INTRODUCTION
In Luke 4:16, we are told, "So [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.
And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read."
And then again, in verse 31, Luke tells us, "Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee,
and was teaching them on the Sabbaths."
Once Jesus had begun His earthly ministry, following His baptism and anointing by the
Holy Spirit, it was His customary practice to teach about the Kingdom of God (that was now at
hand), in the synagogues on the Sabbath Day. This was an important time to get His message
out, because, even as we gather together every Sunday (on the Lord's Day) to worship, the Jews
would have gathered together on the Sabbath Day, in their synagogues (which were dispersed all
over Israel, and all throughout the Gentile world, for that matter) to be taught God's Word. The
Sabbath Day was no small matter to the Jew. It was to be set apart, in accordance with God's
Moral Law, to be a day of worship and rest. No work was to be done on the Sabbath Day.
That said, the religious leaders, in seeking to promote piety, had added literally hundreds
of traditional restrictions to the Law of Moses, as a means of seeking to preserve the sanctity of
the Day, which sadly, actually only served to make the Day anything but a Day of rest. All in all,
it actually became more of a burden for the people of God. Well, what happens when Jesus
refuses to honor all of the added traditions of the religious leaders, throughout the course of His
ministry? Naturally, they accuse Him of being a Sabbath breaker. And no doubt, this was a label
which had spread throughout all Israel. |
