Mark 2:23-3:6; Isaiah 58:13,14  The Sabbath is for Good

            I don’t know about you, but I welcomed the chance of having to stay home because of the threat of snow and ice.  Otherwise, I would have had to have done some things and gone some places I did not want to go.  The threat of it all made me stay home with my wife and just relax.  I can remember an ice storm in Columbia in the 70’s where we were without power for a week.  We didn’t have a fireplace, and no one had generators, so all of us went to our neighbor’s house- because they had a huge fire place.  We cooked grits in the morning, soup for lunch and stew for supper on that fireplace.  It was a great memory.  I am very aware of the problems of driving on ice, and the problems of people slipping and falling on it.  But I am also aware of the benefits.  When there is no TV, or no xbox and you can’t drive anywhere.  But wouldn’t it be better, if we spent time with our families, and didn’t feel so rushed and pushed all by ourselves? 

            In the passage I just read, Jesus okayed two things.  He okayed the very basics of life- preparing food and eating; the second thing he okayed was to help someone else on the Sabbath.  The ironic thing is the Pharisees began to look for a way to kill him because he healed someone on the Sabbath.  You might say that Jesus’ view of the Sabbath was that it’s a life-giving event.  For some religion is about rules and rules and the taking away of life and time.  But for Jesus faith adds to life. 

            There is a lot about how Jesus kept the Sabbath in the New Testament.  It is clear that Jesus honored the Sabbath.  He just didn’t honor it with a long list of rules of things not to do.  He said here He is Lord of the Sabbath- and that indicates two thing- one that He saw Himself as the one who instituted and rules over how the Sabbath should be kept; and that the Sabbath is still important- for He is not Lord over nothing.

I. THE GOOD OF WORSHIP- Matthew, Mark and Luke indicate that Jesus regularly went to the synagogues to teach the people (Mt. 4:23; 9:35; 12:9; 13:54; Mk 1:23, 39; 6:3; Lk 4:15,16,44; 6:6; 13:10; Jn. 18:20).  Luke 4:16 says, he went to the synagogue in Nazareth as was his custom.  It is not trivial to invest a little bit of your week into God.  God saw it as so important he demanded it.  Jesus kept the Sabbath regularly not only because it was the custom, but also that is when he worshipped the Father, and when he learned, and when he spoke.  Jesus was in worship then, and Jesus is still in worship today, and he wants us to meet with Him.  It is not about keeping some legalistic rule, as it is about spending time with Him.  When we were in Italy we looked in on several churches where people were worshipping.  But we not worshipping, we were touring.  We went through the church, but most of us didn’t stop to pray, sing, read scripture and meditate.  Christ does not want tourists- who come in and out and it is just interesting.  Christ wants to meet with us, and wants us to follow Him.  
            In the New Testament they actually kept two days—especially the Jewish Christians.  They kept Saturday as a Jewish holy day, and Sunday as the Lord’s Day.  In America, every one of the thirteen colonies had in their original laws something about having a universal day off on Sunday.  In South Carolina it has been in our constitution since colonial days.  Just because it was there in the past does not make it right.  But we also do not need to trivialize the wisdom of the past either.  The laws are there for a reason.  When one person works, it effects work for all of us.  One of the things that united our country was a united day of rest- and for most of us it was also a day of worship.  It is good for us to see that the one who gives us time, gets on section of our time. 

II. THE GOOD OF NECESSITY- For Jesus the Sabbath was to help the people, and it was not that the people existed to obey the rules about the Sabbath.  There was as time in America when that was true- but no longer.  We have gone from one extreme when people wouldn’t go to a movie, wash dishes, or even play a game on the Sabbath- to just not having any kind of Sabbath at all.  There is a balance.  The balance is that Jesus wants us to enjoy our lives by giving us what we need and part of that is rest.

