In Luke 10, Jesus is invited to dine with two sisters: Martha and Mary. In the passage, we see that they have very different responses. One sits with Jesus and hears his teaching. The other busies herself trying to serve Jesus and gets stressed out from her work. Many of us can be guilty of this but it’s the first sister who has focused on the one necessary thing. It’s good to serve and use the gifts that God has given to build up his church, but that is never meant to come at the cost of our relationship with Jesus.
Tag: sabbath
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The rest Jesus gives – Genesis 2:1-3
From creation, we see that God had established a pattern for rest. Of the seven creation days, only the Sabbath is blessed by God. What the Lord has been given to us as a blessing is so often a challenge in a restless world. In today’s study, we also see the rest which Jesus provides.
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Jesus and sabbath controversies
Honoring the Sabbath and keeping it Holy is in the Ten Commandments. Specifically, it’s the fourth commandment found in Exodus 20. When the command is given in Exodus, the basis for this command goes back to creation.
Exodus 20:11:
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.
The Sabbath is important.
Throughout much of Israel’s history, they had not taken the Sabbath as seriously as they should have.
In the prophets, their failure to keep the Sabbath is pointed to as a symptom of their sin and lack of devotion to God.
In Ezekiel 20:10-26, Israel’s profaning of the Sabbath is looked at as a direct cause of their downfall.
In Amos 8:5, the Israelites are judged for their half-hearted Sabbath observance and their regular desire to have the Sabbath conclude so that they can resume pursuing their own ends and their own goals.
We see a similar idea at the beginning of the Book of Isaiah. The Israelites are half-hearted in their pursuit of God. And their Sabbath observance is mentioned in Isaiah 1:13:
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Half-heartedly going through the motions is looked upon by God as vain.
He wants true, genuine worship.
As we’ve talked about on numerous occasions, in the Old Testament, Israel is eventually judged by God and they lose their land.
When the southern kingdom was able to return to their land, they attempted to learn from their past sins in the final centuries before Christ.
Here’s something you might not have known.
In the gospels, you have Jesus constantly interacting with the Pharisees. But where are they in the Old Testament? They’re not there.
Or think about rabbis. Where does the Old Testament ever talk about someone going to their rabbi?
It doesn’t.
It was after the Israelites had lost the land and returned from exile that these institutions arose.
And part of the goal was a return to the law.
They wanted to learn from history and learn from their past sins as a people, and so one of the cultural responses was a hyper-sensitivity to the Law of the Old Testament.
The Law was good. Romans 7:12 tells us that the Law is holy. 1 Timothy 1:8 tells us that the Law is good if used properly.
But in an effort to make sure that they followed the Law, they added rules that were not Biblical onto the Biblical Law as a way of trying to ensure adherence.
By the first century, Jewish tradition had listed 39 different activities which were prohibited on the Sabbath.
In some schools of thought, adherence to the Sabbath was more important than life and death.
And so for this man who has just been healed, for him to move his bed is looked upon as a violation of the Sabbath because that’s viewed as technically being work.
They’re missing sight of what Jesus has just done for this man.
The religious establishment tells this man that it is not lawful for him to pick up his bed and carry it on the Sabbath.
But according to who’s law? It’s according to their interpretation not to a specific command of scripture.
The Sabbath command in the Old Testament relates to work. This man isn’t doing work. He’s simply picking up his belongings after being healed. He’s not committing a sin here.
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Thoughts on keeping the Sabbath
The initial Old Testament commands about the Sabbath revolve around the idea of rest. In the gospels, Jesus gets into numerous Sabbath controversies for his activities. In his day, the Rabbinic teachings on how to keep the Sabbath had gotten very restrictive as to what could and could not be done on the day of rest.
How strictly should Christians adhere to the rules when on Sundays? Should we go out to a restaurant? Or watch sports? Or play sports? Or watch TV? Or should it be a day entirely revolving around religious observance?
It’s interesting that the initial Sabbath commands in the Old Testament don’t actually mention worship. They revolve around rest.
With that in mind, I am of the opinion that what’s restful varies from one person to another. In Jesus’ day, people had gone too far in treating a myriad of basic activities as “work.” This could come to absurd results. For instance, in John 5, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath and is questioned for violating the command! The letter of the law had overlooked the spirit of the law.
In another Sabbath controversy, Jesus would say in Mark 2:27-28, ““The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
I think getting too restrictive on Sabbath practices and what people can or can’t do on that day overlooks the heart of Sabbath.
I think what “counts” as rest depends on the person.
What’s recharging to you (so long as it’s not sinful)?
For some people, spending the afternoon tending to the garden might be really enjoyable, relaxing, and refreshing. For me, that would be torture. But for the person who enjoys it, I think that’s a worthwhile way to rest.
Someone might stay away fro TV on that day. That’s fine. But I enjoy TV. I like to watch a game or a movie to relax.
When I was single and had first moved to Minnesota, I used to take a lot of my off days and take a day trip to a different part of the state and take nature photographs. They were long days. I’d be gone for hours. But I enjoy photography, I love driving, I love nature, I loved seeing new places, and I got to enjoy listening to podcasts, or audiobooks, or talking on the phone with friends and family. To me, that was a great way to recharge. But it wouldn’t be for everyone.
The Sabbath is ultimately a gift from God to his people. It’s meant to be enjoyed. It’s unfortunate that it’s become twisted and is treated almost like a punishment. It’s a time to rest, to worship, and to unwind. It’s a day that’s meant to be different from the rest of the week.
This is a paraphrase, but I’ve appreciated comments that I’ve heard Jefferson Bethke make on Sabbath. He compares it to Christmas. No one forces you to celebrate Christmas! No one complains, “Ugh, Christmas again.” It’s a special day. It’s a day unlike every other day of the year. A Sabbath should be like a min-Christmas every week.
One principle I would recommend. Don’t use the Sabbath as chore day. That’s such an easy thing to fall into in our busy society. Many people work so hard and get so busy that days off become days to get caught up. I’m not militant about it. But I think that when we do that, we’re missing out on the opportunity to enjoy rest.
And I say this as someone who works hard. Someone who likes to work. I’m someone who struggles to rest! But I know it’s also important to do.
Jefferson Behtke: https://www.lessen.blog/blog/how-to-practice-sabbath-from-a-beginner
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