On the Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to make their way, picking some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
What is the sabbath?
1. A sacred day of rest
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates.
2. Reminder of deliverance
3. Symbolic of creation
In ceasing from labor one is reminded of one’s true status as a dependent being, of the God who cares for and sustains all his creatures, and of the world as a reality belonging ultimately to God.
Craig J. Slane
4. Preview of something greater in the future
He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry — how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the Presence —which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests —and also gave some to his companions?”
Then he told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.”
“So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
What was Jesus revealing?
1. Himself as God
2. Getting “the rest of God” requires the God of Rest
But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest,
All of my will has always been to conquer some horrible feeling of inadequacy… I push past one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being, and then I get to another stage and think I’m mediocre and uninteresting… Again and again. My drive in life is from this horrible fear of being mediocre. And that’s always pushing me, pushing me. Because even though I’ve become Somebody, I still have to prove I’m Somebody. My struggle has never ended and it probably never will.
Madonna
You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.
Augustine of Hippo
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
Sabbath keeping is a publicly enacted sign of our trust that God keeps the world, therefore we do not have to.
William Willimon
Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard… a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ.
Prioritize: Then set and enforce boundaries
Stop: Daily, weekly, monthly, annually
Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.
Maya Angelou
Spiritual Disciplines: Prayer, reading, journaling, and solitude
Take Care: Sleep more, eat better, and move enough
Rejoice: Celebrate in leisure activities
Community: Encourage, worship, and celebrate
Then he told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
