“And he
said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. Therefore
the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.” Mark 2:27, 28.
God ordained that the
Sabbath should be a blessing, not a burden. The Sabbath was for man’s interest
and not his injury to observe it.
The all wise Creator knew
that man, the creature of His hand, needed time to put aside his own pursuits
and contemplate the goodness and glory of God. Had the Sabbath always been
sacredly observed, there could never have been an atheist or an idolater.
The profuse requirements of
the rabbis pertaining to the meticulous observance of the Sabbath were based on
the concept that the Sabbath was of more importance in the sight of God than
man himself.
The Jewish leaders had put
unnecessary laws and regulations on the Sabbath day that God never asked for.
Jesus repeatedly rebuked these man-made traditions. According to these blind
leaders, man was made for the Sabbath—made to keep it mechanically. The rabbis
reduced the Sabbath to an absurdity by their rigid and meaningless distinction
between what could and could not be done on that day.
The Sabbath institution,
which originated in
In Mark 2:24-28, Jesus and
His disciples were passing through a field of grain on the Sabbath day, so they
began to pluck and eat. The Pharisees, seeing this, took the opportunity to
accuse Jesus of allowing unlawful actions on the Sabbath.
It was Christ’s purpose to
teach His disciples and His enemies that the service of God is first of all.
The object of God's work in this world is the redemption of man; therefore that
which is necessary to be done on the Sabbath in the accomplishment of this work
is in accord with the Sabbath law. Jesus then crowns His argument by declaring
Himself the "Lord of the Sabbath,"--One above all question and above
all law. This infinite Judge acquits the disciples of blame, appealing to the
very statutes they are accused of violating.
Jesus states that He is
Lord even of the Sabbath day, thus informing us that being Lord and Creator of
its sanctity, He would not otherwise demean its true holiness in any way.
The words “the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath" are
full of instruction ad comfort. The Sabbath belongs to Christ. By Him it was
set apart as a memorial of the work of creation.
The Sabbath points to Him
as both the Creator and the Sanctifier. It declares that He who created all
things in heaven and in earth, and by whom all things are upheld, is also the
head of the church, and that by His power we are reconciled to God. For,
speaking to His children, He said, "I gave them My
Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the
Lord that sanctify them,"- makes them holy. Ezekiel 20:12.
The Sabbath is a sign of
Christ's power to make us holy. And it is given to all whom Christ makes holy
as a sign of His sanctifying power.
