In these passages, Christ teaches God’s purpose in instituting the Sabbath: God established it for man’s good, to help him rest and devote himself to divine worship in joy and peace. The Pharisees, through their interpretation of the Law, had turned this day into a source of anguish and scruple due to all the various prescriptions and prohibitions they introduced. By proclaiming himself “lord of the Sabbath,” Jesus affirms his divinity and his universal authority. Because he is lord, he has the power to establish other laws, as Yahweh had in the Old Testament. The Sabbath had been established not only for man’s rest but also to allow him to give glory to God: that is the correct meaning of the expression “the Sabbath was made for man.” Jesus has every right to say he is lord of the Sabbath because he is God. Christ restores to the weekly day of rest its full, religious meaning: it is not just a matter of fulfilling a number of legal precepts or of concern for physical well-being: the Sabbath belongs to God; it is one way suited to human nature, of rendering glory and honor to the Almighty. The Church, from the time of the apostles onwards, transferred the observance of this precept to the following day, Sunday—the Lord’s Day—in celebration of the resurrection of Christ.