How are we to spend the Sabbath? Often we spend it at home, resting, reading, or participating in “lay activities.” Lot’s of questions come up in this vein. Especially focused on how we can keep kids from getting bored.
One questions that comes up frequently among the older set is “can we go out to eat on Sabbath?” It’s frequent appearance suggests it is a question we have trouble answering. We know we aren’t to work, and since we are not cooking or cleaning it is often suggested to be okay. But the repeated asking suggests an unease with this answer.
When I’m asked this question by our youth I ask what the fourth commandment says. Surprisingly, they have trouble answering this question. Most recall “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy” and can add a little more about resting or not working. But when pressed they can’t give the details of the command. But it is in these details we find an answer to our question.
“In it thou shall not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates.”
We see the sabbath is not just for us. Not only are we to rest from work, but all under our influence are to rest from work also. Going out to eat violates this by hiring servants to work for us on the sabbath.
The bigger principle is the sabbath is not only for us, but a time to invite others into that rest. We see Jesus demonstrating this in His life. Often the claims is made that the Pharisees were right, that Jesus violated the sabbath. But the reality is that by His activities He lived out this principle of the sabbath. As He taught how to fully keep the other commandments through the sermon on the mount, His activities demonstrated how incompletely the sabbath was kept.
What Jesus demonstrated already had basis in the scriptures, outlined in Isaiah 58. The people had turned Holy activities into selfish indulgences. The Lord called them to “turn thy foot away from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my Holy day” (v13). Instead of their pleasures God called the people to “loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke” (v6). Along with this imagery of freeing from oppression is a call “to deal thy bread to the hungry, … bring the poor … to thy house … cover [the naked]” (v7).
This is how Jesus lived. On the sabbath Jesus healed the cripple by the pool of Bethesda, freeing him from his burden of infirmity (John 5). And on the sabbath He freed a woman from the bonds of Satan (Luke 13, see v16). We even see hints of feeding the hungry when the disciples plucked grain from the fields (Matthew 12). The Pharisees condemned the hungry for doing what was necessary to eat. But had they understood “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice” (v7) shouldn’t they have dealt their already prepared bread to the hungry freeing them of their work?
The fourth commandment teaches us we are not to free ourselves from the burden of work by burdening others with that work. Jesus teaches that the sabbath is not a call to isolation and inactivity. We are to engage with others for the purpose of easing their burdens. As the Israelites were called to release others from their work in remembrance of God freeing them from slavery, we are called to free others from their burdens, their hunger, their need, their slavery to sin as we remember how God redeemed us from our sin.
And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?
Mark 3:4.
Yes, the sabbath rest is for us. But we are also called to do good. Have we considered how we can be active on the sabbath? Yes, we can sit back and enjoy good messages that teach us about God. But do we also share that message with others who are desperate for the gospel? We can spend time in recreation, enjoying the wonders that God has made. But do we help others see all the good things God has provided for them? We can enjoy a fellowship meal with others. But do we share our food with those who are going hungry?
At times it may even seem that freeing others from their burdens infringes upon our rest. But we should follow the example of Jesus, the one who sacrificed all the joys of heaven for our redemption: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17).
Genomic Equivalence 