The Sabbath Need not be a Day of Gloom
A. Barnes, D. D., C. Gray. Mark 2:27-28 And he said to them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:… There is enough to be accomplished in every soul by duties appropriate to the day, to rescue every moment from tedium and ennui. If it were as pleasant to man to cultivate his heart as it is his intellectual powers; if he felt it to be as momentous to prepare for the life to come, as for the present world; if he delighted in the service of his Maker, as he does in the society of his friends below — the difficulty would not be that it would be impossible to fill up the day, but that the hours on the Sabbath had taken a more rapid flight than on other days, and that the shades of the evening came around us when our work was but half done. Let this one thought be borne with you to your homes, if no other, that the appropriate work of the Sabbath is the heart, all about the heart, all that can bear upon it, all that van make it better; and, I am persuaded, you will see no want of appropriate employment for one day in seven. See what there is in your heart permanently abiding there that demands correction. See what an accumulation of bad influences there may be during the toils and turmoils of the week, that may require removal. See how in the business of the world, in domestic cares, in professional studies or duties, the heart may be neglected, and there may arise a sad disproportion between the growth of the intellect and the proper affections of the soul. See how, in the gaieties and vanities of life, the pursuits of pleasure, the love of flattery and applause, there may have been a steady growth of bad propensities through the week, not, for one moment, broken or checked. See how there may have bees a silent but steady growth of avarice, pride, or ambition, all through the week, riveting the fetters of slavery on the soul, and bringing you into perpetual and ignoble bondage. See the tendency of all these things to harden the heart, to chill the affections, to stifle the voice of conscience, and to melee the mind grovelling and worldly. See what an unnatural growth the intellect of man sometimes attains to, while all the finer feelings of his nature, like fragrant shrubs and beautiful flowers under the dense foliage of a far-spreading oak, are overshadowed and stinted. And then see what in nature and in grace is open for the cultivation of the heart — the worship of God adapted to assimilate the soul to the Creator, the Bible full of precepts and promises bearing directly on the heart. (A. Barnes, D. D.) I. THE DAY DESIGNED. "The Sabbath was made for man" by Him who also made man. II. THE DAY PERVERTED. It is so, and variously, by different people. 1. These Pharisees made it everything, and regarded the day more than man, and his need (to supply which it was first given). 2. Others pervert it by regarding it as a day for mere physical rest and recreation, as if man were a mere animal. Such are secularists and materialists, etc. 3. Others, again, pervert the day who make it a day for study, as if man were a purely intellectual being. Such would open museums. III. THE DAY CHANGED. Learn — 1. Rightly to understand the Sabbath as meeting a human need. 2. To honour the Lord of the Sabbath by preserving His day from innovation, and by services of religion and mercy. "It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day." 3. A practical reverence for the Lord of the day is the best way to keep the day from being stolen from us. (C. Gray.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: WEB: He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.