The Sabbath - A Gift to Humankind

9.30am Sunday 13 July 2008

Readings: Deuteronomy 5:12-15; Mark 2:23-3:6; 2 Corinthians 4:5-12 TNIV

Israel is a land of contrasts. On the first day of our tour of Israel the girls and I were able to see the something of this when we descended into the rift valley where the Dead Sea is located. Apart from some irrigated areas further north, the whole area is a barren wasteland. However, as we travelled south from Tel Aviv and before turning inland to go down to the Dead Sea, we saw large expanses of fertile ground in which grain crops grew in abundance. It was obvious that the country had the potential to produce all that it needed to feed its population, for it was not only here that such farms were common, but also in the extensive valley to the west of the Golan Heights where there are a number of Kibbutz cultivating the area. These had been set up in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when Jews were buying land in what was then Palestine. The Arabs would only sell land that they believed was infertile and unfarmable, but the Jewish people who bought this land invested time and money and energy to drain the swamps. Now these areas provide a sizeable proportion of the grain and fruit production of the country.

It helped me imagine the scene pictured in today's reading from Mark's Gospel where we are told, "Jesus was going through the grainfields." They were probably not as extensive as they are today as in the first century the fields were ploughed by bullocks and harvested by hand, but it illustrates the kind of crops they might have expected. What Jesus' disciples did on this occasion by eating some of the grain was a perfectly legitimate thing for any passer by to do. There was nothing wrong in their plucking "heads of grain" and eating them for the law permitted this. It stated, "If you enter your neighbour's grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to the standing grain."[1] That is, they could pick what they could eat in the field, but could not take anything away from the field. However, the problem was that they did it on the Jewish Sabbath, which if we pronounce it correctly, it is 'Shabbat,' and this is what the Pharisees took exception to. We read from Deuteronomy 5 this morning God's command to his people about Sabbath observance. God said to his people that they were not permitted to work on that day. They could eat, of course, as this was necessary for life, but they were not to do what they normally did the other six days of the week.

The precedent for making this day different from other days in the week went back to the time of creation in Genesis when after creating the heavens and the earth and all that was in it, God rested from all his work on the seventh day. Genesis tells us, "Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."[2] Keeping the seventh day is what is known as a 'creation ordinance', because it was in place from the time of creation, centuries before the Law was given to Moses on Mt Sinai. However, there were those who wanted to be precise about what God meant by 'working' on the Sabbath, and so over time they accumulated literally thousands of petty rules and regulations that a strict Jew would need to observe if he (or she) wanted to obey this fourth of the Ten Commandments. In the Mishnah they had defined thirty-nine different categories of work that were unlawful on the Sabbath, and four of them were reaping, winnowing, threshing and preparing a meal. Jesus' disciples, by plucking the grain, rubbing it in their hands so that the husks would come off, and eating it, had broken the law, and the Pharisees took issue with Jesus about it. They said to Jesus, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"[3] The fact that the Pharisees were with Jesus while he travelled about the country gives the impression that they were like the secret police, shadowing Jesus wherever he went, watching his every move, noting everything he said, and then reporting it to their superiors. They were there in the synagogue, too, most likely in the front seats where they usually sat.

Jesus answers their criticism by reminding them of an incident in the life of David when, fleeing for his life from Saul, he came to the priest at Nob seeking food, for he was hungry. On that occasion the priest had given him the "consecrated bread" from off the altar in the tabernacle, which only the priests were permitted to eat.[4] Jesus cites this as an example of where human need took precedence over the requirements of the Law. Jesus then says, "The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."[5] That is, God instituted the seventh day as a day of rest for the welfare of humankind. It was given to enhance the life of his people. And when rightly understood and observed we need to realise what a wonderful provision it is, which we will look at further in a moment. And in his final statement in Mark 2, "the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath," Jesus is reminding his listeners and us today that all of life comes under his Lordship.

The second incident in our reading from Mark took place in the synagogue. We are not told which synagogue it was. On our travels in Israel we went into a number of synagogues still in use today. The remains of the synagogue at Capernaum where this healing may well have taken place is a popular tourist attraction in Galilee. On this occasion in Mark 3 there is present a man with a "shrivelled hand." People would gather in the synagogue to listen to the Scriptures being read and interpreted, sing Psalms and pray. On the flight from Istanbul to Tel Aviv I sat beside an orthodox Jew who shared that they still do this today. He said that each year the whole of the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, would be read during the course of the 52 Sabbaths each year, along with readings from the Prophets and the Writings which make up the rest of their Scriptures. This means that a good part of their service would be taken up with the reading of Scripture.

