Friday is my day off. Sometimes I get Thursday off too, but Friday is the day that I do not work (as long as I am keeping my Sabbath holy). I was thinking last night about the concept of the Sabbath and how there are more than one approach to interpreting it.
Some people are very legalistic about keeping the Sabbath and not doing any work. I wouldn’t call them Pharisees, but it’s a lot like the way the way they viewed the Sabbath when Jesus challenged them.
Others make sure they are not working at work, but they attack their to do list at home with much fervor. They may not be working for a paycheck, but they are using every last ounce of energy to mow the lawn, do the laundry, clean the house, wash the car, stain the deck, seal the driveway, and clean the gutters. They might not be at the office, but are they keeping the Sabbath holy?
So what is the Sabbath for? Are we supposed to lay on the couch all day and catch up on our sleep, eating nothing but yesterday’s leftovers? As much as I would enjoy that, I don’t think that’s the purpose. Are we supposed to use the Sabbath to do all the work around the house that we didn’t have time for during the week?
I want to suggest that we follow the example from The Lord of The Sabbath. Jesus did not follow the rules as the Pharisees understood them, but I don’t think He really worked to the point of not resting or keeping the Sabbath holy either.
Most rules are made because of a specific incident that resulted in an undesirable outcome. If you trace the Sabbath rules to their root, you’ll find that it started with God resting from the work that He had done over the prior six days:
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
Genesis 2:1-3 ESV
From there, the rule for the Sabbath that came directly from God as a part of the Ten Commandments states that we should work for six days and devote everything about the seventh day to The LORD:
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Exodus 20:8-11 ESV
When you look at the Sabbath scandal with Jesus, the pharisees got bent out of shape because the disciples picked some food to eat and Jesus ministered to a person in need. As The Lord of The Sabbath, Jesus has the right to rewrite the rules, but He didn’t. Jesus redirected the meaning of Sabbath back to its original intent. Jesus pointed out that the obsession the pharisees had with the small detailed rules had caused them to miss the meaning behind the rules.
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.
Matthew 12:1-13 ESV
There’s more to the Sabbath than rest. God reviewed His good work and recognized that the work He had done was good. He commands us to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Not working on the Sabbath is not just about taking a break from your work, but also about getting all of your work done before the Sabbath. “The seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD…” It’s not just a day of rest, but a day to minister to others in the Name of Jesus.
It can be easy to extend my work into my Sabbath as a person whose career is built around ministering to others, but to do so would be neglecting the Sabbath rather than keeping it holy. But that doesn’t mean that I just sat on my butt all day or did a bunch of work around the house. Instead, I volunteered with my kids’ school, serving the students lunch. There are plenty of opportunities out there to serve and minister to others. There is also a need to find rest on your Sabbath. I think you can do both though. What are you doing with your Sabbath?