Mark 2:23-3:6 Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Raise your hand if you are more of a
rule-follower. Now raise your hand if you are more of a free-spirit.
For the Jewish people the Sabbath was something that set them
apart from others. It made them different. “Sabbath”
means “7.” It was on the 7th day that God rested
after God finished creating the heavens and the earth. When the
Israelites were slaves in Egypt, they never had a day off. They
couldn’t be whole people, who God made them to be while they were
slaves. Why would God free them just to have them work 24/7 just
like before? God wanted to give them a greater freedom, so keeping
the Sabbath became the third commandment after worshipping no other gods and
not making wrongful use of God’s name. It was rest not only for
oneself, but also one’s children, one’s servants, and one’s
animals. There was even a command to let the land lie fallow in the
7th year to allow it to rest, and to forgive all debts every 49
years, which is 7 times 7. Rest is part of life.
To rest is also to trust. We easily make idols of our
hard work. We think if we work hard we can pull ourselves up by our
bootstraps and make enough money to live our dreams. But when we
rest, we limit our productivity on purpose and we leave room for God to do
something in our life. When we work, work, work, we act like that is
the answer to everything, we begin to worship our work, to look to our work for
all the answers, to make an idol of it. To refrain from work for
just one day out of 7 is a way to put our trust in God to make things happen
even when we don’t work. It reminds us that life is more than
productivity and money. It is a shift of focus ourselves to God.
Sabbath is for enjoying all that God has done. On the
7th day God rested, and looked at all that God had made and
reveled in it, enjoyed it. We get to do the same, to stop, to notice
God’s work, to enjoy God’s Creation.
Finally, Sabbath is a day of remembering. It is a day
of remembering who we are and who God is. It is a day of remembering
and appreciating all that God has done. It is a good day to remember
our proper place in the whole, that the work we do makes work for other people
and may deny them rest, that we don’t work in a vacuum, but that we are part of
something greater. Our lives require more than just our work, but
the work others do. Our cheap goods may require others to be in
slavery or in conditions that never allow them a day off or to be a whole
person. We remember who we are, who God is, and who our neighbor
is. The word remember has the prefix “re” which means again, of
course, and the second part is “member” which is the parts. So when
we remember, we come back together, we return to the way things should be, were
created and intended to be. Rest is essential to who we
are. Sabbath is good for us and the whole earth and all its
creatures.
After Jesus came, Jews and non-Jews came together in his name,
and they had to decide, will we keep our Jewish laws or not. So we
have this story from Mark. Jesus plucked grain on the
Sabbath. He did work. And he did it when the Pharisees
were looking. And he healed on the sabbath. This was not
an urgent situation. The man could live with a withered hand another
day. Why couldn’t Jesus respect the Sabbath and wait until
tomorrow? This reading seems to say the Sabbath is
optional. So we’ve basically thrown it out.
This is hard for me, because I like a good rule. I
need a good rule. And I am starved for rest. I’m not good
at rest, and I don’t know that many people who are good at it. When I sit
still and do nothing, when I go read in the backyard, when I sit and visit with
a friend, I feel lazy. There is so much to do. There are
dirty socks all over the floor, a sink full of dishes. When I sit quietly
and pray, I feel lazy. There are parishioners to visit, phone calls
to make, emails to respond to, people to contact, classes to prepare for.
But I don’t think Jesus is throwing out the
Sabbath. He is simply reminding the rule-followers that it isn’t
about the rule, but it is about the blessing that the rule is meant to
bring. Sabbath is for healing. Sabbath is for liberation,
freedom. Sabbath is to keep us truly human instead of slaves to our
work. Sabbath is for interrupting our productivity for reflection,
processing, and appreciation.
How many of you find that you have a good balance of work and
play and rest and prayer? How many of you have too much sabbath
rest? How many of you have too little? How many of you
feel like your habits have gotten better over the years?
We can so easily allow ourselves to get lost in the details of
Sabbath, that we wear ourselves out and defeat the purpose. Is it on
Saturday or on Sunday? Does it have to be a whole
day? Does it have to be the same day as others? What is
considered work? What if the cow needs to be
milked? That’s one of the things that Jesus was reacting
against. Don’t get all stressed out about it. The other
thing Jesus points out was the fact that King David breaks a rule and no one
bats an eye. But these lowly disciples break the rule and the
Pharisees freak out. Jesus is upset because the rules are enforced
differently depending on one’s social status. And he’s angry because
the rules which are meant to be a blessing are used to hurt the very people who
need the freedom they offer the most, like the hungry disciples, like the man
with the withered hand. Jesus is saying healing and freedom can’t
wait! This is urgent! He’s unwilling to wait to bring
wholeness. He’s not going to wait another day to give Sabbath
freedom to this man with a withered hand. Freedom and abundant life
is God’s intention for Creation now. Thy Kingdom come!
I invite to you to observe Sabbath. If you need it to
be a command, then go ahead and hear it that way. If you need
it to be a suggestion, then hear it that way. It could be a day or
an hour or whatever you need it to be. One person I know leaves town
for 48 hours every other month for prayer and renewal. One family I
know turns off all screens and devices from Good Friday until Easter
morning. Consider what for you is a
healthy balance of work, play, rest, prayer, and service. It may
take some experimentation. What are some signals your body sends you
when you need to do some self-care? I offer you some tools--some get
out of work free cards may be found in your bulletin, because unless we’re
intentional about it and try a new practice, we will keep on ignoring the
blessing God is trying to give us.
In the case of Sabbath, we can be both rule-followers and free
spirits, because this rule of rest is meant to free us from
slavery. I encourage you to find the healthy place for you between
throwing the Sabbath out and using it as a stick to beat yourself and others up
with. Let rest and Sabbath time free you to be a whole person in
relationship with God, other people, and God’s good creation.
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