John 6.1-13 - THIS is NOT too difficult...

Here we come to the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels… So what truth(s) is God emphasizing for us in His Word? [1] [back to the other side of sea]

[2 A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick.]  People are following Him “cuz He’s healing people” - but is it entertainment?  Showing up for the show?  We do this, don’t we?  We follow folks who entertain us.  Or maybe these folks are following Jesus to get their own healing?  What’s in it for me?  Q: What can I give to Jesus this day?

[4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.]  Passover is near - what DOES that mean?  The events of Passover, when the destroying angel passed over homes whose [doors were covered with lamb’s blood], were the final catalyst for the [Exodus], which then becomes the focal point of the annual [Passover feast].  A time of remembering that God worked miracles and delivered His people from slavery and then miraculously provided food [manna - i.e. bread out of thin air, out of heaven!] AND water [from a rock].  But (the feast of) Passover - like the Passover/Exodus it looks back to - is a paradigm-shifting promise: Never forget that God delivers His people over and over.  And He’s about to do it again…

[5 Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, says to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?”]  The feeding of the 5000 [10-20k].  A miracle of impossible proportions.  A fiscal logistical impracticality.  What is this all about?  Jesus lifts up His eyes.  This is what He just told the disciples to do re the fields being white for harvest [4.35].  What will it mean for us to “lift up our eyes”? [1) A new focus. 2) A different timepiece]  See the focus, the heart of Jesus, compassion on the crowd, ready to take care of their practical need. These are strangers.  Intruders.  Here He is, getting away, enjoying time w His disciples, yet He has 1) eyes to see the need AND 2) patience (willingness to wait, to defer His own needs) to meet the need of these “intruders”.  Most of us lack one/both of those.  Wouldn’t most of us most of the time see these others as intruders?  The disciples themselves urge Jesus, send away these “intruders” so they can find something to eat.  But God’s is a heart of [Philoxenia.  Love of strangers].  Welcoming strangers.  Eyes to see (and acknowledge) the stranger/intruder - and a heart to bless them.  “Jesus grow that heart in me…“

Philoxenia: We see a CHALLENGE of location: Jesus asks his disciples, “Where?”  They are across the lake, on a mountain in the middle of nowhere.  Miles (on foot) from the nearest agora.  A good question.  But the answer - as is often the case - is NOT about where.  It’s not found in a physical place.  It’s found in Jesus.  As long as our “where” is a where where Jesus is there, it doesn’t matter where we are.  Philoxenia can happen wherever Jesus is present.  This is NOT too difficult…

[6 This He was saying to test him, for He knew what He was intending to do.] Jesus, starts with Philip - What do we know about him?  Ch 1, Jesus finds Philip - who finds Nathanael.  Philip already passed the “God•send test”.  But here, Jesus is “testing” Philip.  Trying him.  This is not a trying to cause a failure - it’s a trying to show what is inside.  [1.12] What he’s made of.  Sometimes God tries us in order to show what’s inside us.  God’s trying reveals character, AND it reveals need.  Maybe the hard thing you’re going thru (or about to go thru?) is God showing what’s inside of you?  And also how much you need Him?

But Jesus knows.  He knows what He’s doing.  He knows EXACTLY what the situation is.  He knows everything about Philip.  And Jesus knows exactly what He’s going to do.  Don’t miss so many streams of impact here.  There’s the crowd.  20000 people - and He knows exactly what’s going on w each one of them.  His disciples - each of them in a different place.  And He knows them.  Everything about them.  All these streams, intersecting, maximizing opportunities for each person to learn more of what they need to know about Jesus.

[7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.”] How is his spiritual vision? How does he feel about the crowd? Are they an annoyance? A distraction?  How does Jesus feel about the crowd?  We see a CHALLENGE of lack of resources… Philip is a Can’t Man.  He has a keen grasp of reality.  He’s able to discern the huge scope of the challenge before them. But he’s too focused of the [physical].  What do you think of Philip’s response? [1DN could feed 10 people - but not 100? so even 200 DN would only be 1/10th of need?]  What ’s he saying?  Not enough $.  Financially not feasible.  This IS too difficult.

[8-9 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, *said to Him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?”] Now Andrew.  Andrew is a Try Man.  Can’t hurt to try?   Philip and Andrew are the only two guys who we’ve already seen who went and brought someone to Jesus.  How about Andrew’s response?  Andrew here brings someone to Jesus - but like Philip, his focus is primarily on the physical.  So many people. 

