JANUARY 30, Luke 6:1-5 

According to the Pharisees, the Sabbath law was broken when the disciples plucked and rubbed the grains in their hands, as that meant working on the Sabbath. Jesus was deemed guilty because He did not stop His disciples from “breaking the Sabbath.” His disciples were hungry and had plucked some wheat grains to eat. Was Jesus wrong not to stop them?

Jesus and His disciples clearly did not break any Sabbath law. What they went against were the wrong interpretations of the Pharisees. Jesus rebutted the accusations of the Pharisees by citing the example of David who ate of the bread in the temple that only the priests were allowed to eat; David and his men needed to survive and so had to eat! The higher law of necessity overrides the lower law of ceremony.

Today, we keep the Lord’s Day (Sunday) as a replacement of the Sabbath (Saturday), in line with the practice seen in the New Testament church.

All of you are students; should you study or have tuition on Sundays? Should adults work on Sundays? Preferably not, unless the services they provide are essential – like doctors or bus-drivers. God has given us, students, 7 days a week; and other than Sunday, there are 6 other days we could have had tuition or studied. Sundays should be spent literally resting from our daily work; reading more of God’s Word and Christian books, etc. However, if you had forgotten to do your homework and needed it Monday morning, then do it – the Lord will understand. It should however not be a regular occurence.

We are told to keep our Sabbaths, but in reality the Sabbath keeps us. It keeps us in balance, reminding us that there is much more to life than studies and doing well. We often say we want to learn to trust God. Trust Him also in this issue – honour God by studying hard for 6 days and on Sunday, spend it for Him.

Thought: God has made the Sabbath a delight for His children.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to honour You in the way we observe the Christian Sabbath, not pursuing our own selfish pleasures. I know I am to keep the Sabbath Day holy, so please help me to do it. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.