Rest That Restores
November 9 | Rick Thiemke
Stream from your smart TV by going to our Youtube channel: youtube.com/@ViaChurch
Luke 5:33-6:11
A Question About Fasting
33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
6 1 On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3 And Jesus answered 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 took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” 5 And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
A Man with a Withered Hand
6 On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. 8 But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
We live in an age of hurry and hustle. Our culture measures worth by output - how much we do for our boss, our family, even for God. But Jesus steps into our driven world with a different invitation: “Come to me… and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Luke 6:1-11 gives us two accounts that both happened on the Sabbath. It shows that the rest Jesus offers isn’t escapism; it’s restoration. The Sabbath is not a weekend convenience or religious rule - it’s a divine rhythm that reveals what kind of God we serve.
Sabbath time set aside to stop, rest, delight and worship. It’s not time off so we can do more; it’s the weekly rhythm where we remember who we are and who we’re not. Sabbath is how we resist Pharaoh’s lie that we exist to produce. It’s how we witness to the world that we belong to a God who provides, not a system that demands.
Rest Redefined By The Lord Of The Sabbath
The scene begins in a grainfield (verses 1-5). The disciples are hungry; the Pharisees are offended. For them, holiness meant control - fences around life. Jesus replies with Scripture - David eating the bread of the Presence (1 Samuel 21) and reminds them that mercy has always mattered more than rule-keeping.
Then He makes an audacious statement: “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” The Creator who rested in Genesis now stands among them reclaiming His creation’s rhythm of rest.
D. A. Carson warns that legalism is the Sabbath’s counterfeit - a form of “adjacent values masquerading as the center.” Jesus exposes that king of counterfeit and puts Himself back at the center. And His Sabbath is deeply missional:
Witness: one day in seven says to the world, our God provides (Exodus 20:8–11).
Resistance: Sabbath is a weekly no to Pharaoh’s grind (Deuteronomy 5:15).
Justice: God commands rest for everyone - workers, immigrants, even livestock (Deuteronomy 5:14).
Observing a Sabbath is a form of resistance. Sabbath tells our frantic world: you don’t own me; God does.
Rest Expressed In Restoring Love
Now the scene moves from grainfield to synagogue, from hunger to healing (verses 6-11). Jesus sees a man whose right hand is withered. The Pharisees see only a trap. They watch, waiting to accuse.
Jesus calls the man forward and asks the religious leaders a question (verse. 9). Their silence exposes them - religion that can’t make room for love is no longer of God.
The gospel according to Mark adds, “He looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mark 3:5). Dane Ortlund writes, “Compassion and indignation rise together in His soul.” Jesus’ anger is love refusing to remain indifferent. He commands, “Stretch out your hand,” and healing flows.
True Sabbath heals. It is not merely rest from work but restoration for life. His rest doesn’t pull you from the world; it sends you into it renewed. His rest doesn’t end work; it makes work holy. His rest is the dress rehearsal for the world to come - when every withered thing is made whole (Hebrews 4:9-11). Jesus invites you to experience rest that restores - now.
Discussion Questions
Where do you feel the pressure to keep producing, even when you sense Jesus inviting you to rest? What might it look like to practice Sabbath as resistance to that pressure?
How could the rhythm of “Stop, Rest, Delight, Worship” become a weekly witness that your life is centered on God’s provision rather than your performance?
What “withered place” in you needs Jesus’ restoring touch today? How can you bring that part of your life into His rest this week?