Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Did you know that most Jews enjoyed observing the Sabbath? You might have thought at first that, with all the restrictions and all the things that one could not do on the Sabbath, that this weekly observance would be resented by those who were forced by their religious traditions to stop everything they had going on in the week and do nothing, or at least it would be next to nothing. But the Sabbath, also known as Shabbat, is actually embraced and treasured by the devout Jew. I read a little bit from an interesting book that Senator Joe Lieberman recently published in which he describes in detail his family’s Shabbat rituals and encourages people of all faiths to adopt a kind of rest from everyday work. He admits that there were some Friday evenings when he had to walk four miles home in downpouring rain when he had to stay at the Capitol after sundown and his orthodox Jewish Sabbath tradition forbade him even to ride in a car during those sacred hours. He stunned a reporter who caught him buying flowers every week for the Sabbath dinner table, and she assumed he was the most romantic congressman in Washington. One of our own members grew up in a Jewish home and she recalls very fond memories observing Shabbat, taking a break from ordinary life and enjoying all that God has given out of His bountiful goodness. She also recalled those embarrassing moments when friends would confront her at school and ask her why she was not allowed to answer the phone on Saturdays. The Sabbath was sacred, and oddly enough, the strict discipline it required seemed to most Jews to be a joy.

Then you see these Pharisees constantly hounding after Jesus on the Sabbath, wagging their fingers as it were and telling Him what He cannot do on this particular day of the week. It doesn’t appear from this reading that they would have enjoyed the Sabbath day at all. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to conclude that they hated Jesus more than they loved Shabbat. Yet Jesus seemed to do most of His great healing works specifically on the Sabbath. The Bible records at least seven occurrences when this question of healing and restoring on God’s Holy Day pops up. Notice how Jesus heals here: he told the man with a withered hand just to stretch it out, and it was healed, again, on the Sabbath. What do the Pharisees then do? They boil with anger against the Messiah who had struck them silent with His undeniable logic and they make their plans to kill Him—it’s not at all the joyful response that the rest of the crowd had!

The two places in the Old Testament that establish the Lord’s Commandment to observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy are in Exodus and in Deuteronomy. Each place gives a slightly different reason for having the Sabbath. In Exodus, the reason is tied to our Lord’s Creation of the world: “For in six days the Lord your God created the heavens and the earth… and rested on the seventh day.” But the second time around, in Deuteronomy, Moses makes the people of Israel recall another big act that the Lord has done—He saved them. “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” This was what we heard in our Old Testament reading today. These two mighty works are what we focus on whenever we gather for worship, or when we study God’s Word on our own: God made us and He saved us for everlasting life. Both of these are tied to the rest that He has graciously decided to give us, that is, our Sabbath rest.

The Sabbath Day, you must understand, is not just a mere bygone relic of Old Testament history. Nor is it only the peculiar social oddity of certain people who have a different religious heritage than we. The Sabbath Day turns out to be not a day at all, but it is our Lord Jesus Himself, who has come among us in the words of forgiveness we hear Him speak to us. Sabbath isn’t our taking time for church or other acceptable holy activities, really, but it is Our Lord blessing us with a little piece of what we can expect when this life is over and our final burdens of life are laid down, and we will be with the Lord in His new creation after He returns at the end of time. We have rest not because of how diligent we were with our talents, time and treasure, but it’s because we received a precious gift from the Lord who wanted to give to us out of His rich abundance. How can you not enjoy and constantly look forward to that, and make it the most important thing in your life? That would be my challenge to you today.

You know, Jesus made a powerful statement here that sometimes we overlook because it sounds so simple and logical: the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. That is a good thing for us sinners! For if man were made for the Sabbath, and it were not the other way around, then the Sabbath would entirely depend on how well we kept it. Our works would have to be the cause of our everlasting life, and the forgiveness earned by Jesus when He died on the cross would turn to dust. We would be lost forever, since God’s Law continually condemns us for not measuring up to the requirements our Heavenly Father has imposed upon us in the Ten Commandments. If man were made for the Sabbath, the third Commandment would still be about what day you worship and how perfectly you worshiped. We would be following the Jews and the Seventh Day Adventists to a despairing end for us all, because no one, with us included, would be able to find their way to eternal life.

