Resting in Him

Resting in Him

SCRIPTURE:

²³ One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵ He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? ²⁶ In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

²⁷ Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:23-28

OBSERVATION:

Now the Sabbath was a big issue for the Pharisees and teachers of the law who had over the years created an elaborate system of interpretation as to what constituted work and what did not. By being so legalistic and creating rules within rules and laws within laws, they had created great burdens to place upon the people. By making it so difficult, they were in fact trying to prove to one another who could be more “holy” in adherence to the law. Their motives became no longer to please God but to prove themselves superior to others. The Lord was very annoyed by all these petty rules of men, and constantly challenged them as He walked the earth.

On this occasion, the disciples were simply walking along and helping themselves to heads of grain because they were hungry. There was no intention to trade or do business, but simply to feed their hungry stomachs. But the Pharisees jumped straight on their case, pointing out that they had broken the Sabbath by their actions.

The Lord’s answer was brilliant, pointing them back to the time when David and his companions went into the house of God and ate the consecrated bread which was unlawful for them to eat, even in the presence of God’s priest Ahimelek. Given the urgency of the situation, Ahimelek consented to allow David and his companions to eat the consecrated bread. There was a higher purpose at work that superseded the normal rule that only the priests could eat the consecrated bread.

Another time when Jesus was challenged on the Sabbath issue, He healed a man on the Sabbath to show that it was right to do good and heal on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made by God, for man so that they would rest. However, there were times when men had to break the Sabbath for a noble or important purpose, such as when the priests worked to serve the people who came to worship or when the sick came to be healed.

Another point that Jesus made was that He as the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. A traffic policeman has the authority to instruct traffic to ignore a traffic light because he has higher authority than the traffic light, and his actions to so is with the purpose of easing congestion at particular areas. Likewise, Jesus showed that He had all authority to circumvent the Sabbath then for a higher purpose such as to feed the hungry, to heal the sick, to serve the people.

APPLICATION:

Later, the Apostle Paul in his writings to Christians declared that they were not to allow themselves to be judged by any new moon or Sabbath. It was no longer the outward observance of a day or festival that mattered but the inward condition of one’s heart and thoughts. The whole Sermon of the Mount concentrates on the inner character person as opposed to the outward acts.

Christians today no longer observe the Sabbath, which is Saturday, but instead celebrate Sunday, the day of the Lord’s Resurrection to remember that He is risen in victory! In a sense, the Sabbath for a Christian is every day, as we are continually resting in the Lord in His finished work on the Cross! Practically, to work this out, a good way is to have that attitude of restfulness and peace as we go about our daily lives. It does not mean that we become lazy and don’t work hard, but rather that we have a quiet assurance of dependence on the Lord for our strength and energy in all that we do. In our meditation and thoughts, we can have that atmosphere of restfulness by committing everything to Him. This way, we do not worry about life’s troubles but just trust God day by day.

PRAYER:

Praise You, Lord, for Your perfect grace and marvelous love. We thank You, Lord, that because of Your finished work, we have entered Your rest and can have peace and restfulness in all that we do. Help us, Lord, cease to strive in our own energy but to live in dependence on You and learn to live ably as Your Spirit moves within us. Truly, Lord, it is in You that we live and move and have our being. Help us also, Lord, cease from worrying, but to trust in You. We bless You and love You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.