The Meaning of Sabbath According to Mark's Gospel

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The Meaning of Sabbath According to Mark's Gospel

‘Sabbath’ is a Hebrew word meaning rest – The Jewish meaning is

‘Shabbat’. Sabbath is the day of rest in Judaism. It begins at sunset

Friday and last until sunset on Sunday. In the Ten Commandments the

reason given for the Sabbath being a holy day is that after God had

created the world in six days he had rested on the seventh. Jews keep

Sabbath as a holy day set aside for God. It is celebrated at home,

with a special family meal on Friday evening and with synagogue

worship. Unnecessary work is avoided. Sabbath is a day to be honoured

and enjoyed as a gift from God.

‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,’ said Jesus.

Jesus taught that the law of God was for the benefit of the human

race, not set of petty restrictions. He was not breaking the law when

he healed on the Sabbath, ‘The man with the evil spirit’ ‘The man with

the withered hand’. Because it was obviously the right loving thing to

do. The law was to allow people to rest and worship God, not to stop

them nibbling ears of corn.

The Sabbath, to the Jews was a holy day in which they believed no

works should be done. It was a day of rest; from sunset to sunset. The

Jews believed that working was against the law in which had been set

by the Pharisees.

‘It was preparation day, so Joseph went boldly into the presence of

Pilate and asked him for the body of Jesus’ Jesus wanted to bury the

body before sunset because he believed that the Sabbath was not a time

for working. After the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary (mother

of James and Salome) brought spices to anoint the body of Jesus. This

shows that they also thought of the Sabbath as a day of rest so they

didn’t attempt to visit Jesus’ body before the end of the Sabbath.

This tells Christians that they should spend their special family and

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