Week 39 – Lord of the Sabbath

Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the
Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28
NIV)

My focus this Sabbath was on the two verses above. Verse 27 is fairly
easy to understand. Basically, God designed Sabbath as a gift for our
lives. It is like a present. We are not the present to Sabbath.

I wanted to be clear on verse 28, so I looked through many
commentaries and articles and found differing opinions. I had to
think very hard about the meaning. There are several widely accepted
ideas on this verse that I don’t see backed up by Scripture. I don’t
begin to understand it all, but I will share a few of my thoughts by
the end of Sabbath.

It helped me to read these accounts of Jesus explaining Sabbath:
“One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and as his
disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The
Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on
the Sabbath?’ He answered, ‘Have you never read what David did when he
and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar
the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated
bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some
to his companions.’ Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for
man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the
Sabbath’” (Mark 2:23-28, NIV).

In this instance, the disciples were spending the day walking along
with Jesus. They were right where they needed to be, learning from
their Teacher. They could have gone home to eat, but chose to stay
with Jesus and pick the heads of grain.

In the case of David and his companions eating the consecrated bread,
they were in flight from King Saul. They stopped where they could for
food and ate what was available. The priest allowed them to eat the
consecrated bread.

“Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled
hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse
Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the
Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, ‘Stand up in
front of everyone.’ Then Jesus asked them, ‘Which is lawful on the
Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’ But they
remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply
distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, ‘Stretch out
your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.
Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how
they might kill Jesus” (Mark 3:1-6, NIV).

Jesus makes it clear in the scripture that doing good is always the
right thing to do. It grieved Him that the Pharisees were so
inconsiderate and focused on being in control that they chose not to
see the needs of others.

Jesus is love and everything good. If He is the Lord of the Sabbath,
and the Sabbath is designed for us to be a blessing, then it stands to
reason that the Sabbath is intended to be filled with love and
goodness. If at any point we let something get in the way of spending
time with Him or reflecting His Ways, then it is no longer a true
Sabbath.

Jesus puts Himself at the center of Sabbath. When we do this, we can
receive the benefit and freedom that He intended. It is almost like
He is asking, “Are you spending time with Me? Come and enjoy the
blessings!”. True, we can receive those blessings any day at any time.
But He gave us Sabbath as a special time of refreshment because He
knew the value of a strong relationship with His creation.

Valuing Our Lord and everything He stands for creates the true Sabbath
experience!

Until next week,
Lisa G.