On this occasion in Mark, the Pharisees were present in the synagogue, and it is very clear from what Mark tells us that they were not there to worship. They "were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal ... on the Sabbath." Now Jesus knew this, and it grieved him greatly. He could see what motivated their intense interest in what he was about to do, and that he would be taking a step to confirm his fate by helping this needy man. According to the Gospel to the Hebrews, of which only fragments remain to this day, this man was a stonemason who needed the use of his hands to earn his livelihood. He was too ashamed to beg. Now if Jesus had been prudent he would not have healed him that day. But that was not Jesus' way. When confronted with this human need his heart went out to the man. Note what he does. He does not take him into a corner of the building and say, "Look, it is a bit difficult for me to help you now. Those agents from Jerusalem are after my scalp, and I would be putting my life in jeopardy if I helped you today. Come back tomorrow and I will see what I can do." Never would Jesus have said such. When confronted with a need, even when it meant endangering his own life, he met it straight away. He asks the man to "stand up in front of everyone." In other words, what he wanted everyone to see what he was about to do. And by standing in front of everyone the man with the withered hand would have been directly in front of the Pharisees, seated in the front seats as usual. Jesus then directs a question to the Pharisees. "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" There is a stony silence. The answer to Jesus' question is obvious. All eyes would be upon the Pharisees. Jesus has swept aside their legalistic attitude to what is right and wrong on the Sabbath to focus in on its real significance. You could imagine them squirming in their seats, and so they should be feeling uncomfortable, because their practice of the law was callous and insensitive when confronted with human need. They were more devoted to their principles than being concerned for someone whose livelihood had been taken from him, and this fact that they did not care angered and grieved Jesus. According to their interpretation of the Law healing was forbidden on this day. Medical attention could only be given if a life was in danger, which was clearly not the case with this man. This leads us to the first application we can draw from this passage,

1. The danger of a HARDENED heart, a heart that refuses to allow the compassion of Christ to motivate its actions. Paul warns of this danger in his letter to the Ephesians. He writes: "...I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. "They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed."[6] They have "lost all sensitivity," particularly to what is right and wrong. The answer to Jesus' question as to what is right to do on the Sabbath is clear, but the hardened hearts of the Pharisees separated them "from the life of God" and his priorities for life. They were completely out of touch with the realities of how God wanted life to be lived and his Law to be interpreted. Their legalism had reduced their religion to a matter of keeping rules. Their hardness of heart led to their rejecting their Messiah, and to the eventual downfall of their nation, the last remnants of which capitulated to the Romans at Massada in ?72AD. Jesus had asked, was it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do evil, to save life or to kill, and on that same day, the Sabbath, the Pharisees joined forces with the Herodians, the court entourage of Herod, and whom they would normally consider unclean, to do evil and kill Jesus. They were deeply serious about it because they sincerely believed they were doing God's will. Jesus was "deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts." Be wary of the danger of a hardened heart. Jesus invites us to come to him, and it is the hardness of our hearts that resists his call. The Scriptures say, "Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart."[7] The Bible is full of warnings about this because it darkens our understanding[8] and separates us from the life of God.

 

