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Mark 2:23-28
October 20, 2023 by Rebecca Littlejohn
DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE
Mark 2:23-28 – One sabbath he was going through the cornfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath? And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priest to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.” (NRSV)
Did you know we’re keeping track of your attendance in worship? It’s true; we have a list and we check off names and try to reach out when people have been out for a while. More generally, knowing who is there helps us keep track of how our worship attendance averages are shifting.
But I don’t want you to read the wrong thing into this knowledge. Yes, we care whether you’re here or not. But not for the sake of the service. We care not because you are there for the service, but because the service is there for you. Too often, we Christians get tangled up in mis-guided ideas of duty and guilt and the “right” way to be, and we forget that God loves for us to be part of a worshipping community because it’s good for us.
When Jesus told the Pharisees that the sabbath was created for humankind and not the other way around, he reminded us all that rules are important because and only when they have our common good, our health, and our spiritual growth as their motivation. Anything else is just useless legalism, enforced so that someone can get someone else in trouble.
So I hope you’ll come to church. Not because that’s what good Christians do, but because it’s what helps us become better Christians. Not for the sake of the service, but for your sake. A day of worship is a gift from God. We come because we are hungry, and through Christ’s grace, we are fed.