Sabbath
Each night before the kids go to bed, we all sit on the couch and read from the Bible together. The other night, as we were reading through the book of Matthew, we came to Jesus’ resurrection. In that portion of scripture it states that Jesus was raised from the dead the day after the Sabbath, on the first day of the week. The pastor in me decided to take this opportunity to quiz my son on his Bible knowledge, so I asked him, “Jesus was raised on the day after the Sabbath, on the first day of the week. Do you know what day of the week that was?” Of course, he responded with the expected answer of Monday, because we go to church on Sundays. I briefly explained to him that the Jewish people worshiped God on Saturday, but because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday the church changed our day of worship to Sunday in order to celebrate. This idea of the Sabbath, when it is and what it is, is often an area of confusion within the church, so I want to take some time to look at what Jesus, and scripture as a whole, has to say on the matter.
In Mark 2:23-28 we see a specific example of Jesus’ teachings regarding the Sabbath. As we look at this passage, there are a few things we need to understand. First, we see the disciples walking through a field and picking heads of grain. While our first thought might be to accuse them of stealing, according to the law that God had given to the Israelites, this was perfectly legal. As long as you didn’t use any tools to do so, it was perfectly legal to go into somebody else’s fields and harvest grain. This was one of those “help the needy” type of things that God had built into the law.
So, the act of picking the heads of grain wasn’t the problem, and certainly the act of eating wasn’t the problem. The problem, as the Pharisees pointed out, was that this was being done on the Sabbath. Back in Exodus 20:8-11 God instructed the Israelites to rest on the 7th day, which was Saturday. When we look throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament, we find that the Israelites were very good at one thing, as is probably true with many societies, and that’s taking the few laws that God gave them and expanding upon and specifying them to the point that they become unbearable. They specified that it was illegal to buy or sell anything on the Sabbath. However, they also specified that it was perfectly okay to fight military campaigns on the Sabbath.
The gotcha that the Pharisees were trying to catch the disciples in was the fact that they picked the grain, which they considered reaping, rubbed the grains in their hands, which they considered threshing, and then ate, which they considered preparing a meal. Also note that each violation was punishable by death. Yet we see Jesus completely dismiss their accusations. He even goes as far as to say, “So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath,” (Mark 2:28) basically saying, “I’m God. Don’t you think I know the true nature of the laws I gave?”
That leads us to an interesting quandary that has been present since the beginning of the church. Which Old Testament laws are we to obey? We don’t make animal sacrifices, follow a strict dietary law, or require that the bathroom be “outside the camp” (Deuteronomy 23:12), yet we do follow things like honor your father and mother, don’t murder, don’t lie, etc. How do we determine which laws of God we’re to follow and which ones are no longer applicable?
Contrary to what many might believe, it is not an arbitrary picking and choosing. A group of people didn’t get together and decide, “We have indoor plumbing now. That makes this bathroom law very inconvenient. Maybe we should just get rid of it.” The truth is, the church follows a few basic guidelines when determining what Old Testament laws are still applicable to us today.
Jesus’ death changed everything. Jesus ushered in a new covenant, and in so doing fulfilled the old covenant. We’re not beholden to the old law. Instead, God has written the law on our hearts. Many of the old laws are still applicable, because the principles are of the nature of God and therefore unchanging. We determine these things in three different ways as we look at the New Testament. Notice I specified the whole New Testament and not just Jesus’ words. Obviously Jesus’ words hold authority because he is God, but do the words of Paul or Peter hold the same authority as the words of Jesus? On their own, no, but they didn’t write of their own accord. Each word that they wrote, while it was written by their own hand using their own words, was inspired by the Holy Spirit, who is also God. Therefore, the words of Paul and Peter are just as valid in this case as the words of Jesus.
The first thing we look at is whether these Old Testament laws are reaffirmed in the New Testament. In many cases they are. 1 John 5:21, Ephesians 6:1, and Romans 13:9 each reaffirm laws established in the Old Testament.
The next way we determine what laws still apply is by looking at which laws are specifically denounced in the New Testament. For instance, Mark 7:18-19 denounces dietary laws and Hebrews 10:17-18 denounces animal sacrifices.