2. The GIFT of Sabbath. This is a wonderful provision that God has given from the time of creation. We can see from this passage that it had come into bondage to pernickety rules and requirements that were a far cry of God's original intention for this day. We know that in the not too distant past Sunday was observed with dour religiosity, as excerpts from the literature of that time confirm. Robert Graves wrote a poem entitled The Boy Out Of church which has these lines: I do not love the Sabbath, The soapsuds and the starch, The troops of solemn people Who to salvation march. In Charles Dickens novel, Little Dorritt, Mr Arthur Clennam bitterly recalls how he hated Sunday as a day when he was threatened perdition. There are still remnants of the strick observance of the Sabbath in Great Britain. In the Scottish Isles, the Caledonian McBrayne ferries do not run on a Sunday for this reason because it is still considered a holy day. In most of the Western world Sunday observance has gone to the other extreme. Advertisers sell us the line that the weekend is made for drinking certain brands of beer or attending sporting events, and many take advantage of the wide variety of diversions on offer during the weekend. However, God is infinitely wise, and as our Creator knows what is necessary for normal and healthy living. This is why he instituted one day in seven as a time for spiritual renewal, and while we never want to go back to a legalistic observance of bygone days, we need to recapture Jesus' liberating vision of this day as a gift. Abraham Herchel in his book The Sabbath sees the great value of this day for our technological age. He emphasises its importance in describing it as the realm of existence where "the goal is not to have but to be, not to own but to give, not to control but to share, not to subdue but be in accord." Many spend all their lives acquiring material possessions but shrink from sacred moments. Everyone needs time to be able to lay aside the feverish pursuit of success, trying "to wring profit from the earth" or amass more goods. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation, from the world of creation to the creation of the world." In our culture we have lost the gift of a day when we can reconnect with the holy and recharge our spiritual batteries. Our labour may produce economic advances, but can make our lives spiritually empty. Lily Tompkin said, "the trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you are still a rat." We need time for enabling our souls (to catch up with our bodies) and must enjoy this gift, remembering that "the Sabbath was made for people." Strict observance of the Sabbath distinguished the Jews from the Gentiles. It was a witness to their faith and beliefs. Likewise as Christians we are called not to conform to this world, and observing one day as a day of rest is a witness to our faith. Instead of heeding the call to bow down to the gods of materialism, or to play with their pile of recreational toys, Christians set aside time to worship their God and celebrate their faith. (Shouldn't feel bad.)

 

We also need to capture Jesus' vision as the Sabbath as

3. A Time for doing GOOD. Jesus puts a proactive aspect on the Sabbath. It is not just a passive observance Jesus is looking for, simply a time to refrain from work, but also a time to do good. And what we do should help, not hinder, those in need. To do evil is always prohibited regardless of the day of the week. Christians stand out by doing good, just as they stood out in early times, when it was said of them, "See how these Christians love one another." The practice of our faith must be more than a ritual. It must lead to service.

 

There is a moving story by Henry van Dyke, which William Barclay makes reference to in his commentary on Mark, the story of The Fourth Wise Man. His name was Artaban. He set out to follow the star and he took with him a sapphire, a ruby and a pearl beyond price as gifts for the King. He was riding hard to meet his three friends, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, at the agreed place. The time was short; they would leave if he was late. Suddenly he saw a dim figure on the ground before him. It was a traveller stricken with fever. If he stayed to help he would miss his friends. He did stay; he helped and healed the man. But now he was alone. He needed camels and bearers to help him across the desert because he had missed his friends and their caravan. He had to sell his sapphire to get them; and he was sad because the King would never have his gem.

 

He journeyed on and in due time came to Bethlehem, but again he was too late. Joseph and Mary and the baby had gone. Then there came the soldiers to carry out Herod's command that the children should be slain. Aartaban was in a house where there was a little child. The tramp of the soldiers came to the door; the weeping stricken mothers could be heard. Artaban stood in the doorway, tall and dark, with the ruby in his hand and bribed the captain not to enter. The child was saved; the mother was overjoyed; but the ruby was gone; and Artaban was sad because the King would never have his ruby.

 

For years he wandered looking in vain for the King. More than thirty years afterwards he came to Jerusalem. There was a crucifixion that day. When Artaban heard of the Jesus being crucified, he sounded very like the king and Artaban hurried towards Calvary. Maybe his pearl, the loveliest in all the world, could buy the life of the King. Down the street came a girl fleeing from a band of soldiers. "My father is in debt," she cried, "and they are taking me to sell as a slave to pay the debt. Save me!" Artaban hesitated; then sadly took out his pearl, gave it to the soldiers and bought the girl's freedom.

 

All of a sudden the skies darkened; there was an earthquake, and a flying tile hit Artaban on the head. He sank half-conscious to the ground. The girl pillowed his head on her lap. Suddenly his lips began to move. "Not so, my Lord. For when did I see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and gave you a drink? When did I see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did I see you sick or in prison, and go to visit you? Thirty and three years I have looked for you; but have never seen your face, nor ministered to you, my King." And then like a whisper from very far away, there came a voice. "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."[9] And Artaban smiled in death because he knew that the King had received his gifts.

 

This morning as we come to Communion, we are thankful for the love of God toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The rest God made provision for on the Sabbath speaks of the eternal rest that will one day be ours in Christ. Jesus not only did good, he was good, for there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.