Being Flexible

Mark 2: 23-28

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

²³ One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, 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.”

We see the wisdom and practicality of Jesus in his response to the pharisaic objection to his disciples picking grain on the Sabbath. If he insisted that they observe the letter of the Law, he would have been surrounded by a dozen hungry and unhappy men. It made sense to suspend the Law to feed the hungry, and gives us the principal by which we still abide:  "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."  Yes, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus can carry us over the roughest challenges, and learning from him to be flexible and considerate of the needs of others as well as our own, is a way to put into practice the Law of Love, over the Letter of the Law.

Bro. Rene