Lord of Sabbath

1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:1-8)

Starting with Matthew 12:1, there are two event of Jesus in Sabbath. He gives grace in Sabbath, and he works in Sabbath. In fact, he is the lord of the Sabbath (v.8). That’s the reason why he can promise rest under his yoke (Mat 11:28).

Rise Up, Reading and Sleep

Admittedly, I have been buying (and reading) too many books recently — from Francis A. Schaeffer’s Escape from Reason and How Should We Then Live? to A.W. Tozer’s Submit Yourself To God or J. I. Packer’s Knowing God (and many other books that I can’t remember) — all in a single month or so.

Beside all these readings, I was trying to wake up earlier and earlier — you can imagine how packed the life would be. There is no other reason but I am feeling some kind of void, or emptiness, in my life.

“​​​​​​​It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” (Psa 127:2)

May I put aside the books for a while and trust LORD for this rest, for I have been longing for it?