The Lord is risen indeed! That is a greeting, not only for Easter Sunday, but for each Lord’s Day, or, as it is sometimes called, the Christian Sabbath. As the risen, exalted King, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus Christ. Even during his humiliation on earth he claimed the sovereign rights of the Son of man. And in Mark 2:27–28 he exerts that claim over a crucial area. The Son of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.
You were not made for the Sabbath. The Pharisees guarded the law. The legalism of the Pharisees denied the authority of Christ. Human additions replaced God’s law. They accused Christ and his disciples of violating the Sabbath by plucking grain and by healing the man with the shriveled hand—while they plotted murder, Mark 3:6.
Jesus’ words protect you from man-made additions to God’s Word. Jesus’ response to the critics of his disciples points to the God’s concern for the well-being of his people. The Sabbath was never intended to be a burden. Even the Pharisees recognized that life-saving measures could be performed properly on the Sabbath, but healing a man with a paralyzed hand didn’t qualify for that, in their opinion. American Christianity may suffer more from ignorance of the Sabbath than for arbitrary expectations about it, but Jesus is reminding you that God’s Word is the final standard.
The Sabbath was made for you! Sabbath rest benefits you. You may live in a 24–7 society, but that is not the way God wants you to live. You need a day of rest. The Sabbath is a day of rest, but not a cessation of all activity. Jesus’ point in John 5:17,18, is that his Father has continued to “work” even though this six days of labor in creation have ended. And if the Father works, it is appropriate for the Son to do so as well. In Mark 2:23–26 Jesus defends doing works that are necessary. He is setting a principle, that may look different in different settings, but is an abiding principle. And the focus here is quite different from the burdensome day into which the rabbinic regulations turned the Sabbath. In Mark 3:1–5 Jesus makes a point of healing the man in the synagogue, in public, on the Sabbath. Deeds of mercy are appropriate on the day. Starting out with a list of “Things I May Not Do” is the wrong way to approach the Sabbath. Recognize the radical claim implied in keeping the Sabbath–I belong not to my earthly master or employer, but to God. Make the Sabbath a delight, Isaiah 58:13-14. Make use of the means of grace. Note the instruction and example of the New Testament for God’s people to gather for worship on that day. Appreciate the appropriateness of closing the Lord’s Day with a time of corporate worship.
God rested so that you might enter his rest. Go back to Genesis 2:1–3. God rested, not because he was weary, but for the purpose of mankind, male and female, entering his rest. Eden was a time of testing. It was not good for Adam to be alone. God created Eve from his side, not just to do chores, not just so that Adam could have a family, but to be a helper (the term is often used to describe God helping his people), assisting him in entering God’s rest. You know that she failed in that, and they sinned. Psalm 95 makes the point that disobedient Israel in the wilderness failed to enter God’s rest. Hebrews 3 and 4 takes the two passages, and points you to the true Joshua, who can give you rest. The author warns against having a hardened heart of unbelief that would keep you out of God’s rest. And Hebrews calls you to the Sabbathing, or Sabbath rest that still remains for God’s people. It is an anticipation of your final heavenly rest. God entered his rest so that you might join him there.
“The way in which Psalm 95 and Genesis 2 are brought together here [Hebrews 3:7–4:13] indicates the scope of the promised rest in the writer’s view. The fulfillment of the church’s hope represents nothing less that the fulfillment of the original purpose of God in creation, or more accurately, the realization of his purposes of redemption is the means to the end of realizing his purposes of creation.”
Richard B. Gaffin Jr., “A Sabbath Rest Still Awaits the People of God,” Pressing Toward the Mark, p. 40
Trust the Lord of the Sabbath! The Son of Man has divine authority. The legalism of the Pharisees denied the authority of Christ. Human additions replaced God’s law. They accused Christ and his disciples of violating the Sabbath by plucking grain and by healing the man with the shriveled hand—while they plotted murder, Mark 3:6. But Jesus self-identifies as “Son of man,” with all of the authority and majesty that Daniel 7 pours into that title. We live in a society that allows freedom to follow God, largely as long as it is confined to private exercises. Claiming that the Word of God has something to say about all of life is seen as bigoted. The authority of Christ extends to all of life. As Creator, he is sovereign. As the risen, exalted Lord, an additional authority, an earned Lordship, a name that is above every name, has been given to him. The Sabbath, like the tithe, functions to submit all of life to Jesus Christ. No moment of your time, no aspect of your life, is separate from his rule. You may feel like you belong to some faceless corporation that treats you as simply one more cost of production, replaceable when possible. Your Sabbathing reminds you that you actually belong to the Son of man! Clearly, God had made the Sabbath. It was not established by any human being. But Jesus claims to Lord, even of the Sabbath!
“The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath because the latter was made for man, not man for it. What binds the premise and the conclusion together is the principle that whatever concerns man as such falls under the jurisdiction of the Son of man…. Man as such could not possibly have been considered by Jesus sovereign over the Sabbath. The Sabbath comes under consideration as one thing — and an important one, for Jesus says ‘even (or, also) of the Sabbath’ — among the things to which the lordship of the Son of man extends.”
Geerhardus Vos, The Self-Disclosure of Jesus, p. 243
Trust Jesus to bring you into God’s Sabbath rest. Satan deceived Eve, and she, and Adam who was with her, ate the fruit and were excluded from God’s rest. They were expelled from the Garden — but not before God promised that a Son, born of woman, would ultimately crush the serpent’s head. You and I are sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. We live in a restless, broken world. But what our first parents lost, The Son has achieved for us. He has dealt the decisive blow to Satan. He did that by going through death, and then being raised on the third day. The change of Sabbath rest from the last day of the week to the first, the day of resurrection, is powerfully appropriate.
Because Jesus is Lord of all things, even of the Sabbath, use today to celebrate, to rejoice in who he is and what he has done for you.