Daily Office Readings for Saturday after the First Sunday of Lent: Year 2
Morning, Psalm 55; Evening, Psalms 138 and 139:
Genesis 41:1 to 13; 1 Corinthians 4:1 to 7; Mark 2:23 to 3:6:
“Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath;” (Mark 2:27)
Most all Christians of today realize and understand that our Lord Jesus, as God Incarnate, came to us in the Hebrew (Jewish) culture. He lived and worshiped in that same tradition honoring its rich and God sanctioned rituals including Remembering the Sabbath Day and keeping it Holy as Commanded by God. Jesus never changed that.
Today most of the world recognizes Saturday as the seventh day of the week. The seventh day is still a Sabbath Day. As Christians we worship on the first day of the week, Sunday. This is a human construct which I believe was created to again distinguish a difference between Christians and Jews. Why? We are Judea Christians.
As the elements of a worship service is work for those who organize and conduct it, I think it is good the worship on Sunday, it is, after all, work. Abraham Joshua Heschel says in his book, Sabbath, the Sabbath is a gift from God and we should appreciate it and honor it. So I don’t think even the work of worship should be done on the Sabbath. The Sabbath should be of day of comfort and meditation and perhaps some individual or small group reflective study or pondering.
There is the reality that some of us will, out of human necessity, have to work. First responders, the military, police and medical staff, for example, must stay attentive to their duties on Saturdays. However, they should be afforded at least every other Sabbath for personal time with God.
And as far as we Christians are concerned, our Lord Jesus says in our Mark reading for today, “so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.’(Mark 2:28).
Today is our Sabbath gift from God. How are you using it?
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 