God’s Gift of Sabbath

Scripture — Mark 2:23-27 (NRSV)

One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

Devotion

The Sabbath is one of the primary ways Jewish people express their faithfulness to God and God’s covenant. By resting for a day each week (sunset on Friday through sunset on Saturday), Jews imitate God’s example (Genesis 2:2-3) and follow God’s commandment (Exodus 20:9-11).

In the time of Jesus, some among the Jewish people were so zealous to keep the Sabbath that they constructed an elaborate structure of specific rules and rituals. Thus, certain Pharisees were not pleased when they saw the disciples of Jesus plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath. They asked Jesus, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” (2:24).

Jesus began his answer by referring to a time in Jewish history when David and his companions were hungry and ate bread that had been set aside only for the priests. There is a time, Jesus implied, when human need, in this case hunger, takes higher priority than ritual exactitude (2:25-26). Then, Jesus added by way of explanation, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath” (2:27).

God did not set apart one day a week for rest for the sake of the day itself. Nor did God create human beings so that the Sabbath might be honored. Rather, according to Jesus, the Sabbath is something for human beings. It is a provision of God for us and our benefit. The Sabbath is, indeed, a gift from God. The statement of Jesus about the purpose of the Sabbath echoes the sentiment found in Isaiah,

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,

     from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;

if you call the sabbath a delight

     and the holy day of the LORD honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways,

     serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;

then you shall take delight in the LORD,

     and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;

I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,

     for the mouth of the LORD has spoken (Isa 58:13-14).

There was a time in American culture when the Sabbath, structured around the Christian tradition of Sunday worship, was woven into the social fabric of our lives. Businesses and stores were, for the most part, closed on Sundays. People were expected to take a break from weekday activities to devote time to rest and worship. But those days are long gone (unless, of course, you happen to want a chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A, which closes on Sundays). Sundays are nowadays for shopping and entertainment. Many of us regularly work on Sundays without giving it much thought. Most churches I know don’t talk much about Sabbath keeping. We leave that tradition for faithful Jews.

But if we take seriously what Jesus says about the Sabbath, that it was made for humankind, then we’ll begin to wonder what this means for us today. The questions below will help you with your wondering.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: The Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-3:6).