Mark: Living the Way of Jesus in the WorldSample

First Thought

Not content with upending mealtime protocols, Jesus challenged people around the Sabbath. These are dramatic scenes. Eating grain on a wander through the fields and healing the man with the shriveled hand on a Sabbath contravened all that the Pharisees understood around holiness and purity, and how these marked out the Jews as God’s covenant people. Holiness mattered to Jesus as well as to the Pharisees. Jesus didn’t deny the importance of the Sabbath. Jesus, Lord of all, is Lord of the Sabbath, too, and Sabbath rest is part of God’s created order. But God’s purposes for humanity in Sabbath were being renewed. It was too much for the Pharisees. They’d seen enough now to start plotting Jesus’ death. Meanwhile, the crowds grew, Jesus taught and healed, still protecting His full identity from people until the time was right.

What Does the Bible Say?

Jesus was angry and deeply distressed at the Pharisees and their stubborn refusal to change their minds about the Sabbath. Why do you think Jesus felt so strongly about this?

Living it Out

How might Jesus’ words and deeds about the Sabbath affect your own Sabbath practices? 

Responding in Prayer

Generous God, thank you for inviting me to a pattern of life that includes rest. I’d love to live a rhythm of life patterned on Jesus that’s attractive in our hyper-busy world. How might I grow in this (…)? Please direct my ways. Amen.