The Lord of the Sabbath - Mark 2:23-28

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup

The communion meditation today is based on a passage of Scripture from the New Testament, Mark 2:23-28. In this passage of Scripture, Mark tells how Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, corrects the Pharisees' belief on how to observe the Sabbath. From this teaching, we gain a new insight into why Jesus asked us to pause to partake of the bread and drink the fruit of the vine from the cup to remember Him. All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV) and are used with permission

As you listen to the episode today, my hope is that you will be encouraged from the time spent meditating on what Jesus has done for you. You are a special person; the one Jesus died to save!

Transcript

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my communion meditation today is "The Lord of the Sabbath." I read from Mark 2:23-28 (NIV). All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version and are used with permission.

23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 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.”

27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

God was deadly serious about the Sabbath and violating it was a capital offense. The LORD said to Moses (Leviticus 23:3), "There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord." Consequently, the Sabbath and observing it were very important to the Jews and the religious establishment. The oral law, or the interpretations by the Pharisees about how to live the written law, are recorded in the Talmud, and a significant number of pages, perhaps as much as 10-15% of the Talmud, focus on what is and what is not allowed on the Sabbath. They thought there were the experts on the Sabbath—until they met Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus’ reply, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath," is so insightful—He contrasts the mind of man from the mind of God. The Jews appear so afraid of breaking one of their rules for the Sabbath that they were forgetting the real reason for the Sabbath—resting to honor and savor their relationship with the LORD. While the commandment to honor the Sabbath was given to the Jews, we should glean from this requirement that God desires for His people to have a rest, a pause, in order to meditate on the goodness of God and our relationship with Him. The most significant of our pauses is the time we dedicate to remembering Jesus and the price He paid that our sins might be forgiven. We observe the Lord's Supper because Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, asked us to, and He knows better than anyone that we need a time of sabbath rest with Him and each other. Let us pray.

Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. Abba, Father, thank-you for asking us to pause to remember the price Your Son paid to forgive our sins. If You had not, we probably would not, and it would have been our great loss. You helped us by giving us the bread we break and the fruit of the vine we drink—tangible reminders of His suffering and death on the cross. We love You, LORD, and thank-you for loving us. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26:26-28 (NLT).

26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.

27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." Let us partake of the cup.

And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"

Until next time, from Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV), “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories, and I invite you to add my podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. There is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!