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JESUS IS LORD OF THE SABBATH (I)
FRIDAY, MAY 9
Mark 2:23-38

Micah 6:6-8

 

“For the Son of man is Lord

even of the sabbath day.”

 

JESUS IS LORD OF THE SABBATH (I)
 
The Pharisees charged Jesus and His disciples for breaking the sabbath. According to the Pharisees, the sabbath law was broken when the disciples plucked and rubbed the wheat grains in their hands. The Pharisees had a list of 39 activities that were prohibited on the Sabbath; among them were reaping and threshing. The disciples plucked the heads of grain; that was considered reaping. Then they rubbed them in their hands; that was threshing. Jesus was culpable because He did not stop His disciples from “breaking the sabbath.” His disciples were hungry, and plucked some wheat grains to eat; was the Master wrong to allow them to do it?
 
Jesus and His disciples clearly did not violate the sabbath law. What they went against were those extra-biblical, man-made, and foolish laws of the Pharisees (cf. Luke 11:46). Jesus rebutted the accusations of the Pharisees by citing the example of David who ate of the shewbread that only the priests were allowed to eat. David was hungry, and Ahimelech the priest, knowing the law for sure, did not forbid David and his men to fill their stomachs with forbidden bread (1 Sam 21:1-6; cf. Lev 24:9). Ahimelech “broke” the ceremonial law of Leviticus 24:9, but was blameless. David likewise “broke” that law by eating of the ceremonial bread, and was guiltless as well. If Ahimelech and David were innocent, how could Jesus — the great High Priest, the greater David — be guilty?
 
Moreover, Jesus Himself is the Lord of the sabbath! Jesus had every right to override a divinely ordained ceremonial provision when necessity demanded it. The higher law of necessity overrides the lower law of ceremony. Jesus did not break the law but kept it perfectly.
 
Jesus laid down a wonderful principle for sabbath-keeping when He said, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.” In other words, the sabbath was made for man’s advantage and not disadvantage. The sabbath was not meant to be a burden but a benefit to man. Thus any legalistic application of the sabbath law contradicts its God-given role for man.
 
THOUGHT: Can a Christian eat in a restaurant on the Lord’s Day?
PRAYER: Father, I thank Thee for instituting the sabbath for the good of man.

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