Whats up with the Sabbath?

Information for Matthew Chapter 12

Why is the Sabbath so important to the Jews?  Why was Jesus constantly being criticized for what he did on the Sabbath?

1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" 3 But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. 7 But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

 

The day of the week for rest and worship for the Jews, observed on the seventh and final day of the week, is our Saturday.  This passage in Matthew is one of the many thought out the New Testament that illustrate the importance of the Jewish religious leaders had placed on the Sabbath, to the point of initiating of rules and regulations regarding its observation.  Two entire sections of the Talmud are devoted solely tot he details of observing the Sabbath.  In one area, the Shabbath, list 39 area of "labor" from which Jews were restricted during the Sabbath.  sowing, plowing, reaping, gathering into sheaves, threshing, winnowing, cleansing, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, washing it, beating it, dying it, spinning it, making a warp of it, making tow cords, weaving two threads, separating two threads, making a knot, untying a knot, sewing two stitches, tearing to sew two stitches, catching deer, killing ,skinning, salting it, preparing its hide, scraping off its hair, cutting it up, writing two letters, blotting out for the purpose of writing two letters, building, pulling down, extinguishing, lighting a fire, beating with a hammer and carrying from one property to another. 

Jesus" teaching that the Sabbath was not an end in itself- that the Sabbath was created FOR MAN, not man for the Sabbath- came in direct conflict with these views. 

Most early Christians retained the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath.  However because the resurrection of their Lord was the most joyous event in their lives, they began to gather for worship on the first day of the week as well ( Our Sunday)  and designated it as the Lord's Day.  later as the division between Christianity and Judaism increased, the Christians eventually abandoned meeting together on the seventh day and adopted the Lord's Day as their official day of worship and celebration. 

EXTRA Look back through the Old Testament at some of the instructions and guidelines the Jewish society had regarding the Sabbath.  Here are some references to get you started.  Exodus 16: 21-30 20:8 34:21, 35: 1-3 Leviticus 23: 1-3 Deuteronomy 5:12-15 I Isaiah 38 13-14, Jeremiah 17: 19-27.