In Mark Ch.1 v 22-31, the people are amazed at the way Jesus is teaching. They say ‘he is like no ordinary teacher of the law, instead he teaches with authority.’ At this point a man with an evil spirit is brought to him, and he commands the spirit to leave the mans body. The people start to question who this man is, and are scared as he has power over the evil demons.
Mark Ch. 2 v 23-26, Jesus and his disciples are picking corn on the Sabbath. The Pharisees object by saying ‘Look, it is against our law for your disciples to do that on the Sabbath.’ Jesus answered ‘Have you not read what David did that time when he needed something to eat? He and his men where hungry, so he went into the house of God and ate the bread offered to God. According to our law only the priests may eat this bread – But David offered it to his men.’ Jesus was trying to prove the point, that if you are hungry on the Sabbath, feed yourself.
Jesus says in Mark Ch. 2 v 27-28, ‘The Sabbath was made for the good of human beings; They were not made for the Sabbath. So the son of man is lord even of the Sabbath.’ This means Jesus has the power to do as he sees fit on the Sabbath. It means the Sabbath was made for our benefit, but we should spend it as we want to. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.
At the start of Mark Ch. 3 v 1-6, Jesus went to the Synagogue where a man with a paralyzed hand was brought to him. Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong, so they watched him very closely to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath. Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘What does our Law allow us to do on the day of the Sabbath? To help or to harm? To save someone’s life or destroy it?’ when he got no answer Jesus was angry and he said to the man, ‘stretch out your hand,’ and immediately it was well again. After seeing this, the Pharisees went of to start plotting Jesus’ death. This tells us that the Pharisees found Jesus a threat because he did not follow their rules. They wanted him to act like everyone else on the Sabbath, and follow the Law set down for them, which states you should worship, and dedicate the day to God. You should not do any work on the Sabbath.
In Mark Ch. 12 v 28-31, Jesus was asked the following question by a teacher of the law. ‘Which Commandment is the most important of all?’ Jesus Replied
‘The most important one is this:
Listen Israel!
The Lord our God is the only Lord
Love the Lord your God
With all your heart
With all your soul
With all your mind
And with all your Strength
The second most important commandment is this:
Love your neighbor as you
Love yourself.
There is no other commandment more important than these two.’
The teacher of the Law was very pleased with this answer, and Jesus was pleased the man saw the commandments positively, so he said, ‘You are not far from the Kingdom of heaven.’ This is important to Christians today because it encourages us to act peacefully towards our enemies and people we might not necessarily like. It also tells us to love and worship God, because he is the only one we have, so we should dedicate our life’s to him.
Some Christians celebrate Holy Communion because we believe it is Jesus’ body and blood’. We do this because of the last supper when, ‘Jesus took a piece of bread, gave a prayer of thanks, broke it and gave it to his disciples. “Take it”, He said, “this is my body.” ‘This is my blood which is poured out for many, my blood which seals God’s covenant.” Taking holy communion symbolizes the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made for us. His body and his blood, his life.
Communion is the most spiritual ritual in the Roman Catholic Church because we believe it is the same ritual performed 2000 years ago in the presence of Christ. It is the renewal of our covenant with God. We believe it is a physical and spiritual sacrament. Baptists and Methodists do not consider communion as important as Catholics, and therefore may only celebrate it once or twice a month. This is because they only believe in the spiritual importance of communion, not the physical.
Quakers and the Salvation Army do not have Mass and therefore do not have Communion. The Salvation Army do good deeds to show their love of God, e.g. Collecting Money for Charities and over fundraising events. Quakers have prayer meetings, and wait in meditation to be spoken to by God.
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