God commands us to rest, to “honor the Sabbath.” What does that mean? Do we not get any work done that day? Do we relax and play video games? Do we not move in fear of making God angry? In the Bible, Jesus realized that people were trying to perform the Sabbath. When the Pharisees saw Jesus’s disciples picking grain to eat during the Sabbath, they were hysterical – why would they not follow the law? Jesus speaks out and says that He is Lord, even over the Sabbath! Honoring the Sabbath is not about what you do, it’s about getting to know Jesus.
[ Focus: Matthew 11:27-12:8 (NLT) ]
“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
At about that time Jesus was walking through some grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began breaking off some heads of grain and eating them. But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, “Look, your disciples are breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.”
Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God, and he and his companions broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. And haven’t you read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”