A FORETASTE OF ETERNITY
Opening Prayer
As I come to your Word now, Father, help me to lay aside those things that would distract me and help me to rest in your goodness as I focus on you.
Read MARK 2:23–28
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
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.”
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What is on your to-do list today? What are your priorities? When you think of the term ‘Sabbath’, what comes to mind? Maybe things like shops being closed on Sunday, going to church, resting, rules…The people at the time of Jesus had forgotten that God had given the Sabbath as a day of rest to humanity (v. 27), as a reminder that God the Creator was in control of all things (Genesis 2:2, 3). He is the source of our provision and rest, and it is important for us to be able to exist beyond and outside of our labor (Exodus 20:8–11). Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote: ‘Unless one learns how to relish the taste of Sabbath … one will be unable to enjoy the taste of eternity in the world to come.’*
Jesus is King of his kingdom and is Lord of the Sabbath (v. 28). When we participate in Sabbath, we switch out of ‘work mode’ and get to enjoy God’s good gifts to us. And, as we get a foretaste of what life eternal in the kingdom is like, we ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34:8).
Apply
When was the last time you took a ‘proper’ Sabbath—turned off the phone and emails, and spent time with loved ones doing what brings you joy (cooking, reading, films, walks, DIY…)? Try it!
Closing prayer
Thank you, Father, for your gift of the Sabbath. Whatever I choose to do in my Sabbaths, help me to use them to rest in you and to remind me of your great goodness.
*Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005)
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Discovery is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.