Finally, the third way is that if a law is neither reaffirmed or denounced, we look at the categories that each reaffirmed or denounced laws fall under. Similar laws are likely reaffirmed or denounced accordingly. For example, in Acts 8 we see the Holy Spirit prompting Philip to speak to the Ethiopian eunuch, yet in Deuteronomy 23:1 the law clearly states that the eunuch is forbidden to be in God’s presence. While the New Testament doesn’t specifically state that indoor plumbing is allowed, the command to relieve yourself outside the camp, Deuteronomy 23:12, falls under the same category as this and other commands that are denounced. Therefore, we don’t believe it is a sin to use the restrooms in the church.
Where does that leave us in regard to the Sabbath? Is this idea of setting aside the seventh day for rest and worship reaffirmed or denounced in the New Testament? Paul says in Colossians 2:16–17 that the Sabbath is a shadow of the reality found in Christ. In Romans 14, while speaking mainly about dietary restrictions, he weaves in this idea of the Sabbath essentially saying, “Some people see all days as equal while others view certain days as set apart. Likewise, some people see all food as acceptable while others view certain food as defiled.”
If we look back the historical church, as I explained to my son, many had moved their day of worship from the seventh day, Saturday, to the first day, Sunday, in order to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. All good Jews kept from work on the Sabbath, but the first day of the week was just another workday. For the Gentile converts, the first day of the week had always been a workday. What likely happened was that they gathered together and worshiped on Sundays but also went about their normal work.
So where does that leave us? We have Jesus telling the Pharisees that it’s okay for his disciples to pick the grain from the fields on the Sabbath. We have Paul saying that the Sabbath is nothing but a shadow that was intended to point to Christ. I’ll be honest, I struggled with the doctrine of the Sabbath this week. The good Christian in me, having grown up in the church, wanted to scream from the pulpit, “Don’t do work on Sundays! It’s the Sabbath!” However, as I studied the scriptures, that’s not what I found. Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is clearly saying that it doesn’t matter if you set aside Saturday as holy, if you set aside Sunday as holy, or if you view all days as being the same. We aren’t bound by the law. Thomas Shreiner says it better than I ever could when he said:
“Paul has no quarrel with those who desire to set aside the Sabbath as a special day, as long as they do not require it for salvation or insist that other believers agree with them. Those who esteem the Sabbath as a special day are to be honored for their point of view and should not be despised or ridiculed. Others, however, consider every day to be the same. They do not think that any day is more special than another. Those who think this way are not to be judged as unspiritual.”
With all that being said, it is also important to note Jesus’ words on the topic. In the closing of Mark 2 Jesus states, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Even though we may not be under the letter of the Jewish law, even though the new covenant does not dictate that we set aside a particular day for rest and worship, the principle remains unchanged. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. God does not desire for us to obey a strict set of rules that prevent us from travelling or feeding ourselves on a particular day of the week. The Sabbath was not created so that we had one more rule to follow. Instead God gave it to us as a gift, a time to rest from our work and focus on Him. Whether you take time on Saturday or Sunday or if you work on Sunday and rest another day of the week (even if that day of the week keeps changing due to your work schedule), the important thing is that we accept this gift God has given us and take the time to relax and rest in the presence of our God.
How you do this is of little importance. I find playing games helps me to do this. I’ve heard of others that they find rest in God by riding around on the lawn mower cutting the grass and listening to sermons or an audio bible. Maybe for you it’s working on your car or in the wood shop. Technically, by the letter of the law, these are considered work, but we aren’t under the letter of the law. If you find rest and peace in God in these ways, then by all means do it. You have my blessing. The important thing is taking that time to rest, refuel, and reconnect with God.
If you get nothing else out of what I’ve said, let it be this. A Sabbath rest is for your own benefit. Whether you do it on Sunday or Friday, whether you do it lying in bed or riding a lawn mower, it’s important that we take time to unwind. It’s important that we take time to bask in the presence of God and not merely check a box and say that we attended church or that we went out to eat instead of preparing a meal.
We’re to set aside time daily to be with God, but this Sabbath is a special time, more than just fifteen minutes in the morning. It’s an extended period of time to refuel and reconnect with God, whatever that looks like in your life. God was the first one to implement a weekend, and he did it to reconnect with you.