Lord of the Sabbath

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Mark 2:27-28

Jesus faced a question of His authority that may seem petty to us, but nonetheless was a direct challenge. The Pharisees saw the disciples of Jesus plucking ripe grain in a field as they passed through the countryside one Sabbath. They then accused jesus and His followers of profaning the Sabbath by working. It was a technicality, but a true factual situation.

Jesus answered them with greater authority than they could have ever imagined. First, Jesus points them to scripture… an incident in which King David (his ancestor) took the bread of the tabernacle meant only for the priests in order to feed his army. The need of David and his men as God was using them to deliver Israel was met by God even as a technicality of the Law was waived. The King gets a break.

Jesus has even more authority than David did. He proclaims Himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. He is the reason Sabbath worship exists! He is the Giver of the Law and the perfect fulfillment of it. Jesus even pronounces the verdict on the actions of His disciples: The Sabbath was made to help people, not to hurt them. By His authority Jesus shut down this challenge, and we see a greater authority in Him than we realized. He is the God we worship. He can do as He pleases.