Lord of the Sabbath Mark 2:23-3:6

These versus covers 2 incidents that happened during the Sabbath.   The first, was when the disciples broke off the heads of grain to eat, the second was Jesus healing a man with a deformed hand.

It was the Pharisees who thought that breaking the heads of grain as the disciples walked by was considered "harvesting" the grain, and therefore evil, because it was done on the Sabbath.   Jesus reminds them of the story of David, who broke the law by eating bread meant for the priests, in order to feed  him and his companions.   I love what Jesus says about this whole thing in vs. 27 "The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath."

Jesus says an equally profound statement in 3:4 when facing his critics, while healing a man with a deformed hand  on the Sabbath "Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil?  Is this a day to save life, or destroy it?"

Now the last statement caused so much resentment that the Pharisees went away to meet with supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus." 3:6

A few things really shine on these scriptures for me.   1) The Sabbath was made to serve us, not us the Sabbath. God created the sabbath as a day of rest, for our bodies, and for our well being, we need  a day to 'chill'.   It was never supposed to be a day that hinders us, but a day of restoration.   Especially when people are working multiple jobs, weird hours, we need a day to recharge our batteries.

2) These scriptures are also a warning against strict religiosity towards others.   We need to make sure that we don't fall into the trap of making others follow OUR religious traditions.   Following the letter of the law, versus the spirit of the law.

3) When we do something that we know is right, not everyone is going to be happy about it.   It's to be expected really ... part of 'carrying our cross'.

4) Jesus used the scriptures as defense, and we (meaning me) need to be constantly absorbing what the Word says.