Matthew 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.
When You Belong to Jesus So Does Your Day
How do you feel on Friday morning? You probably feel fairly bright because you think, “Tomorrow is Saturday, and the entire day is mine.” Now I am not intending to be cruel to those of you who are even busier on Saturday, but for many people, Saturday is a day to sleep in and to spend what little time remains doing precisely nothing. Maybe your plan for Saturday is nothing and that is the point.
I want to encourage you about something today: don’t live for Saturday; live for Jesus. I am not trying to be silly. I am talking about something that is very much an issue. It was an issue in the days when the Lord Jesus was walking this earth, and it is an issue today.
In Matthew 12, we have two stories, and both of them have to do with who is in control. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had rejected their King, but they were living very carefully to keep the law, both God’s and the ones they had made in addition to it.
This was demonstrated in two separate instances on the Sabbath. In one instance the disciples of Jesus were eating on the Sabbath. They had plucked ears of corn and eaten them, and were accused by the Pharisees of violating the Sabbath. In the next instance, the Pharisees tried to set Jesus up by asking if a man with a withered hand should be healed on the Sabbath day. They were trying to entrap Him with what they thought to be a sticky theological question.
In verse 8, Jesus said, “For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.” The Lord Jesus is Lord on Saturday and on Sunday. The day we call the Lord’s Day is a bit of a misnomer because it implies that it is the one day which we relegate to the Lord Jesus.
We tithe our money and our time. We think we are giving Him a portion of that which belongs to us, but the question should not be, “How much should I give Him?” but, “How much of what He has given me shall I keep for myself?” When you belong to Jesus, so does the day in which you are living.
How you view Saturday, or even Sunday, indicates how you view the rest of your week, and how you view your week indicates how you view yourself and how you view Jesus. Today is a good day to do right. It is a good day to do good things, and today is a good day to recognize that Jesus is Lord of this day.