When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” – Matthew 12:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 28, 2017): Matthew 12

“Anybody can observe the Sabbath, but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week.” The words belong to Alice Walker, an author and activist probably best known for her novel “The Color Purple.” But what she says in intuitive. You cannot make the Sabbath holy simply by observing it. The other days of the week are used in preparation for that one day that we are to make holy. Admittedly, this is sometimes where I fail. The truth is that emergencies don’t often consider Sabbath rest. Funerals happen. Parishioners often say that my lack of Sabbath is acceptable because “I am doing the Lord’s work.” But the reality is that we all need that one day of physical rest and spiritual worship in order to continue to live healthily. The extensive list of pastors who have burned out might be, at least partially, because of a “lack of a Sabbath.”

Jesus was a critic of the idea of Sabbath. It is the only Commandment from the famous list of Ten that Jesus did not reinforce. Instead, Jesus was a violator of the Sabbath. And part of the problem was that the Sabbath had become just another legalistic commitment that people kept religiously. The people observed the Sabbath, but they did not make it holy. It was just another legalistic attempt to force the worship of God with their bodies while doing nothing to encourage the worship of God with their spirits and their minds.

Jesus response was that every day was holy. God was the author of this life and every day belonged to him and worship on every day is his and his alone. And when we truly decide to worship God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength on our non-Sabbath days, worshiping him on the Sabbath and making the Sabbath holy becomes a lot easier because it flows out of our activity during the rest of the week.

Jesus response also made it easier for the early church to change the day of Sabbath, from Saturday to Sunday, the Lord’s Day. The Sabbath break is still incredibly important, but when every day is holy the day celebrated becomes less important. My Sabbath is neither Saturday nor Sunday. I observe Sabbath on Friday. In my week it is the day when it is easiest to stop from my activity (physical rest) and worship God. I don’t even write on a Fridays, although my words do magically appear on this blog. The work is done during one of the other days of the week in preparation for the day that I make holy.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Mark 3