One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then 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.”

Devotion based on Mark 2:23-28

As the Son of God, Jesus has existed from eternity. When the world was created, he spoke, and everything came into existence. When he stopped speaking on the seventh day of creation, it was the first day of rest. Since the timing of the Sabbath was based on that first day of rest, the Son of God is Lord of the Sabbath.

As the Son of Man, Jesus knew all the Sabbath laws from a faithful study of Scripture and had perfect knowledge of how to follow those laws. When religious leaders challenged Jesus and his followers because they did not follow the Sabbath laws the same way the religious leaders did, Jesus gave an example from the Scripture of the right way to observe the Sabbath. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

Jesus explained that a time of rest and attention to God’s Word is healthy for human beings. The Sabbath was made for them! Human beings were not created so that they can observe the Sabbath. The Sabbath was created so that human beings would benefit.

We can be certain that the commands and prohibitions of God’s law are good for us, even when we don’t understand them. Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves, and because he is our Savior, we trust whatever he tells us.

Prayer: