Get To Work On The Day Of Rest

The Old Testament is pretty clear about taking a day of rest.  Not only does the word Sabbath mean rest, it was also given as the name of the seventh day.  Furthermore, the ten commandments are very direct when it comes to what should not be done on the Sabbath, “…but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God.  In it you shall do NO WORK” (emphasis mine; Exod 20:10).  The Jews understood this as a literal prohibition against work and went the extra mile to itemize work into 39 different categories of what is unlawful to do on that most holy day.  This same prohibition of work is still recognized today and many people still argue about what can and can’t be done on the Sabbath.  This brings up another issue concerning our day of rest.  Is the Sabbath Saturday or Sunday?  There are denominations built around a concern for keeping the Sabbath on Saturday and others that formally declare the Sabbath to be on Sunday.  Whenever it is, we all agree that God gave a day of rest.

Well, we all agree about the day of rest with one important exception, Jesus.  As I have been reading larger portions of the New Testament every day for my Bible reading this year, I have had the opportunity to read about many of Jesus’ miracles every day.  Whether I was reading in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, I noticed that the most common theme of Jesus’ miracles in the gospels is not so much on the spectacularity of what Jesus did, but on when Jesus did them.  And when did Jesus “work” most of His miracles?  On the Sabbath. 

Let’s read the ten commandments again.  Commandment number 4 says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy…” (Exod 19:8), “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy…” (Deut 5:12).   A very important part of this commandment is the word “holy.”  How did Jesus apply His holiness to the Sabbath day?  He changed the discussion from what can and can’t be done to a discussion on the holy things that Jesus, the holy one from God, was doing.  When we come around to celebrate our Sabbath day, what is most important to us? 

Let’s change our discussion away from arguing about what we can and can’t do on the Sabbath day.  Let’s expand our discussion beyond our traditional naps or after-church visits to the diner.  Let’s celebrate our Sabbath day by having a discussion during church and following church about the holy things that Jesus, the holy one from God, did for us.  This will probably mean that we, like Jesus, will have to break our comfortable Sabbath traditions and go out and apply the holiness of Jesus in our community.  If that is what we must do, let’s be more like Jesus and get to work on our day of rest!

“For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”  John 5:16-17