The Lord of the Sabbath

The Sabbath (Hebrew: שַׁבָּת‎, shabbat, meaning “rest, cessation of all work”) is one of the main holidays in Judaism.

The Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between the Israelites and the Lord God, and it is explicitly commanded in the Ten Commandments. The Israelites were required to observe the Sabbath every seven days, during specific annual festivals, and in special holy years that occurred every seven and every fifty years. According to the Jewish calendar, the weekly Sabbath corresponds to the present-day Saturday, beginning at sunset on Friday and ending after two stars appear on Saturday. When the Sabbath begins, Jewish believers light candles, and the time is determined by the local sunset.

For the Israelites, the Sabbath was originally a joyous day. God wanted His people to remember their redemption, freedom, and deliverance. On this day, no work was to be done because God Himself would provide (manna and quails in the wilderness, water from the rock), allowing people, livestock, and the earth to rest and enjoy God’s grace. However, the Pharisees, scribes, and legal experts added their own subjective rules to the observance of the Sabbath, creating a complex web of regulations that turned the Sabbath into a yoke that burdened people, completely betraying God’s original intention. The New Testament Gospels repeatedly record Jesus’ conflicts with the Pharisees, scribes, and other upper-class Jewish leaders. These conflicts, which grew increasingly intense, were often sparked by Jesus’ actions on the Sabbath that violated their man-made rules. They saw the miracles Jesus performed but did not give glory to God. Instead of recognizing that the prophecies of the Messiah were being fulfilled in Him, they hated Jesus and sought to kill Him.

Yet, in Matthew 12:8, Jesus said, “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” He has the authority to command the Sabbath and the right to interpret the Sabbath law. He desires to give people true rest and does not want them to be bound by the rules of the Sabbath. The King of the kingdom of heaven wants to bring people into the kingdom, which means calling them to come to Him to find rest and enjoy rest in His kingdom.

Biblical Accounts:

Matthew 12:5-8: “Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Edited and compiled based on the Chinese Union Version of the Bible and a comprehensive biblical interpretation.