Matthew 12:1-2 :: The super-religious freak out at Jesus because His disciples have the audacity to “harvest” grain on the Sabbath. Why is the Sabbath such a huge deal to the Pharisees? Perhaps it’s because the Sabbath was all they had when they were in exile and so it became central. The danger is, it became so central that they attached all sorts of gunk to it so that the meaning and direction behind Sabbath got lost. Maybe that’s why Jesus says (v. 7) “I wish you knew what this means, ‘I desire mercy not sacrifice.'” Dale Bruner would suggest that Jesus is saying, “I long for human sympathy, not super-human discipline.”
It still stands to reason that the Sabbath is a big deal though…but why?
Exodus 20 :: God, in summing up all that He ever had and would say to His people, expounds upon the Sabbath in the 10 commandments. Intentionally, He invests the most ink and real estate to Sabbath (98 English words: NIV) and idolatry (83 English words: NIV). He says, “Rest, because I did.”
Where did He say that?
Genesis 2:2-3 :: God spends six days speaking stuff into existence. And then on the seventh day, He rests. Was this because He was tired? Or was it because He was finished? Nonetheless, He stops to take a leisurely step back to savor the beauty and completeness of Himself and all that He had created. Then He blesses the seventh day. He’s never blessed a day before. He had created some living things and blessed them–humanity most specifically, but He had never blessed a day. Perhaps there is something alive and life-giving about the seventh day when we choose to stop and step back and savor the beauty and completeness of God and His creation. Perhaps when we do, we are choosing to tap into a day which God has impregnated with blessing. Then He makes the seventh day holy. That is, He intentionally set aside the seventh day for Him and for His purposes.
He sets a 6-on-1-off rhythm for us that we can choose to live into or not. He says, work hard for 6 days, but enter into rest on the seventh day because I did. Stop, Step Back, Savor Me and My completeness.
That’s part of it…
Deuteronomy 5:12-15 :: God reiterates His command to Sabbath with one key difference. Instead of resting because God did, He tells them to rest because they couldn’t rest while they were in slavery. They could worship Yahweh, but they never had a day off in 430 years to Play.
Play is so important to holisitic human development that the UN High Council for Human Rights deemed play a right of every child.
Perhaps Sabbath is both about stopping and intentionally placing myself in a setting that grows my love for God and reCreating well (that is, eating, resting, playing, enjoying God, creation and one another).
But still, there seems to be more…
John 5 :: Jesus heals a man at Bethesda is has been an invalid for 38 years. He heals him on the Sabbath and again the super-religious go berserk. Once they find out it was Jesus who did the healing, they confronted Him on it and he says, “My father is always at work and so am I.” Is Jesus saying that the Sabbath is only a good idea and not necessary? Or is He saying that worship–which is what the Sabbath is all about–produces compassion and that it is impossible to disconnect compassion from worship-SO-don’t take a break from compassion on your Sabbath?
I’m 28 years old and just waking up to Sabbath. I’ve missed out on so much because I live in the deception that blessing comes from what I do. I don’t believe God for His promises, and thus, don’t take his decrees seriously. I wonder what would happen if I did.
I don’t know too many people who actually practice Sabbath. This is collective disobedience. Because I don’t know too many people who do and because it is a rhythm that God created, perhaps we need to pay attention to that and begin.
I’m going to start.