In our society- we need to rest.  We have come very close in our culture to worshipping money- the things money can buy, and the work that allows us to get money.  Juliet B. Schor studied how much people worked.  In medieval England one third of the year was taken off.  In France 180 days were designated as days off.  In Spain five months of the year were taken off.  During the Great Depression a bill passed the senate to reduce the working hours in the United States from 40 hours a week to 30- thinking that would somehow help the 25% unemployment rate- but it was vetoed.  In America one of the things that has happened in the last thirty years is women have fully entered the workforce, and for the first time in the history of the world- four years ago more women worked than did not work at full time jobs.  What this tells me, is that we have to somehow balance this extra work with an extra resolve to keep the Sabbath. The word “Sabbath” just means to cease or to stop.  Stop and smell the roses; stop and take a breath; stop and see your family again.   
           

III. THE GOOD OF HELPING OTHERS- The rule had gotten the upper hand over the people.  Jesus was respectful toward rules, but he really loved people.  The Sabbath is for healing.  Jesus healed numerous people- publicly and purposefully to show- that God is for helping us- not for just piling on rule on rule.  It is that way today.  The Sabbath is for healing.

I. HEALING OF HOMES- Quality time is found only in quantity time. They are not mutually exclusive, but they intersect.  If the only time you see your kids and spouse is on vacation, then I hope you take a lot of long vacations. President Obama said the number one thing that will help the average American income is an education.  But while education is important, the number one thing that will help the average American income is for families to stay together.  Not everyone can or is able to get a PhD. Or a Masters, or a Bachelors degree.  But it is proven across the economic board that when families break apart they not only lose income as individuals, but they lose the synergistic income that they had together.  So instead of two people paying for a home, each individual is trying to pay for a place to live, and often that involves renting instead of buying.  Families are healed as people spend time together.

II. HEALING OF SOULS- The word “Soul” means breath, and Sabbath is a way to stop and catch your breath.  The old story is of a man who went on a safari, and the carriers stopped.  He told them they must go on.  They told him that they had been moving so fast, they needed to stop so that their souls would catch up with them.  The Sabbath is a way to stop our busy, crazy life and find our soul each week.  The people who go to the gym to keep their body in shape, and who take time to find inner peace, need to know that the most important eternal thing they can do for themselves is to give themselves away to God.  When they give their time to God, they will find their souls again.  There is a best selling book called “Creativity” and it speaks of our creative moments come when we are not distracted.  When you think about it, some of our best ideas come late at night or early in the morning—when the radio, TV, and our daily grind is in the off position.  I would contend this is a sign of our soul’s health.  Our soul is healthy when it is taking a breath- into a rhythm of work, play, and rest.  In our day our rhythm has been cut into two sections- work and play.  Rest is now defined as exhaustion from play and work.  We need to catch our souls again.
Frankly not only are our families healed by the Sabbath, and our souls healed by it, but the world become a better place too.  Can you imagine a car without brakes?  Some people who are crazy really like that idea.  They always want to go.  But you end up going longer if you can stop at the stop signs.  We need to stop and grieve.  We need to stop and love.  We need to stop and listen. We need to stop and sometimes go back the other way in repentance.  There are people who get really, really angry when I talk about the need to rest and to stop together.  I wonder why?  We like to go our own way, and go quickly, but sometimes we need to collectively put on the brakes.  If you will not let me put on the brakes because you want to go faster, then what is going on.  Five years ago I wrote a letter to Governor Sanford that said that the Sabbath was one way to stop over-extending ourselves as families, as consumers. One of the problems that caused our recession is that we did not know our limits- in money and I would also contend with time.  Today we are still paying the price, and I hope we can learn from this. 

            Stephen Covey in his bestseller, The Habits of Seven Highly Effective People speaks of the need for renewal.  He tells the old story, “You come upon someone in the woods working ferishly to saw down a tree.  “What are you doing?” You ask.  “Can’t you see?” comes the impatient reply, “I’m sawing down the tree.”  “You look exhausted!  How long have you been at it?”  “Over five hours,” He returns, “and I’m beat. This is hard work.”  “Well, why don’t you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen the saw?”  The man says emphatically, “But I’m too busy sawing!”

            We can sharpen our saw physically by taking time to exercise and paying attention to diet.  We can sharpen the saw mentally by educating ourselves and watching what we read/see and educating ourselves.  We sharpen ourselves socially by purposefully and attentively interacting with people- in the church we call that fellowship.  But we sharpen ourselves spiritually by putting God first, and that means taking time for God.  The Sabbath is God’s reminder that we are to take time for Him.