Actually, the Sabbath is mentioned more often in the Gospels than in the books of Moses. But it is mentioned in the context of the times. Nobody was questioning the validity of the Sabbath among first-century Jews or even in the early ekklesia for that matter, so there was no need for the repetition of direct commands to keep it. People were rather questioning how the Sabbath should be kept, and all the discussion turns on that point. Yahushua went out of his way to heal people on the Sabbath. In fact, in the Gospel of Luke , every time Yahushua heals someone on his own initiative, it is on the Sabbath. Yahushua showed by this that it is not only appropriate to help those in need on the Sabbath, but that the Sabbath is a witness of salvation.
Yahushua was faced with a different concept of the Sabbath, mainly a Rabbinical one. Rabbinical method developed as a new thing about that time. It was a religious change that accommodated to the Roman Empire. The Romans feared any rival to the emperor. So the Jews focused on the law and set the divinely appointed interpreter and implementer of the law aside. The Pharisees used Rabbinical method to apply the law to all aspects of life without making appeal to the divinely appointed implementer and interpreter of the law, the Messiah. The Sadducees limited the law to what it specifically states, thus dispensing with the need for the Messiah. Using opposite means, both groups appeased the Romans and supported the status quo of Roman rule. Yahushua opposed that strongly, not only in regard to the Sabbath, but in regard to everything else as well. He presented himself as the Messiah and refused to accommodate to Rome.
In principle, that is still the challenge today. We must accept Yahushua's authority and reject the authority of Rome.
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