Don’t lose sight of good and right

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL – Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Mark 2:27 – Then he [Jesus] said to them, “The Sabbath was made to benefit people, and not people to benefit the Sabbath. And I, the Son of Man, am master even of the Sabbath!”

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Scripture reading:

Jesus and his disciples were not stealing when they picked the grain. Leviticus 19:9-10 and Deuteronomy 23:25 say that farmers were to leave the edges of their fields un-harvested so that some of their crops could be picked by travelers and by the poor. Just as walking on a sidewalk is not trespassing on private property, picking heads of grain at the edge of a field was not stealing.

Many of the Pharisees were so caught up in their manmade laws and traditions that they lost sight of what was good and right. Jesus implied in Mark 3:4 that the Sabbath is a day to do good. God provided the Sabbath as a day of rest and worship, but he didn’t mean that concern for rest should keep us from lifting a finger to help others.

God created the Sabbath for our benefit, not his own. God derives no benefit from having us rest on the Sabbath, but we are restored both physically and spiritually when we take time to rest and to focus on God. For the Pharisees, Sabbath laws had become more important than Sabbath rest. Both David and Jesus understood that the intent of God’s law is to promote love for God and others. When we apply a law to other people, we should make sure that we understand its purpose and intent so we don’t make harmful or inappropriate judgments. (NLT)

Mark 2:23-3:6 – One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grain fields, his disciples began breaking off heads of wheat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “They shouldn’t be doing that! It’s against the law to work by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.”

But Jesus replied, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what King David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest), ate the special bread reserved for the priests alone, and then gave some to his companions. That was breaking the law, too.” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made to benefit people, and not people to benefit the Sabbath. And I, the Son of Man, am master even of the Sabbath!”

Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. Would he heal the man’s hand on the Sabbath? If he did, they planned to condemn him. Jesus said to the man, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” Then he turned to his critics and asked “Is it legal to do good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing harm? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him. He looked around at them angrily, because he was deeply disturbed by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Reach out your hand.” The man reached out his hand, and it became normal again! At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to discuss plans for killing Jesus.