The Sabbath in the New Testament, Part 1
Jesus and the Sabbath
If we look to Jesus for our example on how to keep the Sabbath, we find that the general principle to follow is the biblical principle that “Love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
And Jesus tells us that love, as expressed by us mere humans, can be broken down into two great principles.
(1) Supreme love for God and …
(2) Love for our neighbors (even if they be our enemies) as for ourselves.
On these two great laws, Jesus says, hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:35 – 40)
The Sabbath is the bridge that links the first three commandments defining our relationship with God with the last six commandments defining our relationships with other people. In Jesus, in His Sabbath observances, we see this bridging in action. Jesus participated in Sabbath worship; He was obedient to the commandment.
The Sabbath Controversies
Jesus never said anything about abolishing or changing the Sabbath commandment. In fact, Jesus fully expected his followers to still be keeping the Sabbath long after his resurrection and ascension. In Matthew 24:20 Jesus, referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, some 40 years after His crucifixion, said to His disciples, “Pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.”
The Sabbath controversies between Jesus and the Jews very plainly show that He was not setting the Sabbath aside. Nor did He ever point to a time when it would be transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week. These discussions and disagreements did not have the purpose of questioning the validity of the Sabbath commandment. Jesus addressed the issue in order to liberate the Sabbath from the mass of senseless regulations (some 1521 of them) imposed on it by Jewish traditions.
Now let us take a look at specific instances recorded in the four gospels concerning Jesus and His Sabbath observance.
Sabbath in the Grain Fields
We will begin with an incident recorded in Matthew 12:1-8. You will also find this story in Mark 2:23-26 and Luke 6:1-5.
Here in these texts the disciples were walking through the grain fields with Jesus on the Sabbath and being hungry they plucked the heads of grain to eat as they were passing by. The Pharisees, ever ready to find an accusation against Jesus accused them of violating the Sabbath.
Matthew 12:1-9 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. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: “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? “Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? “Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.
True, harvesting was prohibited during the Sabbath (Exodus 34:21), but it would be difficult to argue that the disciples were farmers harvesting a crop during the Sabbath, and the law did allow hungry travelers to pluck ears of grain from a field as they passed by (Deuteronomy 23:26).
The law they broke was not a biblical restriction on Sabbath activity, but a man made restriction that the Jews had imposed upon the Sabbath. And according to the Pharisees, when the disciples violated this law of their own making, they were violating the Sabbath.
In order to justify the behavior of the disciples, Jesus refers to two exceptional cases; one related to David and the other to the priests and the temple. The reference to David was used to show that providing for human need is the real essence of the law. Human need supersedes any mere religious observance, especially that religious observance is little more than human law imposed upon one of God’s laws. This is supported by Jesus’ statement in Mark 2: 27, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”
Matthew’s account of the event adds Jesus’ reference to the experience of the priests who worked in the temple during the Sabbath (Matthew 12:5). The point is that if the priests in doing their God appointed duty on the Sabbath day are not guilty of violating the Sabbath, how much more innocent are the disciples, who are serving Jesus, “one greater than the temple” (Matthew 12:6). Actions/works that are done in service to God are in not in violation of the Sabbath.
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath
Matthew records that Jesus declared Himself to be “Lord even of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8). That is to say, it is He, Jesus (not the Jews) who has the right to determine how the Sabbath is to be kept.
But in what way can it be said the Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath? The New Testament presents two grounds upon which this claim is made. First, the testimony of the New Testament is that Jesus is the Creator. It was He who spoke the words, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). Of this it is written of Jesus:
John 1:1-5, 10-12 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. … He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
Colossians 1:16-17 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
And so, it was Jesus who, after creating heaven and earth, rested on the seventh day and blessed and sanctified and hallowed it.
Jesus is also Lord of the Sabbath by virtue of being the Law Giver. Jesus is the I AM who spoke to Moses in the burning bush on Mt. Sinai.
Exodus 3:14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
And so, 1600 years later Jesus declared Himself to be the I AM.
John 8:56-58 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
Thus, by creation and as the Law Giver Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. Nowhere in this story does Jesus in any way disclaim the Sabbath or in any way diminish it. Here in this story Jesus never spoke a word against the Sabbath but rather upheld its sanctity and defended it against the meaningless and burdensome restrictions the Jews has presumed to impose on it.
This story ends with Jesus, as His custom was (Luke 4:16), going into the synagogue on that Sabbath day.
Is it Lawful to Heal on the Sabbath?
This next story is a continuation of the previous story. After passing through the grain fields, Jesus and His disciples as stated in verse 9 went into the synagogue. This story is about the healing of a man with a withered hand. The question here once again is, what is it lawful to do during the Sabbath? It also further demonstrates that Jesus is indeed Lord of the Sabbath. This story is also found in Mark 3:1-6 and Luke 6:6-11.
Matthew 12:9-14 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” –that they might accuse Him. Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? “Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.
Jesus’ mission was to restore and to heal suffering humanity and the Sabbath (rightly kept) witnesses to that redemptive activity. Human traditions were not to impose limits to his work.
