READ: Mark 2:27 NLT
Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.”
The Pharisees were out to get Jesus and were clearly delighted to have spotted his disciples breaking the Sabbath laws. The disciples were entitled to eat but they had broken the law when they picked the ears of corn because that was considered to be reaping. The Pharisees were driven by their commitment to obey every detail of the law and they had no doubt that they had caught Jesus’ disciples out.
Jesus doesn’t deny that his disciples may have disobeyed a detail of the law, but informs the Pharisees that they have totally missed the point. The Sabbath was not designed by God to be a miserable day hedged around by oppressive rules and regulations. The Sabbath was God’s loving gift to humankind at the dawn of creation as a day to bring blessing, refreshment and renewal.
In 1985 Keep Sunday Special was launched by Dr Michael Schluter to help our society to reflect on the importance of Sunday and to campaign against legislation to allow shops to open on that special day. In 1994 the Sunday Trading Act was passed and the day has changed out of all recognition. But we would still do well to work hard at keeping our Sundays special, reminding ourselves that God has lovingly given us one day in seven as a day of worship, fellowship and refreshment. It is part of the gracious rhythm of life that God has designed to keep us strong and in step with him.
The first Christians continued to worship on a Saturday, but very soon they changed to Sunday because it was the day of resurrection. Every Sunday gives us the opportunity to remember that we are an Easter people and that the same power that raised Jesus from death is available to us today. Our society has turned Sunday into a very busy day and so we desperately need to do everything we can to Keep Sunday Special.
QUESTION: What could you do to make your Sundays even more special?
PRAYER: Lord, thank you that you have designed one day each week to strengthen and renew us. In our busy society help us to look after this special day and to use it wisely. Amen.

Released on 9 Oct 2020