Jesus and the Sabbath

Matthew 12:1-14; Mark 2:23-3:1-6; Luke 6:1-11; Luke 13:10-17; Luke 14:1-6

As the holiday season ends, perhaps it's a good time to talk about rest. One of the consistent themes in the Bible, beginning with Genesis 2, is the importance of Sabbath, of a time to stop working and honor God. One of the 10 Commandments set aside one day a week for the Israelites to rest from their work and focus on God. As God talked about the holidays and festivals the Israelites were to observe, He emphasized that those holidays were to be days where the people stopped their work and honored Him.

In Matthew 12, Jesus indicates that the Sabbath is more complicated than just not working. Jesus says that He is "Lord of the Sabbath" as He heals and provides for others.

I think this indicates that, yes rest is important. But it's not just about rest from work for the sake of resting. It's rest from work for the purpose of honoring God in contemplative worship as well as honoring God by helping others. You might think about the greatest commandments as applied to a day off--love God and love others with this day. Part of the Sabbath for the Israelites was to trust that God would provide on the day before the Sabbath what was needed on the Sabbath (so work on the Sabbath was lack of trust). Looking at Jesus' actions, part of the Sabbath is taking time to spend helping others, again, trusting that God will provide. Those seem like good things to do, even today.