05/25/2026
Yesterday, Kevin started our week off with a sermon in his โDid Jesus Say That?โ series, focusing on Mark 2:23โ28
In Exodus, God established the Sabbath as a holy day of rest for His peopleโa gift meant to remind them that they belonged to Him, depended on Him, and were not slaves to endless labor (Exodus 20:8โ11).
By the time of Jesus, however, layers of oral tradition had been added to Sabbath observance. According to Jewish tradition, there were 39 categories of work forbidden on the Sabbath, and what God intended as a blessing had often become burdensome.
In Mark 2:23โ28, Jesus confronts this misunderstanding when the Pharisees criticize His disciples for plucking grain on the Sabbath. Jesus responds with these powerful words:
โ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป, ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต. ๐ฆ๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต.โ
Jesus reminds us that God created Sabbath rest as a giftโnot a burden. And because Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, He rules over every man-made tradition and misunderstanding of Godโs commands.
Today, Christians typically gather on Sunday, the Lordโs Day, to worship because of Christโs resurrection. While the Jewish Sabbath was observed on Saturday, the principle remains: God designed rhythms of rest, worship, and reflection for our good. We pause from the busyness of the week, rest from our labor, and fix our hearts on our sovereign God.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐โ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ?