The Lord of the Sabbath/                                                                                                  

The Lord of the Sunday

By

Shelby G. Floyd

January 26, 2007

 

                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

During the life of Christ we see him involved in a great controversy with the Pharisees over how the Sabbath day should be observed.  Christ upheld the true teaching of the law over against the traditions and legalism of the Pharisees, which they had added to the law. We observe that Christ consistently remembered the Sabbath day to keep it holy in his hometown of Nazareth.  (Luke 4: 16-20.)  It is said that his observance of the Sabbath day was his custom.

           

Jesus and the Pharisees strongly disagreed about taking some grain and eating it on the Sabbath day.  The Pharisees charged the disciples of Jesus with doing that which was not lawful to do on the Sabbath day. (Mark 2:23-28.)

 

            Christ answered the charge of the Pharisees against his disciples with a powerful argument.  Jesus presented the example of David the great king of Old Testament Israel. "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 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." (Mark 2:25-26.)

 

            David was a national hero to the Jewish people. This was a strong reproof to the Pharisees when Jesus asked them, “haven’t you read what David did?”  Of course they had read that scripture over and over again, but they didn't understand it.  They knew what David and his companions’ had done when they were hungry.  But they did not condemn David and God had not condemned David for that act.  Then why are they condemning Christ and his disciples for doing something that clearly was not breaking the law?  The law allowed for poor people to walk through the corners of a neighbor's field and pluck grain to satisfy their hunger.  What Jesus and the disciples had really done was to violate the traditions and opinions and man-made laws of the Pharisees.

 

            Jesus then pointed out that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Christ was Lord of the Sabbath and he is also Lord of the Sunday—styled the Lord’s Day in the scriptures. (Revelation1:10.) Copyright © 2007 All Rights Reserved Shelby Floyd