Slices
Prepare
What activities do you find ‘tank-filling’ in life? Thank God that he made you unique!
Bible passage
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath
12 At that time Jesus went through the cornfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some ears of corn and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, ‘Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.’
3 He answered, ‘Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread – which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’
11 He said to them, ‘If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’
13 Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Explore
In the beginning… there was rest (Genesis 2:2,3). God instituted the Sabbath for the well-being of creation. Later, he enshrined it in the Ten Commandments, declaring it ‘holy’ and ‘blessed’ (Exodus 20:8–11), signifying liberation after the years of unrelenting slavery in Egypt. If Sabbath was God’s idea, why was Jesus OK with his disciples breaking it (vs 2)?
Jesus exposes the flaw of the legalistic mindset (vs 7–12), showing that we can tick all the spiritual boxes and still miss out on a richness of relationship with our Divine Lover. What God gave for liberation, the religious leaders turned into a burden of rule-keeping, as if God only accepts us on the terms of our hard work. When we’re striving, we’re not thriving! The easy yoke of Jesus (11:28– 30) restores God’s priority: ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath’ (Mark 2:27).
Sabbath is more than a particular day of the week or doing nothing but ‘spiritual’ things. ‘The Sabbath, when experienced as God intended, is the best day of our lives … the holy time where we feast, play, dance, have sex, sing, pray, laugh, tell stories, read, paint, walk, and watch creation in its fullness’* (Dan Allender).
*Dan Allender, Sabbath, Thomas Nelson, 2009, pp4–5
Respond
Life will squeeze us into its shape unless we’re intentional about our work, rest and play. Take a stand! How about a digital detox or more walks in God’s creation?
Deeper Bible study
Jesus said, ‘The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.’1 How do people benefit from observing the Sabbath?
The differences between Jesus and the Pharisees come to the fore in today’s reading. The Pharisees criticise Jesus’ disciples for plucking and eating grain because they believed this was reaping and involved breaking the commandment not to work on the Sabbath. The Pharisees had good motives: their additional rules were intended to stop them coming anywhere near breaking God’s laws. But they had ended up missing something vital about the Sabbath. God intended it as a blessing, whereas following their Sabbath rules would have meant the disciples going hungry and the man with a withered hand being denied healing – hardly a blessing!
Jesus challenged their view with examples from Scripture of laws that were broken for the greater good: to alleviate their hunger, David and his men ate the consecrated bread (or shewbread) which only priests were normally allowed to consume; and Jesus also makes the point that the sacrificial system from which they benefited was only possible because priests worked on the Sabbath.
The Pharisees may seem extreme, but it’s also easy for us to lose sight of God’s love for others when we believe we are in the right. For example, we can get involved in arguments over doctrine that leave others hurt; resist change even though many will be helped by it; pressurise people to get involved in projects we believe are of God when they already have too much on, etc. How do we know when to challenge and when to show compassion? The Pharisees stuck rigidly to their rules regardless of people’s circumstances, which must have made their decision-making easier in some ways. We, though, are called to be led by God’s compassion and there is no shortcut to that other than walking closely with the Lord.
In Mark 3:4 Jesus talked about the Sabbath as a day to do good not evil. Pray and listen to God about what that might mean for you.
1 Mark 2:27, TNIV
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Job 3,4; Luke 14
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for churches that are using the Wonder Zone holiday club material this summer asking that children will get to hear and understand the good news of Jesus as they explore the wonders of the natural world.
