bear? And I think part of it is just pointing out the relevant scriptural passages that make it absolutely clear that sometimes God's children, the beloved of the Lord, do suffer, and even immense suffering is experienced by God's children.

Think about Job. Think about Paul. Not necessarily because of some evil that they had done, but just because in God's providence, it's what took place. You think about what Paul said in Romans Chapter 8. He talked about all the sufferings that the children of God experienced. Famine, nakedness, peril, sword. And yet he said, in that, through those things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

They don't separate us from the love of God. Not too long ago, I had a conversation with a dear brother in the Lord, an older brother in the Lord who had just been diagnosed, I think, in the previous year with a type of cancer, an incurable cancer. He was given, I think, something like two years to live. We talked, we prayed together, but I was taken aback by his attitude. He said, you know, God has really used this cancer to chip away at the sin in my life.

And I just thought, whoa, you know, usually something like this happens and obviously it's devastating. There's fear and whatnot, but he had this attitude, this sort of sense of, you know, I know that God is in control. And one of the things he said, I'll never forget it, is he said, we always talk about how we want to grow in the Lord. This older brother, having been walking with the Lord for so many years, he said, I'm finding in my life that we don't ever really get greater or bigger in Jesus. But God grows in us. In other words, God is magnifying himself. He's growing in and through his people. And sometimes he can even do that in our suffering. He does in our weakness. This is why Paul says, you know, throughout the New Testament, I'm going to boast in my weaknesses because it's in my weaknesses that Christ's strength and grace are magnified.

We often, we want to grow, Jessica. We want to be great in Jesus. We want to put our gifts on display and grow in the Lord in such a way that, you know, the attention, the eyes are on us. Well, that's not what God wants. God wants to use us, to grow us, if you will, in a way that magnifies Jesus. God is becoming great in and through his people.

And that's what the focus needs to be. It's not the victorious Christian life. I'm always healed and doing great and just walking in health and in victory and in wealth. That's not at all what it is. It's not about me. It's about Jesus being magnified in and through me and in and through you.

And that's what we want to show people. It's about Jesus. And the fact of the matter is Jesus is put on display for the people around us. That's the best thing for us and for everyone because he's the Savior. He's the one who forgives our sin. He is eternal life. So I think the way you do this, the way you approach this, Jessica, is you talk about the beauty of Jesus, the glory of Jesus, the goodness of Jesus, even in the midst of our weakness, because it's in our weakness that he is made strong. God bless you. This is Core Christianity.

I'm Bill Meyer with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. This is a question that came in through our Instagram account, and it has to do with one of Jesus's parables. Mattie says, I have a question in understanding Luke 8 18 in light of the parable of the lamp and the parable of the sower that preceded it. Could you shed some light on what it means for, quote, the one who has to be given more and why the one who has not even what he thinks he has will be taken away? That's a statement that Jesus makes actually frequently in his parabolic teaching. You see it throughout the gospels to the one who has more will be given to the one who thinks he has. In other words, he thinks he has but he doesn't really have.

Even what he has will be taken away. And oftentimes, Mattie, Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees here. They consider themselves to be the religious elite, you know, the theologically savvy. They know everything about God's word and they're holy and they follow God.

They consider themselves to be pretty special. And Jesus exposes that. I think, for example, of Matthew chapter 13, verses 10 and following, the disciples came and said to Jesus, Why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered them, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. In other words, that's what's been given. But to them it has not been given.

Who for them there? It's the religious leaders, those who thought they knew, but they really didn't. For to the one who has, and here's that phrase again, more will be given and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And then, of course, we see it in that passage you referenced in Luke chapter 8, verse 18. And I think the idea there that tying it together with the lamp under the jar earlier, you know, no one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lamp stand so that those who enter may see the light for nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. It's clear here, it has to do with how we hear the gospel and how the gospel shines in and through us, Jesus, the light of Jesus, and that's something that the Pharisees thought they had. They thought that they had the light of God, that they were the teachers of Israel, but in reality, they didn't. And who had it?

The children, the disciples, the silly disciples so often, those who came empty handed and longing for God's grace and God's mercy. Thanks for your question. Thanks so much, Maddie. Adriel, I think we have time to squeeze one more question.

And this one is from Rochelle, who posted this on our Twitter account. She says, Psalm 73 says, truly God is good to Israel to those who are pure in heart. Is God only good to those who are pure in heart? How can I ever find God's goodness, knowing that I still commit all kinds of sin? You know, Psalm 73, the Psalm of Asaph is one of my favorite Psalms in all of the Psalter.

And, you know, he does begin there. Asaph starts off by saying, I know God is good to those who are pure in heart, but then he makes it absolutely clear Rochelle that he wasn't very pure in heart. He talks about how he had almost fallen. He was angry at the Lord because he had experienced suffering, chastisements, and he looked around at the wicked around him and he felt like they were prosperous. They had enough to eat.

They were proud and arrogant, and it seemed like everything was going good for them. And he's questioning God's goodness. He's saying, why is it that the wicked so often prosper and yet the people of God are often in want? Asaph here, a godly man, looks around and says, it seems like the wicked are the ones who have everything, who have the health and the wealth and everything good, while the righteous suffer. And he began to question God. And yet God was still good to him. Asaph goes on to say in Psalm 73 that he went into the temple of God and he realized the end of the wicked.

And then Asaph realizes really what life is ultimately about. And he says, whom have I in heaven, but you and on earth, there is none that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my life and my portion forever. In other words, here's what you have, what we have as the people of God, sinful as we are, we know that God is our portion, our inheritance. Through Jesus Christ, we've been adopted into the family. We may not always have health and wealth, but we have eternal salvation and a relationship with the true and the living God.

And that, Rachelle, is the source of our joy. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at CoreChristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this podcast. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together. .