For the disciples, this is too much.  Physically, mentally, emotionally.  Too difficult.  Way beyond our capacity. Yes, yes it is.  But sometimes (often?) - if we let Him, (even when we don’t?) - Jesus lets us be in situations that are too much for us.  Beyond our capacity. [2Cor 1.9; 3.5] To help us to learn to trust Him.  Maybe you’re there today.  Across the sea.  On a mountain.  Crowded slopes - the logistics, the finances, the measurables - it feels overwhelming.  Too difficult.

[10] We see a CHALLENGE of logistics: Only 1 thing Jesus asks the disciples to do: Make the people sit down (literally, make them FALL BACK).  It’s a practical suggestion: 20 thousand people, crowding around.  The noise.  The stress, exacerbating the sense of impossibility.  Make them fall back.  Put the obstacle in its proper perspective (part of a new focus).  The heart of Christ leans in even in the face of challenges of location, resources, logistics.  This is NOT too difficult.

[11-12] As much as they wanted: They were filled up.  Jesus earlier turned a gallon of something into a gallon of something else [Transformation].  Now He turns 5 of something into 5000, w plenty leftover [Multiplication]!  Jesus is all about both - Transformation AND Multiplication.  Sometimes He doesn’t just want to provide a little, or then maybe add a little.  He wants to break what we have and multiply it to feed/bless a multitude.  Jesus is so ready to provide just what we need, just when we need it - and then some.  Note that He didn’t multiply the loaves before they got there - He provided them exactly when they were needed - and then some. 

Takeaways: Gratitude.  Be thankful for what we have… A value of stewardship.  Waste not.  Yes Jesus mentions concern for every last fragment of bread, but could this be an allusion to making sure that no soul is lost [6.39]?  How much more does He care about people than pieces of bread?  How much more are they worth? 

[13] In the end they have way more bread than what they started with.  12 baskets - number of the Jews…?  Number of apostles?  [Each guy wound up w a full basket!]  

This is NOT too difficult.  [Jer 32.27] Jesus dares to delve into the difficult.  He excels at making an abundance out of little.  He excels at taking our little and making it more than enough.  Don’t sweat the physical.  The physical, the temporal - all the stuff we get so worked up over and so worried about - this is no sweat.  NOT too difficult. 

Verses referenced

James 1:12  Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.

2Cor. 1:9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;

2Cor. 3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,

Jer. 32:27 “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?”

Jer. 31:14  “I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance, and My people will be satisfied with My goodness,” declares the LORD.

John 5.16-47 - The Four Witnesses (and a 5th)(and a 6th)

Last time we saw a guy lying by a pool.  Pool guy (PG).  38 years, he’d been sick, waiting who-knows-how-long to be healed by the waters of this pool.  The Bethesda pool.  House of Chesed.  House of Grace.  Famous.  Five [stoas] full of hurting people, waiting, hoping for healing.  But it’s first-come first-served gets healed, and PG had never made it.  No one to help him, either.  Until Jesus showed up.  Jesus healed him, with just one word - BUT He dared to do it on a Sabbath, on Shabbat, and the Jewish leaders are livid, cuz PG is carrying his mat on Shabbat (which Jesus told him to do).  And these Jews are looking for whoever had the audacity to tell PG to do that.  Of course it was Jesus.  PG learns His name and tells the Jews, and they go ballistic [16 For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on Shabbat.].  And again, for the Jews, it was [Law/Shabbat above all]… No work at all on Shabbat.  You told a guy to break one of our Shabbat rules!  No WORKING on Shabbat!  No mat-carrying.  And NO healing either! [Lk 13.14]  Totally devoid of compassion, blind (rules > people), oblivious to what God is doing in the world…

[17 But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”]  Yes, God created the world in 6 days and rested from that work of creation on the 7th day.  And yes, He set an example and a standard for people to set aside time when they cease from their own labors and focus on Him.  BUT since the beginning of creation it’s also true that God continues to maintain - AND REDEEM - all of creation, 24/7.  I.e. He is working, continues to work.  Which is a valid point - but Jesus ups the ante.  [My Father] (a title He uses 26x in John) is working, and that’s what I’m doing.  THE Father is My Father, and I have the authority to do what He does.  I.e., not only is Shabbat NOT above all, but in the same way that God the Father transcends and supersedes all these Shabbat rules - so do I.  What’s He saying here?

