⁷ Jesus went out to the lake with his disciples, and a large crowd followed him. They came from all over Galilee, Judea, ⁸ Jerusalem, Idumea, from east of the Jordan River, and even from as far north as Tyre and Sidon. The news about his miracles had spread far and wide, and vast numbers of people came to see him.

⁹ Jesus instructed his disciples to have a boat ready so the crowd would not crush him. ¹⁰ He had healed many people that day, so all the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him. ¹¹ And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² But Jesus sternly commanded the spirits not to reveal who he was.

Mark 3:7-12

Dear God, translation is so important. In reading the New Living Translation (above), it makes it look like all of this, including Jesus’s run-in with the Pharisees in verses 1-6 all happened on the same day–the Sabbath. But New American Standard 1995 translates verses 7-12 this way:

⁷ Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, ⁸ and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. ⁹ And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; ¹⁰ for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. ¹¹ Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.

First, it’s interesting that it’s as different as being one paragraph instead of two. The big difference for me, however, is verse 10 where NLT adds the words “that day.” If Jesus is doing all of this “that day” then then he is doing a lot of stuff on the Sabbath. He isn’t just healing one guy. He’s healing lots of people. He’s casting out lots of demons. In for a penny, in for a pound. If he was serious about doing good on the Sabbath in verse 4 ( ⁴ Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him.) then a lot of healing activity was okay too.

I’ll be frank. As I sit here this morning, if this all happened on the same day, it does feel like it’s turning into a “work day” for Jesus. It doesn’t look like a Sabbath. The rules here are squishy, it feels. Although I can’t say I’m the best or even moderately good at observing the Sabbath. In fact, I’m not intentional about a Sabbath hardly at all. I mean, I will try to make sure I get a day of the weekend that is more chill or doesn’t have responsibilities to get some down time and margin, but I’m not really great about setting aside that much time and making it sacred rest.

Father, there’s so much of your Word that was recorded 2,000 years ago that I really don’t understand. Some things are lost in translation (literally). Some things are lost in cultural ignorance. Some things are lost in lack of context. So please help me to glean from scripture what you have for me to glean. I’ll even just take the scraps. I want to be your child. I want to know you better. I want you to get the glory for my life. I want my life to point people towards the narrow path. I love you, Lord. I don’t have any resolutions on this passage. I don’t need them. I just need to know from you through your Holy Spirit what you have for me today. Help me to be the man you need me to be today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen