Super Sunday

Good Morning! 

Super Bowl weekend!!!  Wow!!!  All the business of the world has to come to an end to see which team will be the champion of American football.  Well, maybe not … .  I was asked who I wanted to win … and my answer was that I really didn’t have a favorite.  It is not that I don’t like football … or either team.  I just am focused on other things that I consider more important.  But I am not criticizing anyone … just saying where I am.

Football aside, we have a great opportunity to gather together with our brothers and sisters in Christ … and gain strength to face the coming days.  I look to one of the passages of Scripture we are studying in Mark, where Jesus is challenged for not correcting His disciples who were gathering a few handfuls of grain on the Sabbath. 

Mark 2:23-28 English Standard Version (ESV)

23 One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of[a] Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 And 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.”

Footnotes:

Mark 2:26 Or in the passage about

Was Jesus allowing His disciples to break the fourth commandment? 

Exodus 20:8-11 English Standard Version (ESV)

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

What Jesus says does appear to be in conflict with the fourth commandment … until one realizes that gathering a few handfuls of grain to eat while walking through a field of grain is not really work.  The Pharisees, when speaking of the disciples doing something unlawful, were talking about interpretations of the commandment that had been added over the centuries. You might recall that many of the miracles that Jesus did were done on the Sabbath.  It became a sore point for the religious hierarchy.  I think much of this was done to get the religious authorities to take a step back and see their interpretations were misguided.

Sometimes I wonder if there are traditions that Christians have adopted over the centuries are manmade rules that aren’t really in the spirit of the Commandment.  I am convinced that God wants us to enjoy our earthly sojourn … depending on Him for all that we need.  He wants us to honor Him … not because we HAVE to … but because we WANT to.  He wants us to take time to consider His faithfulness in providing for us … and to offer praise to Him. 

Why don’t we make Super Bowl Sunday … and every Sunday … SUPER by gathering with one another to praise our God.  I will guarantee that we will be on the winning team!!!

Agape’

Mr. Jim

  

Prayer:  Father, thank You for giving us a day to gather and gain strength to carry on. Teach me, dear Father, to use this day wisely.  In Jesus’ Name … Amen.

Scripture for today:  Mark 2:23-28; Exodus 20:8-11