The Christian Sabbath

SUN., SEP. 7, 1997, 6:46 AM
FARM, STUDY

“Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy”. This is one of the 10 Commandments, with some additional words about laboring 6 days and then resting on the 7th. It is a Commandment about balance, originally about a balance between work and rest. As practiced by the Jews it was Saturday, the 7th day of the week, but it began with worship on Friday evening and continued as a day in which no work was to be done.

As Jesus I was criticized for healing a man on the Sabbath. Even a miraculous healing could be construed as “work”. I then asked the question as to whether an animal of the domestic sort (and therefore valuable to a person or family) should be rescued from a life-threatening situation on the Sabbath. The theological answer had to be No, but practicality, as well as compassion, was creeping in, even then. To do such was sin, quite defined. And certainly sin was “around” then.

You Christians changed the Sabbath to Sunday, which is still the first day of the week on your calendars. It is the principal day of worship, and for many of you what you do for a living is not done on Sunday. Yet your culture has become a 7 day culture, and so some must work in order that others might pursue leisure. In other words, some must work so that others may have pleasant and a useful Sunday. Electricity and water are available at a church, so that all that takes place is pleasant and efficient. Some must work in order that these necessities are available.

In your culture Sunday can be a day of much activity. Ministers and other church personnel must see this as a day of work, even as it has to do with worship and fellowship. In your lifetime it has become quite a commercial day. One of the possibilities for leisure is buying… and this is possible only if some are selling, which means working. Some who are “at leisure” want to watch sports, and so some “play”, which, professionally, is a form of work.

So, on this day you shall feed your animals, a form of work, and hopefully, you will complete this Teaching. You shall drive in to church and shall spend several hours there, in worship, study, and fellowship. Then there is more work to be done here, and it shall be a sunny, pleasant day for outside work. Cleaning your rabbit houses is a form of work, certainly, but it is also a gesture of kindness to these animals… and you do have 6 other days to do this. This study is still a mess, and you must start bringing boxes home from your office. Is this work you should and shall do?

The Sabbath should be a day different from the other 6, in some ways acknowledging Me. (7:25 / 8:05) What I see as the “breaking” of this commandment is the way in which it is lived as “just another day”, in relation to Me. Now of course if you faithfully consider and acknowledge Me on this Sabbath I would want you then to carry this over to the other days, as well. Thus, ideally, the Sabbath, as such, would lose significance, for every day would be one of including and depending upon Me.

I see why some work is necessary on this day, in your culture. Still I see much more commercial activity than I favor, and, particularly, involving My Christians. Yet I also recognize that in cultures that more fully “keep the Sabbath” the total consequences are not always better. Yes, Commandments are hard to keep, completely, without some undesirable consequences. That’s why I tend to favor both/and thinking, and I become, thereby, less of an “orthodox Christian”.