Thought for Today
Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
Numbers 28:9 On the sabbath day: two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering-- 10 this is the burnt offering for every sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
Matthew 12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
Mark 2:27 Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath;
What does it mean to “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy?” Is the issue one of the uniqueness of one specific day? Most Christians worship on Sunday, the first day of the week. Jews (and therefore Jesus) worship on the 7th day, Saturday. By the way, there are even differences among God’s children on how we determine and define ‘day.’ “Genesis 1:5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” Do you measure a day from sundown to sundown? Or, do you measure a day from midnight to midnight?
Many of us are ‘of an age’ to remember Blue Laws. In my youth, in Texas, there were severe restrictions governing which establishments could even be open on Sunday; and, among those who could be open, on what products could be sold. During my preschool days, we attended a church on the edge of downtown Houston. There was a drugstore next door. I remember my mother taking my brother and me to that drugstore between Sunday School and Worship. If we promised to behave during Worship, mom would buy each of us a comic book. Many of the counters in that store were covered with blue sheets, denoting that those products could not be sold on Sunday. Evidently the legislators either demonstrated unusual, good, common sense . . . or they too had young children.
Selling comic books was okay, not a violation of the commandment to “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.” Why was a comic book different from a refrigerator or an automobile? Are even God’s laws subject to interpretation?
One of my greatest frustrations as a youth was what I viewed as my father’s inconsistency. Seemingly, it was a violation of the commandment to go to the theater and watch a movie . . . but a teenager mowing the lawn on Sunday was not! In honest deference to my father, my own children could probably cite examples of their father’s inconsistencies.
In the Old Testament, there are detailed rules and instructions governing the various sacrifices to be offered. In addition to the regular, daily sacrifices there was “the burnt offering for every sabbath.” Is it irreverent for me to read that passage from Numbers as instructions for a Sunday cookout? Few, if any, regularly offer burnt sacrifices as an aspect of worship.
What does it mean to “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy?” How are Christians to “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy?” Since we worship on Sunday, we obviously believe that the remembrance and reverence, the holiness is not a function of one specific day of the week. When we stop at the grocery on the way home from worship, are we profaning the sabbath day? Is that commandment meant to indicate a day, or is it meant to restrict commercial, civil activities?
There is a clue in the language of the Bible. In the Greek scriptures, the word we translate as sabbath is σάββατον (sabbaton). We have transliterated that word into English. The basic meaning of that word is “strictly ceasing from labor, rest.” (Friberg, Analytical Greek Lexicon) That is how Jesus understood the Sabbath and what he meant by “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath.”
Our Creator God understands our need for ‘downtime.’ It’s not the holiness of a specific day; it’s not restricting some specific activities. It is all about resting, recreating and recharging. It is all about honoring God and God’s Creation . . . including God’s children. I believe the only way to do that includes time together with our family of faith, worshiping and celebrating together, thanking God.
Stay safe, spend time with God, trust God,
Pastor Ray