[18 For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.]  Jesus does this deliberately.  The Jews are now actually looking to kill Him.  They’re enraged!  Cuz - according to them - He has just [blasphemed].  Makes Himself EQUAL with God.  Which - if He were just a mere man, that charge would be accurate.  But already, John has shown us that Jesus is no mere man.  Not simply claiming to be something He isn’t.  He’s been backing it up.  Jesus has already shown us divine attributes of [omniscience] (He knows thoughts/secrets of every heart).  [Omnipotence] (He does the impossible, heals with mere words, creates matter out of non-matter).  And [omnipresence] (He knows/sees all, and works miracles without needing to be there). Just wait until He rises from the dead…!  But going forward, the Jews are out to kill Him.

[19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.] The Jewish leaders reject Jesus’ claim of equality with God, so He gives them His 4th truly truly.  Truth truth: I (only) do what I see the/My Father doing [Son-Father, Father-Son].  If you have a problem with Me (Jesus), you have a problem w the Father.

[20 “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. 21 “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.]  Father-Son, Father-Son.  And you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!  Greater works.  Marvelous.  And you will marvel: raising the dead back to life, Power over death.

[22 “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.]  Still Father-Son, Son-Father - again mentioned in the same breath.  The questions of life & death & judgment & eternity - all those the Father has given to Jesus.  It all runs thru Jesus.  All judgment.  All honor.  In fact, there is no way to honor God at all without honoring Jesus.

Double truly truly: [24  “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.]  It all comes down to, do you and I believe what Jesus is saying, that He is THE God•send?  

[25-29 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.  For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who practiced the foul deeds to a resurrection of judgment.] The [Power over death] - this is unparalleled power.  Authority of judgment - it is all given to Jesus.  The Son of Man.  God the Son Who is fully man.  AND He has Life IN Himself.  He not only IS alive, He has life IN HIMSELF.  He IS LIFE.  [In Him is Life]  All life - including and especially eternal life - is contingent upon Jesus.  And the Son gives life to those who “do the good work” of believing in Him.  To whoever He wishes [21][which is the Greek word, thelō].  The Lord WANTS to give eternal life - but this is only for those who HEAR Jesus’ Word and believe Him.  Those who don’t seek what they want but seek what God wants.  And if you have not yet believed in Jesus, you may think you are alive - but you don’t know you are dead.  You are spiritually dead - and you need to hear the voice of the Son, so that you will finally and fully LIVE.  You need to listen to His voice and believe…

[30  “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.]  Theléma - the noun form of theló.  The want of the God•send-er.  What do You want, Lord?  That is the question...

[31-39] Believe the witnesses: 1) John (TW), 2) the works I do, 3) the Father, and 4) the Scriptures.  And they all Point.To.Me.  Life is in Me.

[40 and you are not wanting to come to Me so that you may have life.]  I so want to give you eternal life, and I have FOUR witnesses testifying that what I’m telling you is true - but you are UNwanting.  Theléma.  You DON’T WANT to come to me.  And why is that?  Two reasons:

[42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.] 1) You do not have the love of God.  Let God love you, show you His love.  Receive His love…[The story of the Bible, of heaven - all this is one grand love story]-[He made paradise for us to live in and enjoy, to enjoy Him!]  And He has gone to indescribable lengths to bring us back into relationship w Him... [3.16/Rom 5.8][the cross].  So first, you do not have His love in you.

[43 “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?]  And 2) You receive/care about what people say/think.  You care much less about what God thinks.

[45-47 “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”]  There is actually a 5th witness!  And you DO hope in him - but he points to Me [Dt 18].  I am THE Prophet.  But you don’t believe what he said about Me, you don’t believe Me. 

They refuse.  So blind, and angry.  And Jesus just pours fuel on the fire.  MOSES accuses you.  You do not seek glory from God.  You do not have His love in you.  You don’t care about what He wants.  How they hate Jesus now.  How the world hates Him (still).  Jesus calls every person to face our sin.  Selfishness.  Selfrighteousness.  Hypocrisy.  Hard hearts of unbelief.  If only we’d believe… Believe the witnesses.  Believe JTW.  Believe the Father.  Believe the works.  Believe the Scriptures.  Believe Moses.  And don’t forget Pool Guy - you could believe him (6th witness!).  Or you could simply believe Me…   

Referenced verses

Luke 13:14 But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”

Deut. 18:15  “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to Him. 18 (The LORD said to me,) ’I will raise up a Prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 ‘It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which He shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.’”

