Rest

Mark 2:27 Then he said to the, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

Sometimes we have things upside down. Our perspective on a subject is all wrong and it needs to be corrected. We see the speed limit signs and see them as a means to limit our freedom. Instead, the speed limits are there to protect us from the reckless drivers who would drive excessive speeds and endanger us all.

There is a benefit that we receive when there are speed limits. We have a safer travel experience. Imagine if every one of the ‘crazy’ drivers was given a free pass to travel at whatever speed they wanted. Think of the traffic jams that would constantly happen because of all the crashes. Travel would come to a stop in short order.

We often think about the commands of God in a similar way. We view the commands as something from which God benefits. He gets an obedient people, or more in line with reality, He gets a rebellious people.

But what benefit does the Law bring to us? It gives us a model of godly behavior in contrast to the ancient neighbors of Israel. It gives us a snapshot of the differences between a just and holy society and one that followed dumb idols and outrageous sexual practices.

Jesus has begun His ministry and is teaching, as he so often did, on the Sabbath day. In the Jewish way of measuring time that is from Friday at sundown to Saturday at sundown. Jesus and His disciples were walking, probably during the day on Saturday, and they were hungry. So they grab handfuls of grain in a field and eat.

For our Western eyes this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but to Jewish first century eyes, they were breaking a cardinal rule. They were working on the Sabbath, harvesting grain. They were sticklers for keeping the letter of the Law.

Now if you know something about harvesting grain, you know that you don’t just grab a few heads of grain at a time. Instead you cut the stalks and gather them to dry. Then after they are dry you must thresh them, beat them on the ground or a stone in order for the kernels of grain to be separated from the stalks.

And if you have ever eaten raw kernels of grain, we are not talking about a gourmet meal here. But it was a violation to the letter of the Law. They were ‘working’ on the Sabbath.

But Jesus counters by saying the the Sabbath is for humans. This day of rest that the LORD modeled as relayed in Genesis, is for our benefit. We are the ones that need the rest. We need time set aside to not do our regular work of teaching, or sales, or management, or assembly, or trade. We need time to reflect and recoup. That is the purpose of the Sabbath.

Jesus gives them one example from the Scriptures as an example of the Sabbath serving man, not the other way around. David and his men were hungry on the Sabbath and ate the sacred consecrated bread that only priests were supposed to eat. And it was OK.

So tell me, how is our Sabbath going? Do we really rest on that day? Do we leave aside our income earning activities to pull back and rest and reflect? Or has it become just like every other day where we cram it full of everyday activities?

The LORD doesn’t need us to observe the day of rest, we need it for our spiritual and relational health. We need time to reflect on what is important and what needs to be dropped.