Mark 2:27–28

Context

These verses form the conclusion of the Sabbath controversy recorded in Mark 2:23–28. As the disciples pass through the grainfields on the Sabbath, they pluck heads of grain, and the Pharisees object that this is not lawful on the Sabbath. Jesus first answers by pointing to what David did (1 Samuel 21): when David was hungry, he ate the showbread (the bread set out in the sanctuary), which only the priests were permitted to eat. Jesus then concludes with these two verses: "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath" (Mark 2:27–28).

The controversy continues immediately afterward in 3:1–6, where Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. The same incident also appears in Matthew 12 and Luke 6, but the saying in verse 27, "The sabbath was made for man," is found only in Mark. "Son of man" is the expression Jesus most often uses in the Gospels to refer to himself.

Interpretation

• A reading focused on the purpose of the Sabbath: The Sabbath is a commandment God gave for the rest and benefit of human beings. Accordingly, the passage is read to mean that keeping the regulations must not become an end in itself that harms people. This interpretation is widely shared across denominations. Similar expressions are reportedly found in later rabbinic literature as well.
• A Christological reading: Christology is the branch of theology concerned with who Jesus is. This reading places its weight on verse 28, taking it as a declaration that Jesus possesses the same authority as God, who instituted the Sabbath. The word "also" in "Lord also of the sabbath" is understood to indicate that this authority extends even to the Sabbath.
• A reading that takes "Son of man" as humanity in general: Some scholars read verse 28 to mean that humanity is lord of the Sabbath. They argue that "son of man" may be an Aramaic idiom for a human being, and that verse 28 is linked to verse 27 by "therefore." This is a minority view; many commentators take the expression as a title referring to Jesus himself.

Controversies and Issues

In discussions of the Sabbath and the Lord's Day, which concern how Christians ought to observe the Sabbath, this passage is used to support differing conclusions.

• Presbyterian and other Reformed traditions: The Westminster Confession of Faith holds that the commandment to keep one day in seven holy applies to all people, and that after the resurrection of Jesus this day was changed to the first day of the week, the Lord's Day. This tradition reads the passage not as abolishing the Sabbath but as teaching its proper observance; works of necessity and mercy are therefore permitted on the Lord's Day.
• Lutheran tradition: The Augsburg Confession holds that the Mosaic Sabbath ordinances have been abolished in the gospel, and it explains the Lord's Day as a day the church has appointed for the sake of good order. In this tradition the passage is read as showing freedom from the ceremonial law (the ordinances concerning sacrifices and feasts).
• Seventh-day Adventist Church: This church points out that the Sabbath was made for "man," not for the Jews alone, and that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. On this basis it maintains that all believers are still obligated to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. Other denominations generally respond that the passage does not address which day of the week is to be observed.

Some also caution that citing verse 27 in isolation as grounds for taking Lord's Day observance lightly ignores verse 28 and the surrounding context.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, which has long emphasized juil seongsu (keeping the Lord's Day holy), this passage is frequently cited in sermons and Bible studies dealing with the spirit and scope of Lord's Day observance.

Related Passages

• Matthew 12:1–8
• Luke 6:1–5
• Mark 3:1–6
• Genesis 2:2–3
• Deuteronomy 5:12–15