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![]() This dispute about the sabbath between Jesus and traditionalist Jews is a recurrent one in the Gospels. In Mark, Jesus roundly declares “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath”, thereby seeming to overturn the fourth Commandment given to Moses. At the same time, he tells his hearers in several places that he has come to fulfill, not to abolish, “the Law and the prophets”. This is confusing. Are we to observe the sabbath or not? There have been places where Christians have embraced, and enforced, very strict Sabbatarianism, Scotland being especially notable for this in times past. To many people, such a regime made Sundays oppressive and claustrophobic. However, in throwing off the yoke, as contemporary Scotland has done, things have swung in the opposite direction, leaving very little difference between Sunday and the other days of the week. This is a cause for some regret; a communal ‘day of rest’ has generally proved a good thing. But that does not get to the heart of the matter. Rather the point is to see the observation of the sabbath differently, not as an externally imposed set of rules, but as an internally motivated response to God. Part of that response lies in willingly setting aside time that we could use for our own purposes, and devoting it to God instead – in worship, prayer and service. Many otherwise sincere Christians have become casual about this. Their church going proves secondary to other calls on their time, and without really meaning to, they become guilty of “trampling the Sabbath”. The “Sabbath is made for man” to use in the right way.
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