Last week, I wrote about how, in keeping my Sabbath, God was faithful to allow me time to catch up on work. I had some good responses to that piece, which prompt me to offer some clarification about Sabbath.
When I was a young Christian, the way Sabbath was explained and demonstrated to me was couched in terms of “don’t”. You know, “Don’t go shopping.” “Don’t do school work.” “Don’t go out to eat.” Some of you are familiar with that concept.
I’ve told the story of my first internship, back in the 1980s, where the pastoral family with whom I was living kept Sabbath on Sunday, and had fastidious rules about what could and could not be done after church on Sunday. One Sunday afternoon, I was bored out of my skull and was not interested in reading more theology (which is all I had with me that summer). I walked to the convenience store – the only place open in town that day – and bought a copy of the Globe and Mail that had been printed the previous Friday night. It was the most current news I could acquire.
I walked back to the manse, sat down on the lime-green-shag-carpeted living room floor, and opened up the huge broadsheet. The pastor came down from his afternoon nap, looked at me and said, “I see you’ve been shopping.”
I got his point and never did that again!
That experience instilled in me an understanding of Sabbath that was about “don’t”; it was about law. It was about obligation.
In more recent years, I’ve come to understand Sabbath not as something filled with rules and regulations, but delight.
My attitude has gone from “I have to” to “I get to”.
In the Old Testament, Sabbath was a law: it was an act required of every faithful Jewish person. And over time, Jewish leaders came up with all kinds of minute details that constituted what faithful Jews could and could not do on the Sabbath. It forces them to do a lot of preparation on the day before, so that they don’t walk too far, or turn on their ovens, or hit light switches on the Sabbath.
And yet, when I have experienced Friday nights and Saturdays in Israel, there is a real party atmosphere. I know that seems strange, but these folks delight in the law of the Lord, despite all the restrictions placed on them!
For Christians, the minute details of Sabbath-keeping have been transformed by Jesus. He healed someone on the Sabbath, which made the Pharisees angry. But it changed the understanding that his followers had of Sabbath: there was room for doing good.
I could go on at length, but you’re only going to read so much, so let me simply say this: for followers of Jesus, Sabbath is a gift, not a law. We get to have a day of rest. And what you do on that day of rest should involve things that rejuvenate you, things that prepare you emotionally and physically for the six days that follow.
If that’s exercise, and you enjoy it, then go for as long a walk as you like.
If that’s enjoying a meal with friends, make the call.
If that’s curling up with a good book, put on the tea.
How you invest your time on your Sabbath day will influence the week that is to come, so if you want to have a productive week, let your Sabbath be a day that prepares you for that – not by doing catchup work (God is faithful!), but by reveling in his love and celebrating the gift that this day of rest is for you.
For most of you, that day will be Sunday, when you can also worship in community with God’s people. For me, it can’t be Sunday, because I’m too busy with the festivities of worship and fellowship and video editing and other activities; it’s a work day for me. So I take Monday, and seek to set it aside as a day to do what gives me joy and energy. Happily, my wife can take that day with me.
Sabbath is a gift, not a law. We get to have a day of rest. Have you received that gift?
“The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath” (Mark 2.27-28, NLT).
Passionately His 