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.
Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man – not the other way around- as if we were made for the Sabbath. If Sabbath is meant to be a time of ‘resting’ – as God rested after the 6 days of creation -it then means we were not made for resting – we were created by God to serve – to be stewards. But like God, we have been blessed with a Sabbath – where we can rest and take time away from ‘serving’ – a time of reflection and rejuvenation – like Jubilee. We were not made for that, that is the point – we were not made to vacation – but it is a gift. Can I see my Sunday as a gift of God – a time to R&R? I do and I treasure it – and it is most satisfying when I’ve done all week what I’m made for!
Thank You Lord for the Sabbaths – a day of rest, re-energizing, and a day to focus on You bringing a stop of our daily work and remember your goodness and praise You for all You have done. Great is Your faithfulness. The religious leaders were focused on tradition of the Sabbath and not on what the disciples needed. If it happened on a Monday, they probably would have ignored the disciples actions, but then maybe not. They were always finding fault and not being a blessing. May I always being seeking the good in people and in that way be a blessing to others.
Make me a servant
Humble and meek
Lord let me lift up
Those who are weak
And may the prayer
Of my heart always be
Make me a servant
Make me a servant
Make me a servant today