Why did Jesus say the Son of Man was Lord over the Sabbath because the Sabbath was made for man?

Question

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

There seems to be a connection with the Sabbath being made for 'any man' and from this proposition, 'the Son of Man' , that is the second Adam, has all the more right to change the Sabbath, or at least at a minimum use it as it was intended to the first Adam, if he so chooses.

I sense an argument here but can't immediately find the words for it.  Has anyone heard of a good explanation? I looked up a couple commentaries but nothing seemed to be that good at all.

Answer 1

I think you are getting hung up on Son of Man being a divine title. We take it as that, but it doesn't mean that fundamentally. It means something along the lines of the Ideal Man, the Best Man, the Representitive Man. It doesn't imply divinity.

Jesus' point then is that the Sabbath was created for the good of people. That's how the CEV translates it. JB Phillips translates it "for the sake of man". In other words the purpose of Man is not to keep the Sabbath - the purpose of the Sabbath is to keep Man operating as (s)he should.

Because of this, Jesus is saying, if the rules of the Sabbath are actually getting in the way of people doing the right thing, then they should be changed and Man has the power to do that. It should of course be noted that the precise details of what was permitted on the Sabbath were not direct commands of God; the violation was only of the current interpretation of what constituted Sabbath-breaking.

Answer 2

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

Upon more thinking and searching more commentaries, I think the amplified version of this verse, detailing the logic, could read as follows:

God made Adam before he made the Sabbath, to give his body rest and to provide other benefits to man. He made the Sabbath for him to enjoy.  The Sabbath was not meant to be a burden, but a rest.  In this sense the Sabbath was a work 'in service of man' and so men were above the Sabbath in so much as it was made for them.  In the same way, the Son of Man, that is the New Adam, or federal head of humanity, is over the Sabbath, but much more so.  As God, He could not fully be made to be 'under Law' but is Lord over the Sabbath and all Laws of God. As a man, He was born under Law but as God he could not be brought fully under His own Law. Furthermore, as Lord of the Sabbath not only could Jesus properly teach the meaning of the Sabbath to the Pharisees that misunderstood it, but He would soon act as 'Lord over it' by dying on the Sabbath and rising to make a New Covenant where the Father would be pleased with His work of salvation and would rest and delight in this work as a new never ending Sabbath, that could give eternal rest four the soul by faith.

In other words, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (in the first creation). Therefore, in the same way and even more so, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath (as is shown by his application of its true meaning and abolition of the Old Sabbath in the new eternal Sabbath he will soon create).”