"Sabbath" - Exodus 20: 8 - 11; Matthew 12: 1 - 14
A Sermon by Alex Evans, Pastor
Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA
Sunday, August 9, 2020
Texts: Exodus 20:8-11; Matthew 12:1-14
Sabbath
The adversaries of Jesus – the Pharisees – thought they had gotten control of their daily schedule. If they knew what day it was, they also knew what they could and could not do.
Getting control of your schedule is no small matter, especially for us – modern people who live in a demanding rat-race economy. We have learned along the way that we are supposed to make the most of the time – we are supposed to achieve, accomplish, succeed, get things done. And we have all kinds of devices and activities and ways to work that keep us engaged 24/7.
One of the biggest challenges in these days – about returning to normal – opening the economy – getting back to in-person school and life – is really all about returning to the rat-race – accomplishing, achieving, producing, succeeding. The insatiable demands of the economy and life dictate so much about us.
Yet, as faithful people, we are instructed to resist life’s insatiable pressures. We are called to live balanced lives, anchored in God and focused on serving God.
Actually, the Pharisees had NOT gotten control of their schedule; their schedule had gotten control of them. They were focused on the rules, not the Rule-Giver. And we all have to watch out for this – letting the schedule dictate life.
Hear these words from Exodus 20:
8Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
And listen to this story from Matthew 12:
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.” 3He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests. 5Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless? 6I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”
9He left that place and entered their synagogue; 10a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath?” so that they might accuse him. 11He said to them, “Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.” 13Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Do you have control over your schedule, or does it have control over you? Or, put another way – do you pay more attention to your calendar, . . . . or to the unfolding of your one precious life?
We have been living these past five months under interesting and challenging circumstances. So very much about our prior life has been disrupted. So much that was familiar has been displaced.
This seems like an important moment to think about our schedules, . . . and about time, . . . and about the meaning and purpose of Sabbath. As we think about Sabbath – and keeping Sabbath - perhaps we can better anchor our lives in God, and discover – not just frazzled and weary lives – but encouragement in the journey of trusting God and serving God.
The 4th Commandment – from Exodus 20 – reminds us that for Christians and Jews life is lived according to a certain seven-day pattern: six days of work, followed by one day of rest. This is what God did; this is what we are to do. Having created everything in 6 days, God paused, rejoiced in creation, rested, and blesses the day. So - “remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”
A little later in Exodus, chapter 31, we learn what happened to the Creator on the 7th day, when God rested. Our translations say God rested and was “refreshed.” But the Hebrew word translated “refreshed” is the verbal form of the word for “self” (nephesh), that is, God was re-selfed after the depleting work of creation. Working and working depletes God. Likewise, the human self is depleted or talked out, spent or worn out of the self, after six rigorous days of rat-race in trying to achieve, accomplish, succeed, get things done. Hence, “remember: the Sabbath” – this is a day for recovery, celebration, re-ordering, renewing, re-centering, replenishing the human self. Sabbath becomes essential for the well-being of our lives. (See W. Brueggemann, Materiality as Resistance, p. 54)
However, we have trouble – all of us – honoring the Sabbath. We are so easily and quickly lured into the rat-race economy. We are often seduced by endless busyness; we are captured by 24/7 electronic connection, and by so many interests and pre-occupations that numb the heart and steal the soul. We have trouble finding ways to be re-selfed, refreshed; and too often our lives feel depleted, drained, overly burdened and beat down.
The point of Sabbath – it is God’s gift to help us find life and life in abundance. It is God’s plan, exemplified by God, that the rigors of life – accomplishing, achieving, acquiring, succeeding - can be debilitating, exhausting. So, the rhythm of life should include regular, built-in times for refreshment, renewal, and regeneration – for our souls, for our faith, for our bodies, for our whole selves.
For Christians, our Sabbath-keeping, Sabbath-practicing best happens on Sunday. We link our lives with the Jews and affirm our relationship to the Creator, who rested on the 7th day. We also celebrate the joyful memory of liberation from slavery from Egypt. Then we add to these celebrations the weekly festival for the source of our greatest joy: Christ’s resurrection and his victory over the powers of evil and death. So, if we can, we try to focus our Sabbath keeping on Sunday – a day for sincere renewal, refreshment, and rejoicing in God, who sustains us all.
In these days, when time is so different, when life is unfolding differently, and the rhythms have been disrupted, how are we to think faithfully, helpfully about the Sabbath? We all, very much, need Sabbath to be part of our lives.
We can first take our instructions from the Scriptures. The commandment says, “honor the Sabbath.” God did. We should. Here is one of the ten expectations for faithful living. Sabbath keeping is remembering that our lives cannot be defined by the production and consumption demands of the world. We live by a different rhythm, God’s rhythm. In Egypt, as slaves, work – without a break – shaped all of life. Life was about producing bricks, working every day for Pharaoh! There was no rest or relief from the incessant production requirements. But God’s people live, not according to Pharaoh, but with and according to God. In the ancient world, Sabbath broke the spell of production. In our world, Sabbath invites us to live in the new rule of God that contradicts the fatiguing world of racing and going, buying and doing. We seek – and we have to work at it – to re-situate our lives in God’s realm, God’s time, God’s purposes. Sabbath reminds us that God rests. We must rest – lest we become just like slaves in Egypt.
