In their legalistic mania to justify themselves in the sight of God, the Pharisees took God’s Sabbath requirement and blew it up to ridiculous proportions. It was work to have a snack while walking through a field? It was work for Jesus to do a miracle of healing? Really?

So, it’s easy for modern Christians to read this passage and come to the conclusion that we shouldn’t keep the Sabbath anymore. But if we do that, we will have made just as big a mistake as the Pharisees did. For what does Jesus tell us the Sabbath is for? In 3:4, He tells us it’s all about doing good and saving life. And this is just common sense, isn’t it? How many of us will return to the workplace refreshed after a relaxing weekend that we spent with friends and family? So, how can we doubt that taking a day off every week is a healing thing?

But in 2:28, Jesus also tells us that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, and this reminds us of another important truth: the Sabbath is the Lord’s Day, a day for us to turn our attention away from our worldly cares and concerns and turn to look at God. It’s a day to shift our focus off of the creation and onto our Creator, the One Who made us in His image so that we might be in relationship with Him.

So, perhaps if we look at the Sabbath in relational terms it will make more sense. For at root, it’s all about spending quality time with our Heavenly Father, isn’t it? And how can we doubt that such a day spent with God and with God’s people would be good for us and our relationships with others?

So, I suppose we could look at the Sabbath the way the Pharisees did – as an onerous, restrictive commandment. But how many of us would have to be commanded to take a day off from work and spend it with our sweethearts? The good news is that the God Who loves us enough to give His Son to die for us wants a weekly date with us. Let’s not disappoint Him.

Mark 2:23-3:6 (NASB)

23 And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”

He entered a synagogue again; and a man was there whose hand was withered. 2 And they were watching Him closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” 4 And He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might put Him to death.