Bible Stories for Adults

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

Matthew 12:1-14

Next Week - Jesus Forgives a Woman Taken in Adultery (John 8:1-11)
Bible Words to Remember:
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. Mark 2:27-28

How did Jesus summarize God's Laws for man?
Matthew 22:35-40
What is the third of God's moral commands dealing with keeping our relationship with Him?
Exodus 20:8
What is the Sabbath day?
Exodus 20:9-10a
Sabbath (From Hebrew "shabath") means "to cease, desist". Why did God call it the Sabbath day?
Exodus 20:10b
What if we can't get all of our work done in six days? Is it really possible to rest on the 7th day?
Exodus 20:11

What is an obvious purpose of observing the Sabbath?
Leviticus 23:3a
What is a more important purpose of observing the Sabbath?
Leviticus 23:3b
What does God promise if we remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy?
Isaiah 58:13-14

How else does God promise to bless us through observing the Sabbath?
Ezekiel 20:12
How does the Sabbath help us grow in our relationship with God?
Ezekiel 20:20
How do we see this in the Deuteronomy record of the third commandment?
Deuteronomy 5:15

Was the idea of resting on the seventh day one that God developed for the Israelites on Sinai?
Genesis 2:1-3
How did the Jews define the beginning and the end of the Sabbath day?
Genesis 1:31 (Lev. 23:32)
When is the first time we see the Sabbath rest formally observed?
Exodus 16:14-15, 19-20, 23-26

How were the Israelites to celebrate God's providence through crops in a Sabbath of 7 weeks?
Leviticus 23:10-11, 15-16, 21
How were the Israelites to celebrate God in a Sabbath of 7 months?
Leviticus 23:23-25
What other special remembrances did God command during this 7th month Sabbath?
Leviticus 23:26-28, 32
Leviticus 23:33-35

How were the Israelites to celebrate God in a Sabbath of 7 years?
Leviticus 25:1-4
What other 7th year observances were the Israelites to keep?
Exodus 21:2
Deuteronomy 15:1-2, 9
How were the Israelites to especially celebrate a Sabbath every 7 Sabbath years?
Leviticus 25:8-10

What happened to the land of Israel during the Jews' exile to Babylon?
2 Chronicles 36:20-21 (Jeremiah 25:11-12)
How would the Jews receive a Sabbath of rest after waiting years for the Messiah?
Daniel 9:24-25

How important was it for the Jews to keep the Sabbath day?
Exodus 31:14-15
How long would the Jews have to keep the Sabbath?
Exodus 31:16-17
How did God punctuate the importance of this command?
Exodus 31:18
Was it ever acceptable to do any work on the Sabbath?
Exodus 34:21

Were the curses of ignoring the Sabbath directed only at the individuals who didn't keep it?
Ezekiel 20:23-24
How was this further reinforced in the last days before the Jews were exiled?
Jeremiah 17:21-25a, 27

What did Nehemiah see after the Jews returned from exile that upset him?
Nehemiah 13:15-17
How did Nehemiah convince the Jews to stop working on the Sabbath?
Nehemiah 13:18
How did he make sure a few unrighteous didn't spoil it for everyone else?
Nehemiah 13:19-22

What did the Jews do to make sure God wouldn't punish them as severely again?
Nehemiah 9:38; 10:29-31
What else did they do to make sure the law wasn't accidentally disobeyed?
Nehemiah 8:7a, 7c-8
"Oral Law" - Religious leaders attempted to make black & white limits for every situation
What did Jesus have to say about these Oral Laws?
Matthew 23:1-4, 13
Why did God allow this to happen?
Ezekiel 20:25-26

Jews identified 39 works which were prohibited on the Sabbath by the Scripture
Each of these father-works had many descendant-works defined by rabbis

Examples:	Father-Work		Descendant Works
	Plowing		Digging (dragging a chair might make a rut)
			(rubbing foot on pavement ok, not on dirt)
	Carrying a burden		Wearing false teeth or extra clothing
			Walking on stilts (crutch or wooden leg okay)
			Tailor carrying needle, Scribe carrying pen
	Reaping		Plucking a head of wheat
			Pulling out a gray hair (don't look in mirror)

What is the first time we see Jesus "working" on the Sabbath?
Mark 1:21-26, 30-31
What response resulted from this Sabbath work?
Mark 1:28, 32

What is the next Sabbath work we see from Jesus?
John 5:1, 5, 8-9
What response resulted from this Sabbath work?
John 5:10-11, 16
How did Jesus respond to their concern for the sanctity of the Sabbath?
John 7:21-24

What upset the Jewish leaders in today's story?
Matthew 12:1-2
How did Jesus attempt to guide them to a better understanding of the truth of the Sabbath?
Matthew 12:3-8
Did this satisfy them?
Matthew 12:9-10
How did Jesus respond to their rejection of the truth?
Matthew 12:11-13
Did this satisfy them?
Matthew 12:14

Did Jesus observe the Sabbath?
Luke 4:16
Why don't we continue to observe the Sabbaths as the Jews did? Did Jesus abolish them?
Matthew 5:17-18
How did this affect the requirements of God's old covenant with His people?
Hebrews 9:15
What happened to God's laws under this new covenant?
Hebrews 8:6-10
Does this mean that we don't have to keep God's laws?
Romans 8:3-4

If Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath, does that mean that everyone automatically receives His Sabbath rest?
Hebrews 4:1-2, 6
So is there still a Sabbath day of rest for those who have faith in Christ?
Hebrews 4:7-9
So when is that Sabbath day of rest?
Hebrews 4:3-5, 10-11

How are we to respond to those who insist that we keep the Sabbath as commanded at Sinai?
Colossians 2:16-17
Should we try to follow these commands anyway?
Colossians 2:20-23
Should we work to correct our misguided brothers who believe certain days are more holy?
Romans 14:5-6 (Galatians 4:10-11)
How are we then to treat such rules and regulations on how to relate to God?
Colossians 3:1-2