Mark 2:23-28
There is a time for work… and there is a time to rest. How refreshed are you to undertake the work of the Lord? In today’s passage Jesus declares Himself to be “Lord of the Sabbath.” He also declares that the Sabbath was made for man… not man for the Sabbath. Laying aside the issues of when, where and how we celebrate it… the Sabbath was made for us. We are made for the rhythm of rolling up our sleeves for 6 days, followed by kicking back for one. Our bodies need it. Our souls need it. As Bill Hybels once warned, we need not let “the way we do the work of God, destroy the work of God within us.”
Leslie Flynn once “likened the Sabbath to seven unmarried brothers who lived together in a large house. Six went out to work each day but one stayed home. He had the place all lit up when the other six arrived home from work. He also had the house warm, and most importantly, had a delicious, full-course dinner ready for his hungry brothers.
One day the six brothers decided that the one that had been staying home should go to work. “It’s not fair,” they said, “for the one to stay home while the others slaved at a job.” So they made the seventh brother find work too. But when they all came home the first night, there was no light, nor was there any warmth, and worst of all, there was no hearty dinner awaiting them. And the next night the same thing: darkness, cold, hunger. They soon went back to their former arrangement.
“[It’s} the day of rest and worship that keeps the other six bright, warm, and nourishing,” said Flynn. “When we desecrate the Lord’s Day, we only hurt ourselves.” (Robert J. Morgan (More Real Stories For the Soul, pp. 58-59.)
The Sabbath was made for you. And Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. Find Him there.
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