Today's chapter is Mark 2. True the character of the book, Mark 2 covers a lot of ground. It starts off with one of my favorite Bible stories: a paralytic being lowered to Jesus through a hole in the roof! Why? Well, the paralytic's friends couldn't get him to Jesus using conventional methods because there were too many people! So they carried their friend up top, and sawed their way to Jesus. When Jesus saw the paralytic, he said that the paralytics' sins were forgiven, then restoring the guy to health. Of course, Jesus forgiving sins just sent the Pharisees into another crazy uproar; they pointed out that only God could forgive sins and anyone else who forgave sins committed blasphemy. Well, that's true, but the Pharisees missed one little part of the story: Jesus IS God!!!
Mark 2 also talks about the calling of Matthew, and the Pharisees asking Jesus more questions, such as:
- Why do you eat with "sinners"?
- Why don't your disciples fast?
- Why don't you obey our Sabbath traditions?
Scripture:
"The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." ~Mark 2:27-28
Observation:
In these verses the Pharisees are questioning Jesus why his disciples are doing certain things on the Sabbath. What Jesus' disciples were doing was totally bibical, but the action certainly didn't line up with the Pharisees' time-honored, man-made traditions about what to do and not to do on the Sabbath. God instituted the Sabbath at Creation (see Genesis 2) so that humans could have a day of rest from their regular week and duties, a day just to spend with God and strengthen their relationship with him.
By the time Jesus came to this planet, the Pharisees (the religious leaders at the time) had so warped and changed the Sabbath that it was far from a joyful day with God. For example, you could only walk a certain (little!) number of step on the Sabbath, or you weren't resting, therefore breaking the Sabbath. You could only carry a certain (small!) weight, or else you would be breaking the Sabbath because you were lifting your "burdens". Far from being a happy and restful day with God, the Sabbath was a day where a Jew had to constantly think if they were breaking the Sabbath or not.
And where had the Pharisees gotten all these rules? Their own heads. All this "you can only carry or walk so much" came straight from their heads, pure man-made traditions completely taking the joy out of one of God's best ideas.
So this is the background when the Pharisees ask Jesus why his disciples are "breaking" the Sabbath. Jesus replys, in verses 27 and 28:
"The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
"The Sabbath was man for man and not man for the Sabbath." The Sabbath truly was made for man--a day where he can forget everything else and spend a whole day with God. Man certainly was not made for the Sabbath, and the Pharisees didn't help at all. They sure didn't make the Jews think of the Sabbath in a positive light.
"Therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Jesus is telling the Pharisees that they (the religious leaders) aren't in charge of what happens or what doesn't happen on Sabbath--he is. And Jesus is working as hard as he can to move Sabbath observance back to the way it was at Creation!
Application:
This challenge could be applyed in a wide range of ways. Are we letting Jesus be Lord of Sabbath? Or do we end up doing on that day what we want instead? I know that this is a challenge for me. In an even broader sense, are we letting Jesus be the Lord of our lives? Is He in control, telling us what to do? I think that all of us would be more happy if we let Jesus be the Lord of our lives. You may have already surrendered your life to Jesus--and that's wonderful! However, we need to continue surrendering our selfish selves to Jesus every day. Self is just too eager to take a foothold in your life again.
Prayer:
Dear God, I surrender my life to you. I want you to be the Lord of my life. Give me the strength to continue surrendering to you, and give me willing obedience to do whatever you tell me to do. Thank you. Amen.
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