Faithbase

Hey y'all, I'm so excited to keep diving into the gospel accounts with you again, if you're following along with the video series, The Chosen, um, this plays right into a lot of those episodes, but if not, this is literally just going through different aspects of the gospel accounts. Um, Shabbat is, uh, seen very, um, gosh, tons in the episodes of The Chosen, um, and which basically it's just the Sabbath. Um, so that is to us in our culture that Sunday we go to church, we don't work like that is typical, that is what Shabbat is. Um, but they did it with a meal and it was just a little bit more, um, they had a lot more framework to it than we do today. And there's a reason for that. So we're going to just dive right in. I am in Mark chapter two verses 23 through 28. And it says on the Sabbath, he was going through the grain fields and his disciples began to make their way picking some of the heads of grain. The Pharisees said to them, look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath? He said to them, have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry, how he entered the house of God in the time of Abithar, the high priest, and he ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests. And also he gave some to his companions. Then he told them the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So then the son of man, the law is Lord, even of the Sabbath. I absolutely love this. What we, you will witness. And if you study the cultural context and background of the Jewish faith, and especially leading up to the time of the new Testament, when the gospel accounts start, there is a ton of research and a ton of different resources that you can use to dive into what a lot of people call the silent years, the 400 years between the old Testament and new Testament. But basically we see, and even throughout the old Testament, they mean well, but the religious leaders take God's law that he gave to Moses at Mount Sinai at the very beginning. Honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy. They take that and they add all of these things to make sure that they're staying straight in line. But over time it gets harder and harder with more and more rules. And it becomes a point of pride for the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the religious leaders of the day, they feel like they are holier than thou. And they just, I mean, they use the law as a means of punishment, not of direction. And you'll see this played out time and time and time again in the gospel accounts. But this one hit home hard. And I love it. If we were to journey all the way back to Exodus, God gives Moses the command, honor the Sabbath day, keep it holy. If we go all the way, very, very, very, very, very beginning of the Bible, when God was done creating the world, he rested on the seventh day from all of the work that he had been doing. So now this gift has been transformed into work. But the story is amazing because after God had freed the Israelites from Egypt, they're wandering the desert. They're hungry. So God provided manna. They're thirsty. God provided water, all of these miracles to show all of the provisions. I will take care of you. I will take care of you. You can trust me and rest because as Jesus says, the son of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. He tells the Israelites at it, as they're wandering in the wilderness, he says, I am going to be sending manna. I am going to be sending quail. You are to go out and collect only what you need for that day. Why? Because he wants you to understand he will keep providing. You don't have to stress and worry and hoard because he's got more coming for you. So he says on the sixth day, collect enough for two days, but that's it. No more because I'm going to keep providing for you and I'm going to give you rest. You don't have to go out and pick it. You don't have to go out on Sundays. I say Sundays because it's easier for our frame of reference, but on Sundays, I want you to rest. I'm going to keep providing. And so when the Pharisees are attacking Jesus and his disciples for eating on a Sabbath, Jesus is like, you took a gift and twisted it into a rule and as a punishment, as a way of catching people doing something wrong. When God gave this as a gift to remind you that he's going to provide for you. Come on in guys. I had a professor as we were really diving into the Sabbath and what it means. He had this saying that I will never forget and I am going to share it with you and hope that it sits with you as it does with me, but we rest because he reigns. I don't have to carry the burdens of worry for tomorrow. I don't have to carry the stress that comes when I think of the workload that I've got to do and this and this and this. Those things are there. Those feelings are human. Emotions are human. We're going to have those. But what God says is when they come, give them to me, trust me and then rest. We rest because he reigns. What a gift.