PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Mark 2:23-28
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)
The phrase ‘son of man’ for the Jews meant God’s promised messiah.
Ever since Adam and Eve, humanity has been looking for a ‘hero’.
Someone to establish rest, peace, justice, blessing… the good life.
God had promised that a human would come to crush the serpent (Genesis 3:15).
The sabbath symbolized this good life, rest from all life’s troubles.
It was designed to provide rest and protection for everyone.
It was not meant to stifle life and work, but to protect it.
The religious leaders had turned it into an oppressive rule.
They prescribed all sorts of little rules to ‘protect’ the sabbath.
Jesus came to protect and bless the people, not to protect the sabbath.
He is God’s promised ‘hero’, who comes to make life right for everyone.
Following Jesus and the Jesus Way gives us rest, peace, justice, blessing.
He is the reality that religion and religious traditions point to.
He gives us what the sabbath can only symbolize… rest for our souls!
PRAYER
Lord, my soul longs for rest, not religion or church or piety. May your sabbath peace, which passes all understanding, fill me and overflow from me to others.
“Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Man was not made for the Sabbath – Sabbath is a gift from God – we don’t earn Sabbath – God in his grace gives it to us through Jesus. Jesus paid the price for our disobedience and now gives us Sabbath rest. Thank you Jesus that you are Lord of the Sabbath. You are also Lord of my life as I live it – hep me to more and more live it for you in gratitude – as my thanks to you for Sabbath rest!
The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of the people and not the people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. Reminds me of the rules and regulations what I could do and not do on Sundays: no sports, no shopping, no work, wear Sunday clothes all day, no beach, no knitting, etc. Almost like the rules the Pharisees made that they thought violated the Sabbath. The Sabbath was created to celebrate God’s provision, enjoy His presence, remember His promises – to meet the needs of His people. The OT had said it was alright to pluck the heads of grain in your travels but the religious leaders had made their rules more important than the needs of the people. My Lord must be the focus of my Sabbath and my relationship to Him.
Lord of the Sabbath and its light,
I hail thy hallowed day of rest;
It is my weary soul’s delight,
The solace of my care-worn breast,
The solace of my care-worn breast.