sermon excerpts: "Sabbath Present: Too Tired to Rest"

Nehemiah 13: 15-22, Mark 2: 23-28

In our world today we can plainly see that Sabbath has been forgotten. It doesn’t take a lot of research or thought to list off the reasons why Sabbath is disappearing from our lives. It is an age of Sunday shopping, jobs with unpredictable schedules, sports practices. It is an age of all things convenient, and apparently, remembering that one day was not for work is inconvenient. ...
It seems we have competing agendas in the scripture lessons today. Nehemiah, as the newly returned exile and newly appointed governor of Judah, seeks to restore the glory of the kingdom before the Babylonian invasion and to restore the relationship of the people with God. He’s known for rebuilding the walls of the city, but we see here that he goes to great lengths to preserve the Sabbath.

Nehemiah closes down the city of Jerusalem, using the newly rebuilt walls to keep those who would break the Sabbath out. Yes, desperate times call for desperate measures, but we can imagine the effect that such bully tactics might have on the people.

Shutting the doors to business and commerce, people grudgingly went into Sabbath day, not contemplating the wonder and greatness of God, not appreciating family or giving thanks. The people spent Sabbath thinking about the work that wasn’t being done that still needed to be done. The business owners thought about money that wasn’t being made. It very much was a negative exercise of focusing on things not done.

Do we try to legislate and police faithfulness and spiritual care by force and might or can we adapt and shift to effectively address the quirks of our particular time and place? Such is the age old dilemma of the church, the synagogue, the mosque, the temple and any other faith community.

Jesus however, speaks about the spirit of Sabbath rather than the law of Sabbath. The purpose of the Sabbath is to nourish the soul, to honour our spirit by remembering God, to celebrate creation and to cherish our lives. In Nehemiah’s own words, it is about relieving “all kinds of burdens”. In keeping with this understanding, Jesus and his disciples nibbled a bit on the food that was in a field to feed oneself and to ease the burden of hunger. The Pharisees and lawyer-types made a big deal because this was done on the Sabbath.

... The fact that Christ rules over the Sabbath is indicator that he rules over time itself. And perhaps it’s instructive to think this is a commandment for us to rule over our time, make the priorities and choices that nourish and nurture us, that work for the benefit of the world.

Yet we see that if we do not take Sabbath for ourselves, our bodies will take it for us. They break down, we get sick, sometimes so much so that we have to stop our lives completely. (And even though the health expert on Oprah last week said that it was very clear that the more rest we have, the healthier we are, I do need to clarify that this not to say that every affliction or disease is because we don’t take time to rest – sometimes things just happen).

This principle extends to include the component of Sabbath that is care for creation and all others. If we do not extend this care ahead of time, the earth will find a way to rest. We see it happen in the form of drought and famine, of devastating forest fires, all signs and means of creation rebelling against the burden placed upon it.

It’s a fairly simple message, make the time to rest and rejuvenate, find time to focus on God not just in church or in worship, but in the ordinary and everyday part of life. That’s why Sabbath is intended to be a whole day of the week, one-seventh of our entire life.

We have to see Sabbath as an investment in ourselves and in the future, not so much as a time to refuel as the proposed theme for the now cancelled young adult event advertised, but as a time to pre-fuel. We may not have mastery over time and space the way that Christ had, but we are able to budget our time effectively and prioritize faithfully so that we’re better able to ease the burdens of others, of our world and our lives.

One last thing: Sabbath is not the absence of work as much as it is fullness of life. We see the bumper stickers that proclaim “I’d rather be ______” Sabbath is an invitation to be doing what we’d rather be doing (hopefully being here in worship is one of the things) because when we’re pursuing our interests and our passions, we nurture ourselves, we replenish our life energy and we honour the Holy One who made us.