Daily Thoughts from Mark: Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28)

One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying 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 was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And 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 2:23-28, ESV) 

It is remarkable that the Pharisees did not bring charges against Jesus at this point.  His disciples were breaking the Sabbath.  The Ten Commandments explicitly said, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”  Israel was told to work six days but to cease work on the seventh, on Saturday.  This was not explicit enough for enforcement, so years of evaluation had been made to refine what “work” included and in Jesus’ day what the disciples were doing was considered “work.”

But what could the Pharisees do with Jesus’ example from the life of David?  No one but the priests were to eat the bread baked each day to be placed in the Tabernacle, but here, in a time of need, the hunger of David was deemed more important than this requirement.

Jesus makes a huge statement about the intent of God’s law.  It is always for our good.  The Sabbath law, for instance, isn’t to curb any enjoyment we might have or to make life difficult for us.  It is designed to bless us.  We need to rest, we need to recognize that God is our provider and that we can cease from labor each week and still survive, and we need a break in the cycle of work psychologically.  The Sabbath was made for human beings’ benefit.

Jesus’ last statement, however, takes this conversation up one notch.  The term “son of man” simply means “human one.”  And it is used repeatedly in Ezekiel by God as His way of addressing His prophet.  It is also used in Daniel, however, of a supernatural being who rules God’s kingdom and establishes God’s eternal rule over all the earth.  Was Jesus claiming to be a prophet?  Was he claiming to be this supernatural being?  Was he claiming to be the Messiah?  He left it purposely blurry.

What he did not leave blurry, however, was that he considered himself lord or master of the Sabbath.  It is hard to see this as anything less than claiming to be Messiah, and could fairly be said to be a claim to deity.  He is telling us what it means to observe the Sabbath.  It is to benefit us.

This principle does not give us freedom to break all God’s laws anytime we think a greater good is being served.  We are masters at self-justification.  But it leaves us with a security that God cares about us.  He has given us His law to help us live lives of joy.