The Message, June 2, 2024: "Sabbath Rest," Mark 2:23 - 3:6

Author: Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
June 04, 2024

 

“Sabbath Rest”
A Message by Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
Mark 2:23 – 3:6

            Many of us in this room grew up with the “Blue Laws.” For those of you who are unfamiliar with the blue laws, they were our Twentieth Century version of Sabbath laws here in the United States. The blue laws did not permit stores to open on Sundays. Restaurants could not open for service until after a certain hour … after church. Many activities, including scholastic sports, were forbidden on Sundays. Sundays were designated as a “family” day, or a day of rest.

            As you might imagine, the blue laws crumbled under the pressure of business owners, as well as those folks who were not “religious” and who felt no need to follow any Bible-based or faith-based rules that were intended to govern their actions. The blue laws crumbled kicking and screaming, but they crumbled.

            When we encounter Jesus and the disciples in our scripture passage this morning, they had run afoul of the Sabbath Laws of the day. The laws … the rules and regulations were very strict. Observance of the Sabbath was one of the Ten Commandments, and it had been reinforced by generations of Jewish prophets and teachers.

            Sabbath rest marked the Hebrew people as God’s special or chosen people. It was what set them apart from their pagan neighbors. It was intended to remind the people that the same God that had created them and all of Creation had rested on the seventh day.

            When I went to Israel on a study tour, I had the opportunity to experience Sabbath Law first-hand.

            The hotel that we were staying in had a “Sabbath” elevator. What is a “Sabbath” elevator, you may ask? It is an elevator that stops on every floor going up and down automatically, and the doors open and close automatically so that the rider does not have to do any work. Pushing the buttons is considered work.

            If you want a good cup of coffee, you will not get one on the Sabbath. The coffee is made the day before and put into large thermal containers. Making coffee creates fire and is considered to be work. On the Sabbath, you get day-old coffee served in a disposable cup.

            In our passage this morning, we heard the Pharisees accuse Jesus and the disciples of breaking the Sabbath Law by picking the grain as they walked through the fields. There were thirty-nine classifications of work that were forbidden under Sabbath law and reaping and threshing were two of them. What the disciples had done was considered to be unlawful.

            Also in our passage, we found ourselves in the synagogue with Jesus when he encountered a man with a withered hand. We saw the Pharisees and the others watch Jesus to see if he would break Sabbath Law once more by healing the man.

            You see, healing was also considered to be “work,” and was also forbidden on the Sabbath. I should point out that medical attention was permitted to be given ONLY if a life was in danger. For example, a woman in childbirth could be helped on the Sabbath. An infection in the throat might be treated on the Sabbath. If a wall collapsed on someone, the people were permitted to move only enough of the stones to see if the person was alive. If they were alive, the rest of the stones could be removed. A broken limb could not be set on the Sabbath. A cut could be bandaged, but no ointment could be applied.

            Jesus placed the poor man with the withered in the center of the synagogue for all to see, and asked, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” (Mark 3:4)

            He was met with silence. Silence. And that grieved Jesus. He was so disappointed by their silence.

            What was the point that Jesus was trying to make? Why was he driving a wagon through the observance of Sabbath Law?

            Because it had become a weapon. It had become a source of fierce nationalism. It had gone from something that set the people apart from their neighbors to something by which the people judged and condemned their neighbors. They had gone from seeing Israel as a Light to the Nations to seeing themselves as children of light and everyone else as living in sin and darkness.

            The people of Israel had lost sight of what the Sabbath was really about. And Jesus sought to remind them.

            The Sabbath is God’s day.

            When Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees at another point and asked, ‘which is the greatest commandment,’ we know how he answered. Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

            Life with God is about love, and forgiveness, and service. The first claim on any person is human need; caring for the suffering, and offering grace and mercy.

            Jesus was saying that their thirty-nine classifications of work that are forbidden on the Sabbath were a hindrance, a millstone hung around their necks, a stumbling block. For Jesus, life in God’s Kin-dom is about listening to the Voice of God and doing what God desires. Life in God’s Kin-dom is about loving God and loving neighbor. The rituals and rules, and regulations, and restrictions were all irrelevant when compared to love in action.

            Observance of sabbath is properly about worshipping God and giving thanks. Yes, it is also about the importance of rest in our lives. But it is also about doing good. It is about saving a life. It is about honoring God by doing God’s work. Genuine reverence for God and loving and serving our neighbors are inextricably linked. And as such, performing acts of kindness and compassion are restorative not only for the person being served or healed, but for the one serving as well. Loving our neighbors is our peace, our rest.

            Marilyn is a member of my previous church family. On July 4, 2013, her husband Gerry passed away. That was a tough summer in the life of our church. I performed ten funerals that summer. At the end of the summer, Marilyn did something remarkable. She invited all of those other widows to her house for Sunday dinner. And then, she invited them to Sunday dinner EVERY Sunday. The number of widows grew to seventeen. Every Sunday they gathered at Marilyn’s home for her “Sunday Soirees.” When she sold her house and moved into a new home, she made sure that the dining room was large enough for seventeen people to gather for dinner.

            That was love in action. That was Marilyn’s sabbath rest.

            And that was exactly what Jesus was talking about. We honor God when we pause in the midst of our rushing and doing … and we listen for God’s Voice. We honor God when we pause in the midst of our self-interest and our self-indulgence … and we listen for God’s Voice. We honor God when we do the things that God calls us to do.

            During our Bible study discussion on Thursday evening, Frank pointed out two words from the passage that struck him. “Was there.” The man with the withered man was there. He was there in front of Jesus and Jesus healed his hand.

            The widows were there in front of Marilyn, and she gathered them together.

            The questions that this passage ask us to consider are: Who is there in front of us? What is God calling us to do?

            May we respond to God’s call in our lives and may that be our Sabbath rest. Amen.

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