Resting in Jesus

Daily Reading:  Mark 2

Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2.27-28)

Devotional Thought: Jesus came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.  Nowhere do we see that more than we do in his interpretation of the Sabbath. 

While traveling on the Sabbath, Jesus' disciples became hungry and picked some heads of grain to eat.  Under a strict interpretation of Jewish law, this type of "work" was prohibited on the Sabbath.  The legalistic Pharisees were quick to criticize Jesus and his disciples for doing what was unlawful on the Sabbath.  Jesus’ response?  "The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

Aren't you glad that Jesus is the Lord of your Sabbath?  Instead of an occasional day of rest as found in the Law, Jesus came to be a permanent place of rest: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11.28).  If we come to Jesus, we will find rest for our souls.  The law of the Sabbath gave physical rest for the body, but in Jesus we find rest for our souls.  The author of Hebrews tells us: “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his” (Hebrews 4.9-10). 

In Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, we find complete rest from the labors of our self-effort, as he has justified us and made us righteous in the sight of God. 

Are you at rest in Jesus' grace?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for your wisdom in giving us the Sabbath that we might find rest for our bodies and minds.  Thank you even more for the spiritual rest we find in Jesus Christ, your Son, who is Lord of the Sabbath.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 2.1-6

1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,

3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. ”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.

5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,

6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill. ”