Jul 18

Mark 2:23-27
Memorise Exodus 20:8
“…God did rest the seventh day from all his works…”

Jesus and His disciples went into the cornfields on the Sabbath day to pluck corn for food. The Pharisees saw this and condemned Jesus and His disciples for doing so. The Pharisees said that they were not doing that which was lawful according to God’s law, or at least their own erroneous interpretation of it. The Pharisees were a religious group who were originally formed to help ensure that the people of Israel kept to God’s Word in the Old Testament. However, over time, the Pharisees became fanatical and corrupt. They enforced God’s law without understanding and even created laws of their own. Although these extra laws were man-made, the Pharisees expected the Jews to follow them like they were to follow God’s law. This was the case for the Sabbath- keeping. For instance, one of these laws required the Jews not to travel more than a certain distance on the Sabbath or else they would have broken God’s law. The Pharisees distorted the meaning and purpose of the Sabbath. Christ’s response in verse 27 was that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. What Jesus meant was that God gave man the Sabbath for his spiritual and physical benefit. The Sabbath was not intended to enslave man into following after strict laws to the point where it no longer benefited man but instead became a burden. We are expected to obey God’s law with understanding. God gave us the Sabbath so that we can set aside 1 day in 7 to focus on worshipping and serving God. If not for the Sabbath, many of us would have probably continued working or indulging in some leisure activity and forgot God altogether. God knows our forgetful nature. Of course, we are not to serve and worship God only during the Sabbath either. We are required to do so every day of the week. God wants us to lead spiritual lives everyday and it is for our own good. Our problem is that we don’t keep the Sabbath spiritual or holy isn’t it? We go for morning worship service and the rest of the day is no different from any other day. That is not keeping the Sabbath day as we should. Our activities on Sundays should revolve around serving and worshipping God. It is the day we dedicate to the Lord and not to ourselves. If we cannot keep 1 day in 7 in remembrance of God, how are we to keep all 7 days as we should? Let’s try to improve the way that we keep the Sabbath.

Thought: The Sabbath day is given to us for our good!
Prayer: Father, help me to learn to keep Your Sabbath day holy.