It is likely it was the same Pharisees who accused Jesus’ disciples in the grain field who now confront Jesus this time with the question “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” Theirs was not an honest question. They were not looking for an answer but for an opportunity to accuse Jesus of Sabbath breaking.
The rules and regulations that the religious leaders of Israel had imposed on the Sabbath made the day one of cruel bondage rather than one of joyous freedom it was meant to be. By Jesus’ day though one might rescue an animal because it represented a potential economic loss to the owner, simple acts of kindness toward a fellow human in need were frowned upon as transgression of the commandment.
Jesus met their deceitful question by calling out their hypocrisy, concluding that if it is right to help an animal in distress on the Sabbath it is even more so to help a fellow human on the Sabbath. Then Jesus very plainly says to them, “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” And note, Jesus did not qualify His statement as to who or what it was lawful to do good to. Be it man or animal in need, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.
To the religious leaders of the day Sabbath keeping was narrowed down to the observance of a senseless list of rules and regulations. A heavy burden, the Sabbath had become anything but a delight. Yet the Bible tells us that the Sabbath is to be a delight.
Making the Sabbath a Delight
Isaiah 58:13-14 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words, Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
We are not merely to obey God, but we are to obey God in God’s way. We are to call the Sabbath a delight.
Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath to make the man whole and allow him to live a normal life. What a delightful experience Jesus gave to this man. But it filled the Pharisees with indignation.
The Sabbath itself is never challenged or set aside by Jesus in this story. But Jesus does make it very clear that you do not have to wait until the Sabbath is over before doing good. Doing good is never a violation of the Sabbath.
The Healing at the Pool of Bethesda
In the gospel of John, we find two important incidents dealing with Sabbath controversies. The first is the healing of the lame man by the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath. When charged with violating the Sabbath, Jesus justified his action saying, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”
John 5: 1-18 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. … Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.” He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.'” Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
“My Father has been working until now, and I have been working” (John 56:17). God does not shut down our immune systems every seventh-day, wounds do not stop healing on the Sabbath day, our hearts keep beating, our lungs keep breathing, the sun keep shining. God still sustains the life of all living things on the Sabbath day. God still blesses people on the Sabbath day. God still brings joy to countless hearts on the Sabbath day. And to this end Jesus (the Lord of the Sabbath) was also working.
Jesus’ actions here are very interesting. Not only did He heal a man on the Sabbath, but after healing him Jesus told the man to take up his bed and walk. In the mind of the religious leaders of the day this constituted a double violation of the Sabbath. It was bad enough that Jesus insisted on healing people on the Sabbath day, but having the healed man carry a burden too – that was just too much for them to take.
But Jesus did this for a reason, there was a purpose behind Jesus’s actions. In this and in all of Jesus’s Sabbath controversies with the Jews Jesus was working to free the Sabbath from the mountain of rubbish the religious leaders had imposed on the Sabbath. The Jews had which made the Sabbath a day of drudgery and irksome bondage to the people. The Sabbath as the religious leaders of the Jews had remodeled it bore not the stamp of a gracious and loving God, but the stamp of the cold cruel arbitrary will of fallen man.
In the days of Nehemiah, when the Jews were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem the workers complained that “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall” (Nehemiah 4:10). Such was the state of things concerning the Law of God in Christ’s day. Those who conscientiously sought to serve God found themselves faced with a mountain of legal rubbish that made obedience almost an impossibility. Yet the very scribes and Pharisees who imposed these laws on the people exempted themselves from having to follow them.
Matthew 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
The debate between Jesus and the Jews on this incident was resumed in John 7:19-23, where Jesus explicitly argues that Sabbath observance is compatible with works of mercy and love. He justified his work on the Sabbath by reference to the law of circumcision that in some cases required it to be performed during the Sabbath. The point is that if circumcision is allowed, how much more the healing of the man.
John 7:19-23 “Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” The people answered and said, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?” Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel. “Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. “If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?”
In none of this this did Jesus ever speak a single word against the Sabbath. The Sabbath was not a time for cold hearted indifference to the need of the sick and suffering, though such it had become under the rubbish of purely human enactments imposed upon it by the Jews.
Opening Blind Eyes
The second Sabbath incident recorded by John concerns the opening the eyes of a man born blind. Jesus healed the blind man on the Sabbath by kneading clay with his saliva, placing it on the eyes of the man and sending him to wash it off at the pool of Siloam. The Jews thought they had several reasons to charge Jesus with not keeping the Sabbath. First, Jesus could have waited until after the Sabbath to heal him; after all, the man’s life was not threatened. Second, kneading was forbidden on Sabbath; third, in some cases anointing eyes on Sabbath was condemned; and finally, one may not put fasting spittle on the eyes on the Sabbath. And once again, every one of these restrictions were merely human laws imposed by the Jews upon God law. This shows that Jesus was breaking the Sabbath only in the eyes of the Jewish leaders, but He was not violating the commandment itself. Jesus was performing the works of God, once again demonstrating that “love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10).
