Day Ten: This is the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28)
Devotional: In 1959, the legendary Vince Lombardi, was hired to be the coach of the Green Bay Packers with the task of turning around a losing franchise. After yet another miserable showing, the players gathered in the locker room in silence waiting for Lombardi to enter and give them a verbal beating. But instead, he entered and stood there in silence.
After a few agonizing moments, He then lifted the football into the air and broke the silence with one of the most remembered quotes in NFL history, “Gentlemen, this is a football”. He then proceeded to explain the boundaries of a football field, the goal line, how to put the ball across the goal line, etc.
Those five words, “Gentlemen, this is a football", would mark Lombardi’s legacy. He would time and time again take his team back to the basics. He would remind them why they were doing what they were doing. And boy did it work. Lombardi led the Packers to five championships in just seven years.
When you look at the life of Jesus in the gospels, so many times He would take people back to the basics. He would remind them why they were suppose to be doing what they were doing. An example of this is from today’s passage… the Sabbath. You could almost hear Jesus say, “Gentlemen, this is a Sabbath”.
In v. 27, He clearly told them what the point of the Sabbath was… “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” The Pharisees had added so many rules and regulations to the Sabbath day, that the people were living in fear of violated it. In fact, they made it illegal to spit on the Sabbath. Why? Because if someone spit and then stepped on the spit and it became mud in the dirt, it was considered cultivating the land, and that was work.
Yikes! You can see why Jesus wasn’t too happy with these religious leaders. Jesus was saying to them that the point of the Sabbath isn’t to bring GRIEF to the people, it was intended to be a GIFT. God created it in Genesis, when He rested on the seventh day. He didn’t need a rest but He knew we would. It was, and remains, a day to rest and relax and worship God.
As New Covenant Christians, there’s freedom in how we observe this. We are not bound by the Old Covenant, but this is a rhythm of life God desired for us so that we would not burnout nor forget to take time to remember who the giver of life and the giver of gifts is. Take time to receive God’s gift to you this week… take a Sabbath.
Prayer: Try to find a full day this week or next to take a full day of rest and relaxation. Figure out some ways to have one on one worship time with God. Or plan a day to do so with your family.
Devotional: In 1959, the legendary Vince Lombardi, was hired to be the coach of the Green Bay Packers with the task of turning around a losing franchise. After yet another miserable showing, the players gathered in the locker room in silence waiting for Lombardi to enter and give them a verbal beating. But instead, he entered and stood there in silence.
After a few agonizing moments, He then lifted the football into the air and broke the silence with one of the most remembered quotes in NFL history, “Gentlemen, this is a football”. He then proceeded to explain the boundaries of a football field, the goal line, how to put the ball across the goal line, etc.
Those five words, “Gentlemen, this is a football", would mark Lombardi’s legacy. He would time and time again take his team back to the basics. He would remind them why they were doing what they were doing. And boy did it work. Lombardi led the Packers to five championships in just seven years.
When you look at the life of Jesus in the gospels, so many times He would take people back to the basics. He would remind them why they were suppose to be doing what they were doing. An example of this is from today’s passage… the Sabbath. You could almost hear Jesus say, “Gentlemen, this is a Sabbath”.
In v. 27, He clearly told them what the point of the Sabbath was… “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” The Pharisees had added so many rules and regulations to the Sabbath day, that the people were living in fear of violated it. In fact, they made it illegal to spit on the Sabbath. Why? Because if someone spit and then stepped on the spit and it became mud in the dirt, it was considered cultivating the land, and that was work.
Yikes! You can see why Jesus wasn’t too happy with these religious leaders. Jesus was saying to them that the point of the Sabbath isn’t to bring GRIEF to the people, it was intended to be a GIFT. God created it in Genesis, when He rested on the seventh day. He didn’t need a rest but He knew we would. It was, and remains, a day to rest and relax and worship God.
As New Covenant Christians, there’s freedom in how we observe this. We are not bound by the Old Covenant, but this is a rhythm of life God desired for us so that we would not burnout nor forget to take time to remember who the giver of life and the giver of gifts is. Take time to receive God’s gift to you this week… take a Sabbath.
Prayer: Try to find a full day this week or next to take a full day of rest and relaxation. Figure out some ways to have one on one worship time with God. Or plan a day to do so with your family.
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