Weekly Sabbath

Misconception #1 – Jesus Changed the Sabbath to Sunday

In the gospel account of Matthew we read:

• Matthew 12:1 At that time on the Sabbath, Yahshua went through the grain fields. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
• Matthew 12:2 But seeing, the Pharisees said to Him, Behold, your disciples are doing what it is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.
• Matthew 12:3 But He said to them, Have you not read what David did, when he and those with him hungered?
• Matthew 12:4 How he entered into the house of Elohim, and he ate the bread of the altar of YAHWEH, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests only?
• Matthew 12:5 Or have you not read in the Torah that on the Sabbaths the priests in the sanctuary disregard the Sabbath and are without blame?
• Matthew 12:6 But I say to you, One greater than the sanctuary is here.
• Matthew 12:7 But if you had known what this is, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned those without blame.
• Matthew 12:8 For the Son of Man is also Master of the Sabbath.

And similarly, in the gospel account of Mark we read:

• Mark 2:23 And it happened, He went along through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And His disciples began to make way, plucking the heads of grain.
• Mark 2:24 And the Pharisees said to Him, Behold, why do they do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?
• Mark 2:25 And He said to them, Did you never read what David did when he had need and hungered, he and those with him,
• Mark 2:26 How he entered the house of YAHWEH while Abiathar was the high priest and he ate of the bread of the table of YAHWEH which was not lawful to eat except for the priests. And he even gave to those who were with him?
• Mark 2:27 And He said to them, The Sabbath came into being for man’s sake, not man for the Sabbath’s sake.
• Mark 2:28 So then the Son of Man is Master of the Sabbath also.

The statement that “the Son of Man is also Master of the Sabbath” has lead many to believe the misconception that Jesus (Yeshua) changed the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday, because Sunday is “the Lord’s day” according to many Christian denominations.  However, this statement is simply not true.

First, nowhere in the passages above does it state that Yeshua was changing the Sabbath day at all. He simply makes the point that He is the Master (Lord) of the Sabbath, and that the Sabbath was made for man’s benefit and not vice-versa.

Second, in context, Yeshua is making this statement to the Pharisees because they are accusing Him and His disciples of violating the Sabbath by plucking heads of grain to eat.  By the Pharisees’ oral laws, the plucking of the grains was a violation of the Sabbath.  However, according to the Torah, there is no such prohibition.  As such, Yeshua was saying that He was the Master of the Sabbath, and He would decide what was, and what was not, a violation of the Sabbath Law.

So in context, it is easy to see that these passages have nothing to do with Yeshua changing the Sabbath day, or doing away with it.  In fact, as we read further along in the Brit Hadasha (New Testament), we see that the disciples and followers of the Messiah continued to observe the Sabbath day – long after Yeshua had died and resurrected. 

Here is the apostle Shaul (Paul) preaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath:

• Acts 13:13 And putting out from Paphos with those around him, Paul came to Perga of Pamphylia. And separating from them, John returned to Jerusalem.
• Acts 13:14 But going through from Perga, they came to Antioch-Pisidia, and going into the synagogue on the day of the Sabbath, they sat down.
• Acts 13:15 And after the reading of the Torah, and of the Prophets, the synagogue rulers sent to them, saying, Men, brothers, if there is a word of exhortation to the people, speak.
• Acts 13:16 And rising up, and signaling with his hand, Paul said, Men, Israelites, and the ones fearing YAHWEH, listen.

And the following week, we see both Jewish and Gentile believers gathering at the synagogue on the Sabbath to hear the apostle Shaul preach again:

• Acts 13:44 And in the coming Sabbath, almost all the city was gathered to hear the Word of Elohim.
• Acts 13:45 And the Jews seeing the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things being spoken by Shaul, contradicting and blaspheming.

