JESUS THE LORD OF THE SABBATH

Text: Luke 6:1-11

Jesus is the lord of the Sabbath. He said this plainly to the Jews. This means that he has the ultimate right to decide what constitutes a wrong doing on the Sabbath day. The Pharisees and other leading sects of their religion had taken the Sabbath laws out of context thereby causing an encumbrance onto the people. Instead of setting people free and balancing the rhythm between work and rest, they turned the sabbath into a ridiculous concept that completely enslaves people and make the rest day more of a dreaded event. 

This chapter highlights clearly one of the major themes of Jesus mandates on earth: To correct and Reprove wrong teachings. It runs concurrently throughout the four gospels and even beyond. It is God who commanded man to take a day off to refresh himself from his labours. He knows that greed and insatiable want of man will cause man to overwork himself, therefore in love he commands that men everywhere should take a day off to rest. However, this rest does not apply when a man is hungry or sick or other inevitable circumstances he couldn't control. Proper discernment created by a genuine understanding of the law should be applied in keeping the day of rest. 

So what, just like the Pharisees accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath by allowing his disciples to harvest, fresh corn and prepare food on the Sabbath while neglecting the fact of the need to assuage hunger by these men, we also could become hypocritical in our condemnation of others when we neglect mercy, faithfulness and truth as the weightier matters of the law. Human needs comes before keeping the Sabbath and keeping the Sabbath is grounded in understanding God's heart, rather than developing unnecessary detailed rules and exceptions.

Prayer: Father we thank you for the freedom you give us in Jesus. You have removed the heavy yoke of oppression occasioned by the law from our necks. Grant us also the grace and wisdom to use this freedom within the confines of your word. May we not make mockery of your laid down precepts and principles by interpreting them to suit our selfish human nature. We ask in Jesus name. Amen