It seems to me that the practice of Sabbath at the time of Jesus had two strong streams flowing through it. One is how sacred and forming the Sabbath had been throughout their history. Throughout the scriptures it represents at times possibly the main thing that sets the people of God apart from everyone else. The other is how legalistic and exclusively patriotic it had gotten. There were so many microscopic rules about how you did it and it almost feels like job security for the teachers of the law. Convoluted is what Sabbath seems to have been and it feels impossible to be able to discern what parts are faithful practice and what are just human rules.Into a context steeped this deep in sacred patriotic legalism; Jesus speaks. I think I would be so concerned about not offending people or giving people the impression that I don’t think the Sabbath is valid that I wouldn’t say anything. The pressure doesn’t seem to bother Jesus; in fact he seems mad about the whole thing. Imagine someone today taking a practice that we all hold very dearly and calling it into question. This is what Jesus did; but in calling it into question he reminded them of it’s true meaning. Sabbath is a celebration of life and creation. If certain rules on Sabbath stop someone from entering into new life and new creation (healing) then we have missed the point about Sabbath.
What an amazing thing Jesus was bringing. Once we’ve meditated on that for a while we then have to ask if we will be ask God to use us in being as faith-filled, bold and creative.
1 comment:
...i remember that sabbath was probably one of the things that portions of the 5-alive [books of moses] wouldn't shut up about.
americans could benefit from a sabbath in which they slow down and celebrate life with simplisticy instead of always busying themselves to prove their importance.
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