Mark 2:23-3:6
Once a week…all of us…including the preacher…must decide what we are going to do on the first day of the week.
- “What are we going to do this Sunday?”
- That’s the question that looms for all of us as the week nears its end.
- Will we go to church…or will we find something else to do?
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The one thing Sunday offers in our society is a lot of choices.
- The weekends have become the ideal time for travel away from home.
- Sundays make a great day for a mini-holiday or a family reunion.
- Sunday is the perfect day to take a drive to the beach or a museum or the pier or take in a concert or a theme park.
- Most of the major sporting events occur on Sunday.
- Amateur golf on Sunday afternoon has become a religion.
- Boating and fishing are excellent choices for Sunday.
- And then there is always shopping!
- And restaurants and movie theatres.
- So…what will you do on Sunday?
Mark describes two dramatic actions in the ministry of Jesus that both occurred on the Sabbath.
- And both confront the question: “What is it lawful to do on the Sabbath?”
- In the first…Jesus and his disciples were walking through a grain field…and the disciples began to pick the heads of the grain.
- The Pharisees saw it and were offended.
- Is it lawful to do that on the Sabbath?
- No…they said…and charged Jesus’ disciples with breaking the Sabbath.
In the second…there was a sick man present in the congregation…
- And the Pharisees watched to see if Jesus would heal this man in violation of the Sabbath.
- So…Jesus gave voice to the “elephant in the room”:
- “Is it lawful to do this on the Sabbath?”
- As far as the Pharisees were concerned…there was nothing wrong with the actions in either of these episodes.
- The problem was that they were done on the Sabbath.
- Jesus defended his actions by citing the actions of David in the Old Testament.
- Then he said to them: “The Sabbath was made for humankind…and not humankind for the Sabbath.”
Well…Christians no longer observe the Sabbath.
- The Sabbath is the last day of the week which is Saturday.
- Christians observe the first day of the week which is Sunday.
- But we attach the same significance to Sunday that the Hebrew people attached to Saturday.
One of the most amazing transformations of being a follower of the new way (to be Jewish) was this change from observing the Sabbath day to observing Sunday.
- Since Jesus resurrection occurred on the first day of the week…
- The early Christians thought it only appropriate that they worship the Lord on his Resurrection Day.
- In that way…every Sunday is an Easter Sunday.
- Until Christ had come…we worked toward our Sabbath.
- Since Christ…we work from his Sabbath.
- In the old way… the Sabbath depended upon our work.
- In the new way…our work grows out of the Sabbath.
How then…should we observe the Christian Sabbath?
- When we move toward a strict observance for our Sunday activities…
- We are becoming more like the Pharisees with their legalistic rituals regarding the Sabbath.
- I much prefer that we come down on the side of grace rather than legalism.
So…what is the real meaning of the Sabbath principle?
- The Sabbath is not one day given to God while we are permitted to keep the six for ourselves.
- It is rather a sign and symbol of the deepest things in life.
- The Sabbath principle reminds us that there must be a time in our week when we stop and take note of God.
- We are being remiss when we let our lives become so rushed and burdened.
- So full of busy-ness…that we fail take care of two vital human needs…rest and worship.
As the early believers knew…the day of the week is not the important point.
- You can rest and worship on Saturday.
- Or you can rest and worship on Sunday.
- Some people must work on Sundays…and their days off may be Tuesday or Saturday.
- They can still accomplish the Sabbath purpose whatever day of the week it is.
- The Sabbath reminds us to take time to rest and to take time to worship.
- For me…the Sabbath is the day in which I hand my life back to God to remember that it is not my own.
- The acknowledgment that we belong to a generous God changes how we live the other six days of our lives.
In her book Einstein and the Rabbi: Searching for the Soul…Rabbi Naomi Levy tells the story of Henry…a member of her congregation.
- Henry’s internet startup was booming…he was making more money than he’d ever dreamed of.
- At 36…he was happily married with an adorable…energetic son.
- But Henry was feeling empty.
- Something was missing in his life.
- He sensed that he had “forgotten something” but didn’t know what.
- Yes…he admitted to the rabbi…he was constantly “plugged into” the office.
- Even though he was “there” …he was never completely engaged with his family.
So…the rabbi suggested that Henry and his family observe a real Sabbath day:
- Henry turning off his “work mind” for a day and the whole family unplugging from technology.
- And…instead…lighting Sabbath candles on Friday nights as a way to welcome sacred time and enjoying a festive meal at home together.
After a few weeks…Henry returned to see Rabbi Naomi.
- So how are the Sabbaths going? Naomi asked.
- “The first Friday night I just kept reaching for my phone…so I finally turned it off.
- But…Rabbi…it felt like an amputated limb.
- I kept listening for it and looking for it.”
But now…?
- “I feel like a father for the first time.
- I think I was just faking it before.
- I love playing with Jake and reading books and looking into his eyes.
- No more tech in bed…that’s our new thing.
- I go to bed holding my wife in my arms.
“The weird part” Henry said “is that taking Friday night as a Sabbath is actually affecting all the days of the week.
- The nagging feeling is gone…I feel rich.”
- “You are rich” Rabbi Naomi said.
Naomi Levy describes the Sabbath as “the soul of the week”:
- “Some think of the Sabbath as a day of prohibitions…you can’t do this…and you can’t do that.
- But the Sabbath is actually a day of permission:
- A day when we give our souls permission to dream again.