2nd Week in Ord. Time, Tuesday – 19th January 2021 — Gospel: Mark 2,23-28
To Establish Relationship with God
The Decalogue of the Old Testament says, “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy” (Ex 20,8). What is the purpose of the Sabbath? How does one dedicate the day to the Lord? It is certainly not by finding fault with others. The main purpose of the Sabbath was to make oneself totally available to God. The Pharisees accuse Jesus and his disciples of breaking the Sabbath. They are furious at what they consider blatant disregard for the Jewish law. Jesus defends the actions of his disciples by referring to scriptural example of David’s behaviour. In the end, Jesus points out the purpose of the Sabbath laws, “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” He says the relationship that exists between the loving God and those loved by God is far more important than all the rules and regulations which have been developed and interpreted by humans. Therefore Sabbath is to lead people to God and not to separate them from God. Jesus, the incarnation of second person, became man to save and draw the entire humankind to a web of relationship with God.
