The Scripture reading for this Sunday is Exodus 20:8-11 and Matthew 12:1-14. We are looking at the fourth commandment this week – “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy…”
It wasn’t that many years ago that almost no one worked on Sunday’s. Sure, farmers still had to milk the cows or pick eggs or do whatever necessary chores needed to be done, usually one gas station and one pharmacy had to be open for at least a few hours, but other than that things were closed down. Sunday – the new Sabbath because it is the day Jesus rose from the dead – was a day of rest for everyone. That’s just the way things were. After all, in the fourth commandment, God himself commanded, “In six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.”
But, as it did for the Israelite people, so it went for us. Rather than the Sabbath being known for a special day of rest and worship, Sabbath was most commonly associated with a list of do’s and don’ts. On Sunday, you shall not… go to the store, go to the movie theatre, harvest crops, or do any unnecessary work. And that list would continue. Rather than a day of freedom from our labour to rest in God’s provisions, Sabbath so easily becomes a restrictive day where we were instructed to tread carefully in order to not break the commandment.
I sympathize with the Pharisees in Matthew 12. Sabbath was precious to them. Taking a Sabbath was part of what set God’s people apart from the surrounding nations and they took this command very seriously. It set them apart. It distinguished them as God’s people. But, unknowingly, they had twisted Sabbath into a checklist that they could tick off as the day went on. They were sincere about the Sabbath, and they were trying to do God’s will, the problem is that they were sincerely wrong.
In Matthew 12, Jesus’ tells the Pharisees that they have completely missed the point. They have boiled down the Sabbath to a list of rules and regulations when what God wants is mercy. God’s intent for the Sabbath, Jesus proclaims, was to bring rest not a burden. God’s intent, through Jesus, is to bring Sabbath rest to His people.
What God shows us through Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, is that Sabbath rest can only be found in Him. Jesus demonstrated this by going to the cross and dying for us so that his claim wasn’t an empty one but a life-giving one. Because Jesus died and rose again for us, he is the source of our Sabbath rest. We have nothing left to prove or earn because Jesus has done that for us. There is nothing so important in our lives that we need to work 24/7 to achieve. Our eternal salvation has been won for us by Jesus, our Saviour.
Therefore, taking a Sabbath – taking a day of rest from our labours for worship, prayer, praise, and thanksgiving to God – is a tangible reminder for us of all that Jesus has done. It is not a day of restrictions, but a day of freedom to enjoy the grace and mercy of God, and to communicate that to other people.