We can also take our cues from Jesus and his controversial encounter with the Pharisees. Jesus argues with the Pharisees about Sabbath, but Jesus does not say Sabbath rules are bad or that his friends can do anything they want on the Sabbath. Rather, he asserts that his purposes trump the Sabbath rules. His purposes are about healing and wholeness, nourishment and strength for the journey – the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. God cares about mercy and justice more than strict rules for a certain day. God cares about us finding nourishment, and healing, and the restoration of community, more than restrictions. The focus is not on the rule – but on life and life in abundance provided by God. In God’s reign, in God’s time, all time, including Sabbath time, are for the sake of restoration, well-being, wholeness. That means that Sabbath, in our lives, should be focused on the same – what brings restoration to our lives? What brings well-being? What brings wholeness? We should give attention only to those endeavors on the Sabbath.
So, let’s get a bit more specific. Sabbath is the intentional setting aside of time – ideally one day a week, but other times when we can – to be refreshed, replenished, renewed from the rigors of life and work. This is God’s plan for us.
What should we really try to avoid on Sabbath – when we really seek to be refreshed, re-selfed? This is a day that wants and needs to be different from the other days. What should we NOT be doing?
As a basic guideline, I think we get closer to faithfulness in Sabbath keeping when we strive, as best we can, for no work, no commerce, and no worry.
To refrain from work on one day opens up for us a certain humility that affirms God’s sufficient and generous ways more than our ways. The world can get along without our working one day. It may be hard for some of us. But, to let go of work opens up space . . . for glad and generous relationships in other areas of life – with nature, with loved ones and friends, with God, which can all be restorative, regenerative for us.
To let go of commerce would also be helpful. Buying and spending are all too often related to work. Commerce also creates conditions for more work. Why not take a break for shopping? Wouldn’t that be refreshing and life-giving? Give it a try – some important discipline about Sabbath keeping might well lead us to wholesome life with God and with others.
And worry? It may be difficult to banish all our concerns from our hearts and minds, but we can strive to refrain from activities that summon worries – like paying bills, making lists, checking emails. Remember, the goal, God’s good gift, is to restore, be re-selfed, to find wholeness and health for faithful living. We seek to avoid work, commerce, and worry on Sabbath.
And what should we DO on Sabbath? Most importantly, we worship God. We join our hearts and lives with others in singing, praying, affirming our faith, and in hearing afresh about the promises and presence of God at work in our lives and the world. Many of us have discovered in these pandemic days just how important corporate worship really is to our lives. We miss one another. We miss being in this sacred space together. Worship can really shape our week. We link our lives in communion – around the table – and in service to God in the city and the world, finding purpose and growing in selflessness. Worship is meant to be a festival – a celebration of goodness over evil, hope over all the despair that haunts our lives. Worship intends to motivate us for faithful living. Worship allows us to participate in the drama of God that is promising to shape the world finally and fully toward God’s coming justice and light. Worship reminds us who we are and whose we are – God’s people – loved and held and called to serve in the world.
Then after worship, what else might be good on the Sabbath for faithful people? What most of us need is time with others – genuine time of building connections, increasing love, enjoying life – maybe music, art, recreation, and nature. Maybe some of us need a nap – or time of solitude – and that brings the needed refreshment. Walking, playing music, doing something that nurtures faith, connects you to God and God’s loving ways. Remember, the day is about finding nourishment for our souls, refreshment for our lives, strength for the rest of the week. Whatever we do, or do not do – should lead to finding wholeness. Fixing a fine meal, eating, playing, taking delight in nature and one another are all wonderful ways for faithful people to keep Sabbath. It is not about legalism – it is about refreshment and renewal. We all need it so much.
Listen to this quote from our friend Will Willimon: The needs of the world are too great, the suffering and pain too extensive, the lures of the world too seductive for us to begin to change the world unless we are changed, unless conversion of life and morals becomes our pattern. The status quo is too alluring. It is the air we breathe, the food we eat, the six-thirty news, our institutions, theologies, and politics. The only way we shall break its hold on us is to be transferred to another dominion, to be cut loose from our old certainties . . . (See Daily Dig, Plough, 8/4/20)
And one helpful way to get there is to practice Sabbath keeping – for renewal, for transformation, to be re-selfed for faithful life as disciples.
Let’s keep working at Sabbath keeping. To God be the glory. Amen
Prayer of Commitment: O Lord, to turn from you is to fall; to turn to you is to rise; to open our hearts, to dwell in your Spirit, to strive for faith and Sabbath-keeping, well, that is to abide forever. We seek that way. AMEN
Alex W. Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during Sunday morning worship – via video – on Sunday, August 9, 2020. This is a rough manuscript.