In Acts chapter 15, Peter (Simon) addresses the apostles and disciples concerning how the new believers should at first only be asked to make themselves spiritually clean.  This would then allow them to attend a synagogue on the Sabbath, where they could learn how to follow the rest of the Torah:

• Acts 15:18 The works of YAHWEH are known from eternity.
• Acts 15:19 For this reason I judge not to trouble those from the nations turning to YAHWEH,
• Acts 15:20 but to write to them to hold back from the pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and blood.
• Acts 15:21 For in every city from ancient generations Moses has those proclaiming Him, having been read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.

Here we see the apostle Shaul preaching on the Sabbath again while in Philippi:

• Acts 16:11 Then having set sail from Troas, we ran a straight course into Samothrace, and on the next day into Neapolis,
• Acts 16:12 and from there into Philippi, which is the first city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were in this city, staying some days.
• Acts 16:13 And we went out on the day of the Sabbath without the gate of the city to the bank of the river, because there was seen a house of prayer; and sitting down we spoke with the women who came together there.
• Acts 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, one reverencing YAHWEH, listened, whose heart the Master opened thoroughly to pay attention to the things being spoken by Paul.
• Acts 16:15 And as she and her household were baptized, she entreated Paul, saying, If you have judged me to be believing in the Master, entering into my house, remain. And she strongly urged us.

And again we see the apostle Shaul preaching on the Sabbath, this time while in Thessalonica… and we are told doing so was his regular custom:

• Acts 17:1 And traveling through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
• Acts 17:2 And according to Paul’s custom, he went in to them and reasoned with them from the Scriptures on three Sabbaths,
• Acts 17:3 opening and setting forth that the Messiah must have suffered and to have risen from the dead, and that this is the Messiah, Yahshua, whom I preach to you.

And again we see the apostle Shaul preaching on the Sabbath – this time in Corinth:

• Acts 18:1 And after these things, departing from Athens, Paul came to Corinth.
• Acts 18:2 And finding a certain Jew by name Aquila, of Pontus by race, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome, he came to them.
• Acts 18:3 And because he was of the same trade, he lived and worked with them; for they were tentmakers by trade.
• Acts 18:4 And he reasoned in the synagogue on every Sabbath persuading both Jews and the pagans.

And while in Troas, we see the apostle Paul meeting for fellowship with other disciples on the Sabbath:

• Acts 20:7 And on one of the Sabbaths, the disciples having been assembled to have a fellowship meal together, being about to depart on the next morning, Paul reasoned to them. And he continued his speech until midnight.

In his first letter to the church in Corinth, the apostle Shaul asks the congregation to put an offering aside for Jerusalem after the first of the Sabbaths (the Sabbaths counted during the approach of Shavuot):

• 1Co 16:1 And about the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the congregations of Galatia, so you do also.
• 1Co 16:2 After the first of the Sabbaths, let each of you put aside and keep in his house whatever he can afford, that there not be collections then when I come.
• 1Co 16:3 And when I arrive, whomever you select I will send through these epistles, to carry your grace to Jerusalem.
• 1Co 16:4 And if it is suitable for me to go also, they shall go with me.

And in his letter to the Colossians, the apostle Shaul encourages the believers not to let unbelievers judge them over keeping the Sabbath:

• Col 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone (outside the body) judge among you about eating, or drinking, or in how you keep the feast days, or the head of the month, or the Sabbath day,
• Col 2:17 which remain shadows of coming things, but the body of Messiah.

From all these examples we can clearly see that not only did Yeshua not change the Sabbath, but that the early church, including the apostles, continued to observe the Sabbath each and every week.  Unfortunately, this commandment has been lost over time, even it is the one commandment YHVH warned us to remember:

• Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy;
• Exodus 20:9 six days you shall labor and do all your work;
• Exodus 20:10 and the seventh day is a Sabbath to YAHWEH your Elohim; you shall not do any work, you, and your son, and your daughter, your male slave and your slave-girl, and your livestock, and your stranger who is in your gates.
• Exodus 20:11 For in six days YAHWEH made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all which is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; on account of this YAHWEH blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.