Sabbath

The Ringing of the Bell

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And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath..” Mark 2:27 ESV

This story about Jesus and the disciples walking through the fields is recorded in three of the four gospels and though you may have never heard a message preached from these verses, Matthew, Mark and Luke each considered it among the highlights of Jesus’ teaching. Our ignorance of the treasure that God intended Sabbath to be is one of the great losses of the church today. God’s Sabbath came not only before the law, but also before sin. Sabbath was built into the matrix of our world.  God’s Sabbath was His denouement: – the final act of HIs play, by which the strands of His plot were drawn together, and everything was resolved. Without understanding Sabbath, we cannot fully understand God’s story. When the Pharisees criticized the disciples’ behavior on the seventh day, Jesus made it clear that the purpose of the Sabbath was for it to be a day of blessing for man. God had not created man so the Sabbath could be observed, but He had created Sabbath as a day for man.

We once visited a village in Switzerland and on my Sunday morning walk, I passed by found a beautiful stone church.  As I paused to rest, a man drove up, unlocked the door and went in to ring the bells. How lovely they sounded as they pealed over the valley. After he had finished his duties, he locked the doors and drove away. Is that what we have become? Do we just go about our day, ring the bells but no one comes? Do we remember vaguely that it is God’s Day, but barely pause long enough to catch our breath? Till the end of time Sabbath will remain a blessing and is built into who we are as men and women. Sabbath rest, worship and prayer are the breath, life and foundation from which we go out to do everything else, and when we keep God’s Sabbath, we keep its blessing for us, our families and everyone who hears the ringing of the bell!

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The Sabbath is For Healing

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On this Easter week you might be wondering why I am choosing to share a series on the Sabbath. That is a question I have asked myself as well, but then, what better week than this to consider rest. This week of all the year is like a spiritual Sabbath when we turn from the activities of the world and focus on Jesus and all He has done. Today let’s take a look at the Sabbath as a special day of healing.

And a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” Matthew 12:10

In our search to understand the Sabbath let’s begin by seeing how Jesus acted on the day of rest. One thing we find over and over in the gospels is that He seemed to take special delight in choosing the Sabbath day for healing the sick, which upset the Pharisees. In answer to their accusation that He was breaking the law, Jesus explained,

“It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” Matthew 12:12. 

 In other words, our day of rest is not simply a ceasing of all activity. Jesus was no less active on the Sabbath than on any other day. The Sabbath rest can be a day of miraculous restoration. At the finish of creation, God’s assessment of His work was,

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good…” Genesis 1:31 

But today when we look out around the world, even the rosiest of the rosiest views is that not all is good any longer. In fact, there is incredible pain, suffering, sin and loss. Jesus came into our dark world to give us the breath of life again. He came to the weary and heavy laden to give a new Sabbath rest for our souls. The Sabbath is there at all times and in all places as God’s special day of healing, hope and restoration. It is a day set aside not simply to get rest while we watch TV, but to switch our focus to a service that gives life and rest to others. Jesus accomplished more as He rested by the well and slept in the boat than the disciples did while buying food or pulling hard at the oars. God has given us the Sabbath day of rest as a gift, and He waits to see how we will choose to use His gift in the lives of those around us. Day one the question was, “Have you received God’s gift of the Sabbath? Day two let’s ask, “To whom have we given it away?”

A Sabbath Day’s Journey

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Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey. Acts 1:12 KJV

I love the tradition of keeping a Sabbath, and having worked in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, I learned from my friends that one way they keep it is by living close enough so that on the Sabbath, they could walk to synagogue. Seeing them marching with their children down to temple seemed as timely and beautiful as lilacs in bloom or robins returning in the Spring. Their community was bound together by the time-honored tradition of “A Sabbath Day’s Journey.” While the exact length of the journey is in dispute, most believe this to have been the prescribed distance between the people and the tabernacle in the wilderness. It also comes from the Old Testament book of Exodus, where God tells His people, that they could gather the manna only on the first six days of the week, but on the Sabbath,” Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”

But what about today? What does a “Sabbath Day’s Journey” mean for us? Here are three thoughts about that journey. First, a Sabbath journey is for going to worship God. This journey is something God calls us to every week as we gather with other believers. He knows how easy it is for our heart to wander and corporate worship helps puts our focus back on Jesus. Don’t allow guilt or worry about what others think or say to keep you from going to God’s house. Meeting together is our Sabbath day’s journey to Him. Second, the Sabbath Day’s Journey gives us an opportunity to help a neighbor. Jesus pointed out that even the Pharisees stopped to pull an animal out of a pit or bring them water on the Sabbath. All week we run as fast as we can and work as much as we can to meet our own needs. A Sabbath day journey is an opportunity that God gives us to meet the needs of others. If someone is sick, why not visit or at least try making a phone call? Is there someone you know who is lonely? Why not invite them over for a meal? God doesn’t get into specifics about how we love our neighbors. He just tells us to do it and then leaves the details up to us.

Last, a Sabbath day’s journey is the one that Jesus made regularly to heal. I used to think that He did this just to irritate the Pharisees, but then I realized that He chose the holiest day of the week because people matter more to Him than anything else. A Sabbath day’s journey was the journey Jesus made from Heaven to earth for you and me. He was resting nicely in Heaven. He didn’t need to leave His home, but He did. He chose His Sabbath day’s journey to come, and His journey ended when He said, “It is finished!” So, on this next Sabbath day let’s take a journey to meet for worship, let’s find someone we can serve and most of all let’s be thankful that Jesus took a Sabbath day’s journey from Heaven just to come and walk with us!

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