Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Mark 1:21 Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.
WHAT DID JESUS DO … ON THE SABBATH? (1)
What did Jesus do on the Sabbath Day? The simple answer is He went into the synagogue to worship. These words reveal what Jesus' practice was during His earthly ministry and throughout the region of Galilee. Jesus' purpose in entering the synagogue on the Sabbath was to worship.
It's important that we see that Jesus was obedient to God's Law in both form and in spirit. Even though He was the God-man, when the day of worship arrived, Jesus went to worship.
He didn't just go through the motions like we sometimes do, but worshiped in spirit and in truth. He really did always respect and love God's Word and take the opportunity to hear and learn it. Jesus' attitude was exactly what the Psalmist expressed when he said (Psalm 122:1): "I was glad when they said to me, let us go into the house of the Lord."
God's Law demands that we so love and respect God that we gladly hear and learn His Word. When we willfully neglect His Word or consider it of lesser importance than earthly things, we sin. Sadly, it's sometimes easier to come up with reasons why we can't make church than why we should attend.
Jesus worshiped because He loved God's Word and sought God's will. Jesus also did so because He was our substitute, actively and perfectly keeping God's commandments in our place. It is by faith in Christ that His perfect obedience, His righteousness, is credited to our account and God sees us as having perfectly kept His commandments. Moreover, our sins against God's Law are forgiven, covered in the blood of Jesus' sacrifice.
What did Jesus do on the Sabbath? On the Sabbath and every other day, He lived the sinless life demanded of us. He did in our place what God's holy Law requires of us.
We will one day join the angels and the saints triumphant to sing God's praise because Jesus did these things for us and then paid the debt of our sins.