John 5.1-14 - Bethesda (aka The House of Chesed)

 John 5 - Bethesda (House of Chesed)(Sabbath rules)

[1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.] Jesus is returning to [Jerusalem].  It’s been a year since He's been there - remember what went down the last time: Jesus messed w the Temple.  Cleaned it out.  Messed up the emporium that the Jews had going on there.  Jesus made some enemies.

This time, we see more brokenness.  Sam was broken - it was her choices.  B’s son was broken - but that was due to an illness (i.e. some accident of birth/life).  And life is full of both, right?  Some brokenness we experience by our own choices. Some comes on us through no fault of our own.  [God always sees/cares, and is working something better…]

[2  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.]  Five [stoas] - this is a big pool.  [A double pool?].  And it was [intermittent]?  [3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered.]  So, a large pool with five stoas FULL of sick people... all waiting for their shot at hitting the healing-jackpot.  Only this was no [lottery; 1 in 300mill].  It sort of looks like this was simply, first-come first-healed...

[5 A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.] We'll call him, “PG”.  38yrs - a lifetime of some kind of severe debilitating physical condition.

[6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He says to him, “Do you wish to get well?”]  Jesus sees him.  But the verbs are past tense.  Having seen him (i.e. in the past).  Having known he’s been sick - sick many years, and known many years.  Jesus has known him.  He has seen him.  He knows PG wants to be healthy. Question: why the question? Why does He even ask?  Because [words create/reinforce reality (The Word SPOKE.  Powerful things)]  But Jesus sees him.  Again, He sees the brokenness.  Whatever brokenness we are experiencing.  And He has a plan.  Do you want [thelō] to get well?  This Greek word "well" here gives us our word, hygiene.  I.e. that which keeps us healthy.

[7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”]  PG doesn’t answer the question.  What PG gives Jesus for an answer is more of an excuse.  This is the physical temporal thing that is holding me back in life.  Like so many, PG is also too focused on the [physical].  On the water.  He thinks he needs this stirred-up water.  The water will make him healthy and clean…  What’d we learn in Samaria?  What’d Jesus tell Sam?  This water, this physical water might help you meet a physical need (temporarily), but it will never heal your real brokenness.  [Other water/reality…]

[8 Jesus says to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”]  Jesus TELLS him to do something he perhaps has never done.  Be rising up.  Sometimes, the breakthrough we need, the healing we need, comes as we do something we have never done.  Some of us, Jesus is asking us to do something.  Never done it.  Not part of our routine.  Well how’s that routine working out for you?  Rise up.

[9 Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.]  Right away, PG is healed.  Jesus strengthens him to get up, move around, even pick up his mat - maybe for the first time ever!  He don’t need no pool.  No H₂O - Jesus has LIVING WATER.  How do you think PG felt about getting up?  It’d been years.  Was he afraid?  Hesitant?  Sometimes we’re stuck, in a rut, on that mat, in that place of excuses.  Dysfunctional comfort.  Rise up.  The life you’re living is NOT what I designed you for.  Immediately PG becomes well.  Maybe something is holding you back, keeping you down - you need to rise up.  And you don’t need a pool.  Only Jesus.  Trust Him.

Why does Jesus tell him to pick up his mat?  (Cus it's his only possession? But now he has no need?)  Why does He even pick PG in the first place?  Clearly, Jesus has another life-lesson in play here - for the Jews AND for His disciples.  And somehow He weaves it ALL together - for our good [Rom 8.28].

[Now it was the Sabbath on that day. 10 So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.”]  Cured - our word ‘therapy’… PG had been there at that pool for YEARS, living with his disability, waiting for his therapy, his lucky hygiene.  but surely everybody, all these Jews would have known him.  And now suddenly, he’s up and about.  A bona fide miracle!  And - no luck involved - the miracle smashes head-on into spiritual blindness.  The Jews are so focused on the physical, the external - for them it’s not just about water.  Not about people.  They think that to be clean they need to observe the Sabbath, i.e. strictly obey all their Sabbath rules.  To them, people are less important than the program, the rules.  But that's all wrong: People are more important than the program.

