Sabbath

On the 2nd Day He Rested

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised  Matthew 16:21 ESV

We all know what happened on that first day, that terrible and blessed day on the cross. On the third day it is very clear that Jesus rose from the dead. But in spite of many ideas and even elaborate tales no one truly knows just what occurred on Holy Saturday. So can we ask the question, “What if Jesus simply rested? What if when Jesus said, “It is finished!” and gave His spirit into his father’s hands He just rested without sorrow, suffering or demands of any kind for that day. What if after three and a half years of ministry in which it was said that he had nowhere to lay his head and scarcely time to eat; that Jesus chose to rest in His Father’s ability to do all that needed to be done for the day.

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What if Jesus rested because it was the Sabbath? What if like a field rests in Winter waiting for Spring rains He lay quietly just as on the day in which the creation of the heavens was completed? Perhaps Jesus just paused to see everything that was good in the new creation now begun. What if there are times in our own lives when there is nothing more holy to do than nothing? What if on this Holy Saturday we could quietly reflect and rest in the completed work of Jesus Christ. What would our lives be like if for even one day we simply trusted God to do all?

Enjoying the Sabbath

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In Mark’s Gospel Jesus pointed out that the opposition he was facing over what He was doing on the Sabbath was from a basic misunderstanding of the command to rest on the seventh day. The Pharisees were acting as if the 4th commandment began when Moses received it on the mountain. But in reality the concept of Sabbath was woven into the very fabric of God’s creation. Genesis tells us that on the seventh day God rested (P.S. he wasn’t tired!). 

Here was God at the end of His creation process, creating one more thing as a gift for man. He created a day to rest together with Adam and Eve. Maybe Adam and Eve just walked through the garden in delighted wonderment saying things like, “Wow that waterfall is amazing God!” or “That giraffe has the longest neck I’ve ever seen!”. God wasn’t interested in their doing something to impress Him. He simply wanted to share that day with them. Later on maybe they sat down by a brook and kicked their feet in the cool water, then lay down on the soft grassy bank and took a nap and there was God right beside them, resting and blessing that first Sabbath day.

When was the last time any of us really took time to receive the gift of Sabbath that God made for us? Does that mean we should just sit around the house afraid to go out? Not at all! In fact Jesus constantly got into trouble by going around helping people on the Sabbath. It was His way of sharing His day with God. Why do we allow the worries of life or the expectations of other people rob from us that joy? We are each unique and in our own way why not celebrate a Sabbath as God intended and simply delight in sharing one day entirely with Him? 

The Active Sabbath

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The blessings of keeping Sabbath are not about inactivity but about being focused on and committed to the special work that God has for us today.

Most Christians believe that because we live in the era of grace, not law the idea of keeping Sabbath is an unnecessary custom. This coupled with the relentless demands of our 24/7 – 21st century world has caused the subject of a Holy day of rest to fall into our collective sea of forgetfulness. But Jesus said quite clearly on multiple occasions that He had come not to abolish the law rather to fulfill it. For example He taught us that refraining from murdering our neighbors was not enough, He said we must deal with the hatred in our hearts. Jesus was in no way implying that in the New Covenant we are now free to murder irritating neighbors! In the same way God has not changed His mind about remembering the Sabbath to keep it holy. When we disregard the Sabbath we are placing a part of our will outside of His. God rests and He waits for us to take notice. When we rush down our paths so immersed in our own busyness we are missing out on our need for quietness. It is in the quietness of Sabbath that we will hear His still small voice. If we pause long enough for the dust to clear we will see Him on the road ahead beckoning us to follow. That is when we may make the shocking discovery of a Holy activity far beyond anything we could come up with on our own. As we enter into our Father’s activities we will find there a yoke of wonderful rest that He has prepared for us to share with Him!