We are called to carve out time in our lives for rest. Why is that so difficult? Matthew 14:22–24; Luke 5:15–16; Mark 1:32–37
Taking time for Sabbath
Keeping the Sabbath is one of the Big Ten (Commandments), but probably the one we pay the least heed. I think many of us have secretly decided that Sabbath is one of those cultural trappings that doesn’t apply to us any more, like polygamy and washing guests’ feet when they come to our house. Yet it’s etched just as deeply in the stone tablets as “Do not kill” and “Do not steal” are.
Isaiah 58:13 says we are to “call the Sabbath a delight.” We need to learn how to put our work aside and rest from it, even when our work is buzzing nearby on a BlackBerry or nagging us from the whiteboard in the kitchen: Buy peanut butter. Pick up the cat’s medicine. Fill out permission slip.
The two places where most Christians get our understanding of Sabbath are the Ten Commandments and the story of creation. God made the universe and everything in it and then rested for a time. God did it; so we do it. The rhythm is established.
The Jewish tradition points to another story, one we often forget in our thinking about Sabbath. The Sabbath day reminds the Jewish people of the time when they were Pharoah’s slaves, when their ancestors were forced to work — not six days a week, but every day. There was no freedom, no relief, just constant expectations of doing more, producing more, building more. Thus the Jewish observance of Sabbath is an exclamation to the world: We are not slaves to the empire any more! We are free!
Many people respond to the idea of Sabbath with a kind of wistful “Not now ... Once we get ourselves in order, then we can keep the Sabbath.” This is an illusion. We might as well say, “As soon as this culture of anxiety ceases to be, I’ll try Sabbath.” As soon the world makes it easier for us, we’ll try it? It’s not going to happen. Pharoah is long gone but his legacy continues. So what are we waiting for?
Jesus did not wait. He didn’t postpone Sabbath until everyone had been tended to. He did not cross everything off the Messianic to-do list, nod and say, “Now, Sabbath can begin.” He just went. And people didn’t always understand it or make it easy on him. According to Mark, when he finally comes strolling in after his “me time,” you can just hear the accusation in the disciples’ voices: “Everyone has been searching for you!” And in Matthew, while Jesus is off having Sabbath time, the disciples are one wave away from being shipwrecked.
What do you think was going through Jesus’ mind as he came down the mountain after his Sabbath rest and saw the boat way off on the horizon, bobbing in the waves like a cork, sails in tatters, just knowing that his most loved disciples were on it, bailing water by the bucketful? If we were the ones watching that scene, we would think, “Well. That will certainly teach me to take Sabbath time.”
Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t react that way. We know this because the rest of his ministry is punctuated by moments of rest. In Matthew Jesus dismisses crowds filled with people still aching to be healed (14:23). And in Mark he sneaks out first thing in the morning, before the crowds have had a chance to corner him with more and more need (1:35).
Jesus took Sabbath rest in various ways: He went up to a mountain. He went to a desert place. He went by himself. He prayed. And he did ministry on the Sabbath day, which suggests to me that he chose other times to take his Sabbath rest. (Good news for those of us who work on Sundays!)
And here’s a heretical statement: We don’t have to do it the way Jesus did it. We can experience Sabbath by digging our hands into a spongy batch of bread dough. Or by feeling the sting of a baseball snapping into a glove as we play catch with the kids. Or by stretching out in our favorite chair with a good book and a mug of something warm and delicious at our side.
As Mary Oliver says in her poem “The Summer Day,” we may not know “what a prayer is.” But through Sabbath we will learn “how to pay attention ... how to stroll through fields,” and “how to be idle and blessed.”
What gives your heart real joy and peace? Offer it to God in a weekly gift of Sabbath time. |