The language literally is, Sabbath was, on that day.  Sabbath is the subject in the sentence.  I.e. Sabbath rules this day, and so we obey Sabbath rules on this day.  Sabbath is one of the Top 10 Commandments [Deut 5] - a prohibition of work (even on penalty of death) - but it finds its genesis in [Gen 2.1-3], where God Himself rested on the 7th day of Creation, after working at creating the universe for the preceding 6 days.  The heart of Sabbath is not only needed rest but to help people to focus on the Lord [Is 58; Ps 92] - but in Jesus’ day the legalists have made it NOT about the Lord or people but all about [Shabbat].  About Sabbath rules, things people should not do.

[“It is NOT permissible”], they say. ’Permissible’ literally means, being out, going out.  As in being allowed out, i.e. to do something.  It is about being free, being authorized, permitted to do something (or not).  Jesus uses a related word when He later says, “ALL authority has been given to Me”.  I.e. the Jews are saying, you are NOT authorized, allowed out to do this, to carry your mat.  [11] PG is like, well, the One Who had the power and authority to heal me DID authorize me to carry my mat…

[14 Afterward Jesus finds him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”] What we see is, PG starts out, he is all about what is physically Do-Able (and he is UNable).  For the Jews, Shabbat is about what is Permiss-ible.  And they are so consumed with what is NOT permissible, that they don’t so much care about the person.  They care more about their rules, AND that someone is ignoring their rules.  But Sabbath rules do not rule us.  Theyu don't have the final authority.  With Jesus, the One with the Real Authority, the question becomes, what is Profit-able?  What builds up? [1Cor 6.12, 10.23].  What is good, better for people.  Look at Him.  He goes to this pool, and focuses on this one guy who has been stuck there for his whole life, can’t get out.  And after Jesus heals PG, He then goes and tracks him down in the temple.  He doesn’t want anything worse to befall PG.  [Nothing worse].  You have become physically well - now it’s about your heart.  Stop choosing what you want over what God wants.  

This is the essence of [Sabbath, Mk 2:27-28 i.e. times and extended times of focusing on the Lord].  It gets at the heart of why our Created made us in the first place - to focus on Him.  It's definitely something we try to do when we gather on Sundays [this is also one reason why we encourage folks to go on times of retreat].  And of course none of us will ever do this perfectly - that’s why Jesus died for us.  That’s why we all need to receive the forgiveness He offers, that He purchased on for us on the Cross.  We tend to fall short when it comes to focusing on our Creator.  That is why the Lord gives us Sabbath.  And that's why we all need to come take a daily deep dip in Bethesda - which in Hebrew means, the House of Chesed.  God's House or swimming pool of everlasting love and grace.

Yes, Jesus is authorized.  We’ve seen He has the authority/power to create something out of nothing [water to wine].  His authority extends over all matter (and non-matter].  Jesus also exerts His power from any distance.  His authority is not limited by any distance [B’s son].  And here with PG we see that Jesus’ power and authority is directed towards people for their welfare [Jer 29.11].  He cares.  He cares about the mat we’re stuck lying on.  AND He cares too much to let us stay there.  House of Chesed.  House of Grace, for our good…

Referenced verses

Gen. 2:1-3  Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.  By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.  Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Deut. 5:12-15   “Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.” —> REST and REMEMBRANCE (reflecting on the Lord)

Is. 58:13-14  “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Ps. 92:0  A Psalm, a Song for the Sabbath day.

1   It is good to give thanks to the LORD 

And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;

2  To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning 

And Your faithfulness by night,

3  With the ten-stringed lute and with the harp, 

With resounding music upon the lyre.

4  For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what You have done, 

I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.

5   How great are Your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep.

Mark 2:27-28 Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

“Shabbat is the centerpiece of Jewish life and has been so since the infancy of our nation. According to the Talmud, Shabbat is equal to all the other commandments, and the term shomer shabbat (“Shabbat observer”) is synonymous with “religious Jew” in common parlance. Through increasing your Shabbat observance, you’ll create a space to connect with G‑d, family and friends. Try it, you’ll like it.”  -from “What is Shabbat?” by Rabbi Menachem Posner @ chabad.org

1Cor. 6:12   All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

1Cor. 10:23   All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

Jer. 29:11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.