30 Days In The Gospel Of MarkSample

Thought:

Jesus often flips our understanding of things on its head. In His day, keeping the Sabbath (a special day for rest from work) was very important, especially to the Pharisees (Jewish religious leaders). God had commanded the Israelites to not work on the Sabbath and to keep it holy for His sake. The Pharisees added lots of extra rules on top of these commandments because they thought it would make them holier and better than everyone else. Jesus reminded the people that the Sabbath is supposed to be a gift, not a burden. It is not meant to get in the way of God’s work. He showed them that it is always right to do good on the Sabbath, even if it requires “doing work.” When Jesus did this, He undermined the authority of the Pharisees. They didn’t like losing respect, power, and influence, and they started to plot a way to murder Him.

1. Why did the Pharisees confront Jesus? How did He respond to them?

2. Why was Jesus willing to heal the man on the Sabbath?

3. How did Jesus feel about the Pharisees’ attitudes?

4. What did the Pharisees do after Jesus healed the man?

Engage:

Jesus teaches that we should not keep the Sabbath only out of duty and that we should be willing to work to do good on the Sabbath. However, He does not say that the Sabbath is a bad thing. Oftentimes in our society, we are too busy and live lives that are too fast-paced to take a Sabbath. Think about what time you have available this week when you could take time to Sabbath-rest. This could be a whole day, but it doesn’t have to be! Set a reminder in your phone or write on a calendar that you will be resting in this time. Don’t schedule anything else in this time and do activities that you find restorative. Think about spending time in the Bible or in prayer during this time, too.

Deeper Waters:

Sometimes we can get caught up in legalism, like the Pharisees. Legalism is when we become obsessed with keeping the rules more than knowing God or when we get fooled into thinking doing the right actions is what makes us acceptable to God. We can get legalistic about good things, such as reading the Bible, attending church, or spending time in prayer. These habits are very good, and we should do them! However, we should be careful to do them with the right attitude. We should be obedient to disciplines that help us in our walk with Christ because we want to do them, not because we think we have to in order to be saved. Write down a list of five reasons you are joyful about doing the 30-day challenge. On days when you aren’t as excited about doing it, return to this list and read it.