Week 4: Signs and Wonders
Matthew 12:1-14, Mark 2:23-3:6, Luke 6:1-11, John 5:1-17
God wants us to rest, just as He has done (Genesis 2:2–3), and He set aside a Sabbath for that purpose (Exodus 20:8–11). However, by the first century, the list of Sabbath dos and don’ts—thirty-nine categories—far exceeded God’s original commands. The Pharisees were attempting to uphold what they believed to be God’s law, but they were so blinded by their own conception of obedience that they challenged “the Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8).
Jesus was accused of violating the Sabbath in multiple accounts. What, then, do we see as Jesus’ response? Jesus prioritizes God’s law, not man’s.
In Mark 3:4, He asks, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” The Sabbath was not made to prevent the good work of God, nor to prevent healing or salvation.
The Pharisees cared more about a rule being broken, the healing of a non-life-threatening injury, than about a man suffering with a withered hand, which caused Jesus distress. He was “grieved” (Mark 3:5) that their hardened hearts could not comprehend their own injustice. Not only were the Pharisees adding burdensome or immoral commands that were not from God, but they also missed the purpose behind the Sabbath, to rest and experience God intentionally.
How often is that the case with you? Do you often view spiritual disciplines as a means to an end, and leave feeling like, “that was pointless”? This is because we can bring things into our lives that weigh us down. Expectations, feelings, or misconceptions about how God sees us, or confusion about what He wants from us. Go to Scripture, God’s infallible words, to see what He says.
God wants us to live from our rest first, which He provides freely.
He is Lord of the Sabbath and created patterns of rest not for the sake of rules to follow or steps to mark our obedience so we can be puffed up with pride, as the Pharisees were. Sabbath rest is for us, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
Our God has the final say. He knows what is just and how we should live, and He desires that we flourish in a relationship with Him. He wants us to experience rest that comes only from Him and with Him.
