THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 2:23-28
“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.
Knowing Jesus gives us rest, peace, justice, blessing… life to the full.
He is greater than the religious rules, the Lord of the sabbath.
He gives us what the sabbath can only symbolize… rest for our souls!
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
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.