Dear Family at Christ Community,

This week our sermon series will continue to explore the conflict between the Pharisees and Jesus in Mark 2:23-28. The conflict will turn to the heart of Israel’s relationship with God: the Sabbath. When the Pharisees challenge Jesus and His disciples’ observance of the Sabbath, Jesus drives straight to the heart of the matter: there is no keeping the Sabbath without knowing Him, the Lord of the Sabbath. Tim Keller helpfully explains the significance of Jesus’s response:

When Jesus says, “I am the Lord of the Sabbath,” Jesus means that he is the Sabbath. He is the source of the deep rest we need. He has come to completely change the way we rest. The one-day-a-week rest we take is just a taste of the deep divine rest we need, and Jesus is its source (King’s Cross, 42).

Similarly, the Lord’s Supper helps us experience the reality that Christ is our true rest. So many problems make us restless in life—ranging from the intensely political to the deeply personal. And yet when we come to the Lord’s Table, Jesus draws us out of our restlessness by giving us Himself. As Lord of the Sabbath, He uses the bread and the cup to help us taste and see that He alone has the power and authority to make us, and our world, whole in Him. 

As you prepare to come to the Table, take time this week to examine what is making you restless. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the ways you are looking for something or someone (including yourself!) to give you rest apart from Christ. Even more importantly, ask the Spirit to lead you to rest more freely and joyfully in Christ on Sunday!

Yours in union with Christ,
Matt