“I don't get it,” Jack said. “Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did.”
“But you didn’t notice,” Mark said, “that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest.”
“Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.” There is a reason that God has commanded us to spend time in rest.
In today’s gospel lesson, a woman who is bent over comes to the synagogue on the Sabbath. She did not ask to be healed, she did not show the faith associated with healing that is often mentioned in the Bible.
She simply came to church – for whatever reason – to worship God, to find hope, to be around other people, looking for acceptance – it could be any number of reasons. She might have come every Sabbath, we’re not told that. But this Sabbath was different – Jesus was there visiting. He had stopped in on his journey to Jerusalem.
Jesus saw the woman and called her over. It doesn’t say, but we know that he had compassion for her and he sets her free from her malady. He laid hands on her and she stood up straight for the first time in 18 years.
But there were those who took offense at the healing. Now, it doesn’t say, but I’d be willing to bet that the real reason this leader took offense was because the woman had been coming for 18 years and he couldn’t do anything for her. Here he was, upstaged by this carpenter from Nazareth, and that had to be humbling – probably humiliating for him… He wasn’t about to say that he was jealous, so he latches on to the first thing he can think of – “You did work on the Sabbath. That’s against God’s law.”
Exodus 20 verses 8-11 says: "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
The Levites and the Pharisees went overboard in keeping the Sabbath – in living up to the letter of the law. You could not walk over a thousand yards on the Sabbath. In most villages, people would probably live close enough to the synagogue to be able to walk to it and back without going over a thousand yards.
In the summer of 1999, we went to Israel. While we were in Jerusalem, Sam’s brother told a story about walking around inside the wall of the old city on Friday evening just after the start of Shabbot (the Sabbath.) The Jewish area was deserted except for one woman who came rushing up to them and asked, “Are you gentiles?” When they replied yes, she asked them to come to her home to adjust the air conditioning. She had forgotten to turn it on before sundown.
Now I happen to think that it doesn’t make much sense to run all over the city looking for someone to come adjust the air conditioning. She had to expend much more energy – done more work – than if she’d just adjusted it herself. This is just an example of the letter of the law observed by this Jewish leader.
In Mark 2:27, Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." In other words, the Sabbath is made for the benefit of humans, not to cripple them by legalisms. Jesus worked on the Sabbath, he taught and he healed, but we also see him going off to be by himself on numerous occasions. The Sabbath is a great gift to be used by us for our benefit – there are four suggestions of purposes for the Sabbath.
1. It is not just ceasing work for the day. But also...
2. Resting from the daily struggles of life.
3. Embracing those who are important to us. And
4. Feasting on the goodness of God and God’s creation.
The computer and the internet are interesting places to hang out. I was on an Episcopal discussion list while I was in seminary, and someone got on the list and began to lambast us for having church on Sunday. He declared that Saturday was the day given in the Bible as the Sabbath and Christians had no right to change it to Sunday.
This person was tied up in legalism as bad as that of the Pharisees. The true Sabbath idea is that there is benefit from a day of rest, regardless of which day it is.
According to a Greek legend, in ancient Athens a man noticed the great storyteller Aesop playing childish games with some little boys. He laughed and jeered at Aesop, asking him why he wasted his time in such frivolous activity.
Aesop responded by picking up a bow, loosening its string, and placing it on the ground. Then he said to the critical Athenian, “Now, answer the riddle, if you can. Tell us what the unstrung bow implies.”
The man looked at it for several moments but had no idea what point Aesop was trying to make. Aesop explained, “If you keep the bow always bent, it will break eventually; but if you let it go slack (remove the tension for a period of time), it will be more fit for use when you want it.”
The same is true for our minds and our lives. We need a time of rest and refreshment. Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, calls this "sharpening the saw." Remember the story I started with, and the story about Aesop. You can work more effectively if you take out time to refresh, even if you have spent less time on the work. Covey encourages people to take out an hour of each day to spend in Sabbath activity – sharpening the saw – resting, recreating, preparing for the day ahead. That time might be reading the Bible or playing with the kids, or some other leisure activity.
Leonardo da Vinci said, “Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work, your judgment will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose your power of judgment. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller, and more of it can be seen at a glance, and lack of harmony or proportion is more readily seen.”
Clergy are encouraged to take a day off every week. A day off is considered to be a day where there is no planned activity. We are always subject to being called in an emergency – that is akin to Jesus healing on the Sabbath. God has given us the Sabbath for our benefit for rest and refreshment. He encourages us to use it wisely, but we are not to allow it to bind us or keep us from doing his work.
Where is God calling you to take a sabbath rest? That time apart can make your mind sharper - just like Jack sharpening his axe made it more efficient. Look at your schedule and plan to spend a small sabbath time each day and one whole day each week to release the tension that builds up in your life. Sometimes we already take time off in our life - and if you do, I would encourage you to begin to see that time as a sabbath rest. Give thanks and allow God to be in the midst of that time, even if the activity has nothing to do with God. Learn by experience how that time of leisure, that Sabbath rest, can benefit you when you see it as part of God's plan in your life.
No comments:
Post a Comment