Jesus Is the Heart of the Sabbath

ICC has always been a church that embraced God’s gift of Sabbath rest: as much work goes into preparing for services, Sunday’s worship is intended to be a time where we rest together in God’s embrace. But what sort of rules should govern that rest? What can we do and what can’t we do? It’s obvious why these questions arise, but preaching on Mark 2, Deb encouraged us to see scripture’s rules about the Sabbath as ultimately pointing towards our true standard: Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath.

If Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, we can say that he is the one who correctly and fully understands God’s intent for the day. We can also say that he stands at the right hand of the God who decreed the Sabbath in the first place. If the Sabbath is a day to live as a preview of God’s kingdom, Jesus is the one with authority over that kingdom.