The Sabbath is Meant to Nourish and Sustain Me

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

Daily Thoughts 

February 7, 2025

The Sabbath is Meant to Nourish and Sustain Me

So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”

Mark 2:28

Read: Mark 2:23-28, 3:1-

God has promised those seeking the life in Christ as their way of life that He is working in us, giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. (Philippians 2:13) I am thankful for the Apostle Paul’s reminder that God is so wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient with me (Romans 2:4) because “nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself." (Ludwig Wittgenstein) Self-deceit greatly afflicted the Pharisees. With their hundreds of rules about what could and could not be done on the Sabbath, they thought they were honoring God. Jesus revealed God’s heart to them when he told them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

In Mark 3, Jesus did nothing to violate the Sabbath law, he simply asked the man to extend his hand. God took it from there. However, this was yet another sign that Jesus was different. This was another sign that Jesus was ushering in a new way of living. God’s Kingdom was bursting into their world, and the establishment was not happy about change. While they would have been horrified to be charged with going against God, nevertheless, they were very uncomfortable surrendering control of their environment to Jesus, “At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus.” (Mark 3:6)

Jesus said the Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people. Jesus did not mean the Sabbath was made to meet what I think are my needs. The Sabbath was made by God to meet what God knows are my deepest needs. The more that I allow God to reveal to me my deepest needs, the more His wonderful Sabbath will be healing for my brokenness.

My Takeaway: I was this many years old when I noted this difference between the OT Sabbath and the NT Sabbath: The OT Sabbath was the last day of the week, a day of rest. The NT Sabbath is the first day of the week when we celebrate Jesus’ victory over sin and death. The NT Sabbath is meant to nourish and sustain me for the week ahead.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.