But oh, how blessed it is that the Sabbath was made for man, and more than that, rejoice that Jesus, the Son of Man, is Lord of the Sabbath! That means He’s not just in charge of a particular day, and we acknowledge Him that one day and leave the rest of the week to make ourselves into our god. No, Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath and He created the Sabbath of forgiveness, of everlasting mercy, of rest for your souls that are weary with sin, with hurt, with guilt, with all our burdens that you could never carry. But Jesus has already said to you: Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you… Shabbat– rest! He’s the Lord of the Sabbath, and the Sabbath is His gift to you, a cup overflowing with forgiveness and life!

Yes, taking a break after a long week of work has a practical benefit for your body, as you can read in those popular books. It may be worthwhile to you to follow that advice for sanity’s sake and turn down those temptations to make every time away into a “working vacation.” Yuck! However, the greater point is the spiritual benefit that is not only for your body, but for your soul as well. No matter what day is set aside, what makes it a Sabbath and a holy rest to the Lord is to believe in Jesus, who created you and saved you. It is easy to be impressed with the high level of devotion that is exhibited for us by the orthodox Jews, the pious Seventh Day Adventists, even by the Christian runner in the movie Chariots of Fire, who wouldn’t compete in the Olympics because he would have to run on a Sunday. But all that intense devotion and self-sacrifice falls flat if there’s no faith in Jesus that trusts in His gift of the forgiveness of sins.

The Pharisees’ short-sighted criticism of Jesus is easy for us to point out and ridicule, but that self-centered, legalistic, sour-faced approach to the Sabbath and all our worship of God is found inside each one of us. We make a whole lot more out of the efforts we do and the sacrifices we make, about do this, don’t do that, while at the same time we are tempted to disregard or resent the greatest of Sabbath gifts that is right here in front of us. We have been trained in the six days of our toilsome work to be impressed by results, by measurable successes, by outdoing one another to get ahead. But on the Sabbath, which now in our Christian circles is better called the Lord’s Day, it’s completely the opposite. Instead we are called upon to deny ourselves and our hard-working, sacrificing, constantly doing human nature and turn our complete attention to Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath who has graciously come among us. When it comes to God’s gifts, don’t just do something, sit there! Receive, and not work, for in receiving from Jesus what He wants to give you, that is the greatest way to worship and observe your Sabbath rest.

Imagine yourselves walking with Jesus and alongside those disciples in the grain field. Pick the grain that stands here today for you. King David and his men were famished with hunger and they needed the priests’ holy bread to sustain them on their God-pleasing journey. On this table laid out before you today is an even greater bread of Christ’s presence; it has come to you without toil or price tag. You are hungry, exhausted with the burdens of your previous week, but even more burdened with sin and the weight of what this world keeps throwing at you. Your hand may not be withered and useless, but your soul has been shriveled up with all that has caused you anxiety and pain. Stretch out your hand to take the blessed gift of forgiveness, and you shall be restored! Observe Shabbat, not merely in your outward actions and reverent routines, whatever practices you may choose to do, but most importantly, with a joyful heart that is eager to receive forgiveness from Jesus, and with that forgiveness, reconciliation and renewal for another week that your heavenly Father lays before you in the work He has given you to do for your neighbor. Rejoice! Your Lord has made you and He has saved you. Jesus is your Sabbath, and His perfect rest is yours now, and eternal, uninterrupted enjoyment of God’s gifts is yet ahead.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Leviticus 24:5-9 the showbread
I Sam. 21:1-6 David and the showbread
Ex. 20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath day
Mt. 11:28-30 Come to Me all you who labor

Deut. 5:12–15 Observe the Sabbath Day
Ps. 81:1–10 I answered you in the secret place of thunder
2 Cor. 4:5–12 we have this treasure in earthen vessels
Mark 2:23–3:6 The disciples pluck grain on the Sabbath … Sabbath was made for man … man with withered hand