sermon excerpts: "Sabbath - Back to the Future"

Leviticus 25: 1-21; Deuteronomy 15: 1-11

In the Leviticus reading, we find ourselves on Mount Sinai, the same holy mountain where Moses received the covenant with God, the Ten Commandments, including the 4th commandment to keep the Sabbath holy. Here, we learn that Moses also gets instruction from the LORD about the 7th year.

God instructs us to take an agricultural and ecological Sabbath, to let the land lie fallow and labour not upon the fields. God will provide. In our present day world of markets and quotas and agribusiness, this is impossible.

The lesson in Deuteronomy speaks of an economic Sabbath. In addition to responding generously and uncomplainingly to the needs of the poor and disadvantaged, all unpaid debts are to be forgiven and forgotten. In our present day world of mortgages, credit cards, interest rates and stock markets, this too is impossible.

... Might we be able to see the benefit in a fresh start for all people, for creation? But to ask farmers and bankers to give up their livelihoods for a year seems far-fetched. Outlandish even. Unrealistic.

Yet no more or less so than the plagues that attacked Egypt, the Angel of Death passing over, or the Red Sea parting for the Israelites, or the manna and quails feeding the people in the wilderness for 40 years. But these are all acts of God, all the people had to do was choose to believe, to receive. In the miracle of grace, all we have to do is open the gift that has been wrapped up and set in front of us.

What is truly miraculous would be the fact that Sabbath and jubilee, forgiveness and rest depends on us. This time we are the ones who have to take action, not God. It is our turn to give: to creation, to the less privileged, to the needy, to our own spirits. And in doing so we give to God.

Everyone receives God’s grace and forgiveness. The basis for these extended Sabbath traditions is a remembrance and thanksgiving for the Israelites’ deliverance from Egypt, from a time when the chosen people of God were nothing but slaves in a mighty empire’s economic machinery. It was a reminder to treat others as they would have liked to have been treated; it was a command to care for the slaves, immigrants and aliens in their midst.

It’s a built-in safety net, the assurance that well, no matter how poorly my life turns out, at least in 7 years I get a chance to try again. Everything will be reset, the playing field is leveled and every person will have every opportunity to make of their life what they will. It’s like the reset button on the Nintendo or Xbox, we get to start all over again without past mistakes or episodes of bad luck to haunt us.

Yes, a lot can happen in 7 years, a business can begin boom and bust. So could a musician. A TV series can go to syndication and reruns. A student could get a high school and college education. But at the end of all of that, it bears remember that we are no better or worse than anyone else, that we all are equal in God’s eyes.

So why can’t the world see with God’s eyes? Sabbath is an attempt to do this: one day a week, even every 7th year. Leviticus goes on further to introduce the idea of a year of Jubilee after 7 sets of 7 years – the fiftieth is particularly hallowed.

All real estate and property is redistributed equally. There’s a built-in system of checks and balances that ensures that all people would have enough, that the rich would never get too rich or the poor never gets too poor. I could launch into a whole other sermon about Jubilee and its promises and hopes for this world.

Hopefully after 3 weeks of this theme, you get the point that Sabbath is more than going to church and not having any fun on Sunday. It is an expression of faith, of relationship with those around us, of feasting, celebrating, easing burdens. Which is why Sabbath is so biblically diversified with a real and significant impact on economics, agriculture, societal dynamics, political history, as well as spiritual care and growth.

The ongoing message is that no one should be in need. We cannot afford to be hard-hearted or tight-fisted with our resources and energies, with our love and compassion. We know that the world is overworked and undernourished. We are working harder, not smarter.

For the future of the Sabbath, and for our sense of spirit, we turn to an ancient Hebrew vision of Jubilee and the seventh year. And this little-known, often ignored directive captures a lot of what Sabbath is about: hard work and sacrifice, easing burden, giving rest to others, finding meaningful rest for ourselves, preparation for a new beginning.