“And Jesus was saying to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” – Mark 2:27, LSB
In Mark 2:23-28, Jesus applies the Scriptural accounts of an episode in King David’s life and the creation order to rebuke the Pharisees for prioritizing Sabbath regulations over people. It should strike us that Jesus referred to an episode in David’s life when he was persecuted rather than praised. The Pharisees reprimanded Jesus for allowing his disciples to do what is “unlawful” (v. 24). What was the unlawfulness? They profaned what should be considered holy – they worked on the Sabbath.
God did in fact bless the seventh day over the other days (see Genesis 2:3). Yet the Pharisees misunderstood the purpose for which God sanctified the Sabbath. To correct their misunderstanding, Jesus gives a scriptural account from King David’s life when David treated as common something that should have been regarded as sacred (see 1 Samuel 21:1-6). In 1 Samuel 21, David was fleeing from Saul. David and his men were on the run and hungry, and requested to eat bread. Yet the only bread available was the sacred bread reserved for the priests. The Pharisees, if consistent in their interpretation, would have reckoned this act unlawful.
If Jesus wanted, he could have appealed to the account in 2 Samuel 6 when King David wore a linen ephod, also a sacred item that was reserved for priests. On that occasion, David was praised by all Israel, save his wife Michal. Yet Jesus did not use that example. Instead, he used a time in David’s life when he was persecuted by those whose loyalty belonged to Saul rather than David, the Lord’s anointed. Like Israel’s king of old, King Jesus was persecuted by those who should have enthroned him. This Scriptural account would have struck the Pharisees in the heart, for they were behaving just like Saul and his cronies.
In his next Scriptural appeal, Jesus goes all the way back to Genesis. “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” After finishing all creation in six days, God declares it “very good.” But that wasn’t the last word. God finished all his work before the Sabbath, then sanctified the seventh day, a bonus day, a day in which God did zero work. This means mankind was created before the Sabbath, and as ruler of creation, mankind would also be ruler of the Sabbath. That day was given by God for mankind to enjoy all of God’s very good creation. In this way, Sabbath was made for mankind, it was a gift to him. The Pharisees reversed the order of creation, and thus they reversed the gift. They made Sabbath ruler over man, rather than man over the Sabbath.
The Son of Man restores all things back to creation order, and then some. What was the pre-fall principle? Mankind was placed at the center of all God’s good creation. In God’s goodness towards mankind, he crowned man as the Lord and ruler of all creation. As lord of creation, all of creation is for man, not man for creation. What a gift, what a glory, what an honor! See God’s love for mankind! But how often today do we subjugate ourselves to creation rather than subjugate creation to us? We dishonor the dignity for which we were made when policies are put in place that harm humans in the cause of “saving mother earth”. That’s putting the rest of creation over man, rather than man over the creation.
This brings us to what I’m calling, “The Lord of Sabbath Principle for Society.” That’s rather wordy, but it’s a seven word principle derived from a seven day creation that can apply to all of life, so I’m sticking with it. The Lord of Sabbath Principle for Society instructs us to evaluate all of life by the mantra, “Sabbath for man, not man for Sabbath.” When you go to work, ask yourself, “How is my job for mankind?” Likewise, “How is mankind for my job?” The answer to the first question is good and right and pleasing to God. The answer to the second reverses the creation order, and thus distorts God’s good gift of creation. We should seek to undo and remove the answer to the second question. We must preserve and further the answer to the first question.
As a pastor, The Lord of Sabbath Principle for Society challenges me to answer the question, “How is my pastorate for the Church?” At the same time, this principle challenges me to avoid pastoring in such a way that would make the Church for the pastor. That reverses the gift of both church and pastoring. The same mantra should be knocking on the minds of parents, “How is my role as father or mother for my children?” Governing officials ought to be asking the same thing, “How is my office for the people of this nation?” In my American governmental system, I apply this principle by voting for those persons whose policies are for people rather than those who want people for their policies.
More can be said on this, but I think you get the idea. Hopefully the palindrome mantra “Sabbath for man not man for Sabbath” equips you to enjoy God’s good creation rather than be enslaved to it. But, in order for that to come true, we must all remember one final mantra: Man was made for God, not God for man. We will only experience the freedom of our rightful place over creation when we bow the knee to him who has the rightful place over us: Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Sound Teaching, Sound Living 