John 9:1-16 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?” Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.” He said, “I am he.” Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.” Then they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.” They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. (The story continues all the way to the end of this chapter).
The Jews could not escape the fact that they had a great dilemma on their hands. On the one hand it was very obvious to all that Jesus was working great miracles, such miracles that they could not (though they tried) deny was being done through the power of God. Yet on the other hand Jesus was openly violating every man-made tradition the Jews had imposed on the Sabbath. Traditions that the Jews had come to have a greater regard for than for the commandment itself. And this was not an isolated case.
At another time when the Pharisees rebuked Jesus and His disciples for not performing the round of ceremonial washings the Jews had imposed upon themselves Jesus answered saying,
Mark 7:6-8, 9, 13 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men” …
9 He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. … making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
This is the mentality from which Jesus was striving to free the Sabbath day.
You are Loosed from Your Infirmity
The next Sabbath incident is found in the book of Luke. And once again we find Jesus (as His custom was) in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, teaching the people.
Luke 13:10-17 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.” The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? “So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound–think of it–for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.
Once again, we see a familiar pattern. Jesus is according to His custom in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and again Jesus presumes to commit an act of kindness by healing a woman who had been bound by her affliction for 18 years. And once again we see the religious leaders indignant and offended by acts of kindness done on the Sabbath day. And again, Jesus reveals their hypocrisy in that they have a greater concern for animals than for people.
People who use these stories to teach that Jesus was somehow doing away with the Sabbath are, without realizing it, standing side by side with the scribes and Pharisees in accusing Jesus of transgressing the Commandments. Sin, the Bible says, is the transgression of the law. But if you make Jesus a transgressor of the law you make Jesus to be a sinner, and as a sinner Jesus Himself would be in need of a Savior. “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). But Jesus was sinless, hence, not a transgressor of the law. Speaking of Jesus, the writer of Hebrews says, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
In the House of the Pharisee
This next incident takes place not in a synagogue but in the house of one of the chief Pharisees. This is evidently a Sabbath afternoon meal to which Jesus and His disciples had been invited after the morning synagogue services were over.
Luke 14:1-6 Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. Then He answered them, saying, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” And they could not answer Him regarding these things.
Although Jesus was a guest at the Pharisees house, it appears that the Pharisees had ulterior motives for inviting Him. Also invited, it seems, was a man with dropsy, and the Pharisees were watching closely to see what Jesus would do. What Jesus did was to ask them a simple question. “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” It was a simple yes or no question, but it was a question they could not answer. If they answered yes, then they would have to acknowledge that their persecution of Jesus for healing on the Sabbath day was wrong and that they themselves were transgressors. If the answered no, they remembered how Jesus had previously revealed their hypocrisy in treating animals better than people. So they remained silent.
And Jesus, calling the man to Him, healed Him, then proceeded to contrast their willing to work on the Sabbath day in rescuing an animal in a pit because of the possible economic loss to the owner, with their willingness to allow human suffering to continue on the Sabbath day when it was in their power to relive it.
Once again, we find Jesus, not a transgressor, but the defender of the Sabbath day.
And as His Custom Was
Luke 4:14-16 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.
And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. So He 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.
I have noted in this study that it was Jesus’s custom to go to the synagogues on the Sabbath day. Here is where that comes from. Jesus never did anything just because it was the Jewish thing to do. Jesus’ refusal to follow Jewish customs often brought Him into conflict with the religious leaders of His day. That Jesus customarily kept the Sabbath, going to the synagogues for worship, speaks volumes about Jesus’ attitude toward the Sabbath.
Luke 4:17-21 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
On this Sabbath day, Jesus read from Isaiah 61:1-2, and the passage He read from was essentially His mission statement. Jesus then preached a sermon based on the Isaiah text He had read, and the people marveled at the words He was speaking.
Luke 4:22-30 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.2 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'” Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. “But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; “but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. “And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.
And once again we find that Jesus offended his listeners. What was His offence this time? It was his refusal to abide by the national exclusiveness of the Jews. You see, Jesus was not just the Jewish Messiah. He was the savior of the whole world, Jews and Gentiles alike. Jesus made no distinction between the two, and when Jesus recited from sacred history God merciful dealings with a Syrian leper and a Canaanite widow that was just too much for them to bear. Enraged and filled with wrath they sought to throw Him over a cliff and kill Him.
Jesus was the only true Sabbath keeper in that synagogue.
Preaching with Power and Authority
Taking leave of Nazareth, Jesus then went down to Capernaum, where again we find him teaching in the local synagogue on the Sabbath days, preaching the word, casting out devils, healing the sick.
Luke 4:31-37 Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority. Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are–the Holy One of God!” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
And so, in conclusion, we find no cause for abandoning the Seventh-day Sabbath in any of the words or actions of Jesus. On the contrary, we find great encouragement to follow the example of Jesus, to observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
You cannot go wrong by following the example of Jesus. And His disciples did just that. They too observed the Sabbath just as Jesus did. (The New Testament Church and the Sabbath). Nor did they ever teach that Sunday was to become a new Christian Sabbath. (Sunday in the New Testament)