Sabbath Posture for Sabbath People // Rev. Michele Arndt // Aug 2 2026

Early in his ministry, Mark’s gospel records these words from Jesus:“The Sabbath was made for humankind (man), not humankind for the Sabbath.” (Mk 2:27). Sometimes it can feel like Jesus is speaking in riddles. What does Jesus mean? In our journey through the 10 commandments, scholars and theologians suggest that the third command about Sabbath is a cornerstone to the other nine. It isn’t all that radical to tell someone not to steal or kill or commit adultery. Many other law codes in ancient near eastern traditions such as the Sumerian or Hammurabi have parallel teachings about these things. But none have a word to say about Sabbath. It stands alone. At the heart of Sabbath is something that extends far beyond what we do or don’t do on Sundays. For the people of God, Sabbath is a countercultural identity God gives us to say to “all the other gods” (as we sang last Sunday) - that we are holy and do not exist to work and produce. Sabbath is a way of marking time that stamps us with the origins of Creation, reminding us that time does not belong to us. We neither control nor are controlled by time. Instead, we submit to Sabbath not merely as a single 24-hour practice, but as a posture. Sabbath was made for us.