REST: WHY IT IS ELUSIVE AND HOW TO REFOCUS | PART 2

Sabbath

The Hebrew word, Sabbath, literally means “to cease.” Let’s look at a few key passages in the Old Testament regarding Sabbath.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation (ESV: Genesis 2:1-3).

There is an interesting insertion in the creation account after God created everything and declared it was good: God rested. Why did God have to rest? What is the significance of this account? Further down the Old Testament history, there is another interesting insertion in the middle of the Ten Commandments. This time, the commandment to keep the Sabbath is the link between the so called vertical commandments and the horizontal commandments. One significance is that in God’s design, keeping Sabbath re-centers and refocuses our vertical relationship with God and horizontal relationship with other human beings. In this passage, the command is to remember and keep it holy. Notice also that this day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. One may say we rest and care for our souls for God’s sake and later as we shall see, for others’ sake as well.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (ESV: Exodus 20:8-11).

Later on in the Book of Exodus 31:11-17, God speaks to Moses about keeping the Sabbath. Verse 13 lays out God’s intent of why keeping the Sabbath was important, “You may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.” Thus for generation after generation, descendants of Israel would know that it was God alone who sanctified them. Deuteronomy 5:15 essentially captures this same concept that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt and God was the one who delivered them. It is precisely not by our own work, but by God’s work we are who we are and where we are. Simply put, we keep the Sabbath to remember again and again that God is God and we are not. We will see later that this has some significant applications.

Jesus and the Sabbath

It was customary for Jesus to preach and teach in the synagogues on the Sabbath days (Luke 4:16). We see later that Paul followed the same tradition (Acts 18:4) of reasoning and persuading Jews and Greeks in the synagogues. According to a story recorded by Matthew (Matthew 12:1-1-8, cf: Mark 2:23-28, Luke 6:1-5), Jesus is accused by the Pharisees after they witnessed Jesus’ disciples plucking the heads of grain, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” After giving his reasons, Jesus summarized rather shockingly, “for the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Before we unpack what Jesus meant by his being the lord of the Sabbath, it is necessary to observe the previous passage in Matthew 11: 27-30:

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (ESV)

I like Eugene Peterson’s Message version of this text:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly (Matthew 11:28-30).

Here in this text, Jesus equates Himself with Sabbath! His invitation for us is to come to Him and He will give us rest. He is the source of rest. Thus he can declare Himself as the lord of the Sabbath. Jesus reinterprets and redefines the law on Sabbath and centers Sabbath squarely on Himself. We can only rest in Him and through Him. Sabbath without Jesus at the center is not Sabbath. This is not the same as going to church on Sundays. It is much more fundamental than that. It’s how we essentially refocus even from expected and prescribed religious activities to Jesus Himself, because Jesus is the only source that can give us true rest.