Pentecost 2B, 2024

2nd Sunday after Pentecost, Year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.” These are the words we teach our students in Confirmation class. Luther’s Small Catechism tells us what this means: “We should fear and love God, and so we should not despise his Word and the preaching of the same, but deem it holy and gladly hear and learn it.” [Tappert, 342]

Notice it doesn’t say anything there about rest? Apparently the idea of “day of rest” comes across in Luther’s German, but it gets lost in the translation to English. But anyone who’s studied the Ten Commandments knows that the Sabbath Day is the Lord’s Day to rest. Why would Luther not be more clear on that?

And in Luther’s translation, it says to “remember” the day. Our first reading this morning says to “observe”. In Exodus, when we first see the Ten Commandments, the command is to “remember”. Let me cut to the chase here: if we are going to remember what the Sabbath Day is about, and why God set it apart, then the only proper way to remember it is to observe it. And how do we do that? God Himself gave us the example to follow: to rest.

Luther tells us in his Large Catechism: “In the Old Testament God set apart the seventh day and appointed it for rest and he commanded it to be kept holy above all other days. As far as outward observance is concerned, the commandment was given to the Jews alone. They were to abstain from hard work and to rest, so that both man and beast might be refreshed and not be exhausted by constant labor.” [Ibid., 375]

Holy, as we talked about a couple of Sundays ago, means to be “set apart”. This day is to be different from the other six days. But merely being “different” isn’t enough to properly keep this commandment. It must be not only set apart from the other six days; it must be set apart for God. Genesis 2:3 “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” Luther goes on to say that the Jews took this commandment too far, became too legalistic with it and misused it… “as if the commandment could be fulfilled by refraining from manual labor of any kind. This was not its intention, but, as we shall hear, it meant that we should sanctify the holy day or day of rest. Therefore, according to its literal, outward sense, this commandment does not concern us Christians. It is an entirely external matter, like the other ordinances of the Old Testament connected with particular customs, persons, times, and places, from all of which we are now set free through Christ.” [Ibid., 375–376]

Can you see what Luther is getting at? Just like we read in the Gospels (today’s Gospel lesson is just one example), the Pharisees interpreted anything that took any physical effort at all as “work” or “labor”, and all work or labor of any kind became prohibited on the Sabbath. So they enforced the letter of God’s Law, but not His intent. First and foremost, this day is to be holy - set apart for God. God gave it to us for a purpose, and that is to observe it according to His purpose.

Now I’m sure we can all be the Monday-morning quarterbacks here and say “of course we would have approved of Jesus healing that guy’s hand”… I’d like to think so. Speaking for myself, I’d like to *think* I’d have sided with Jesus on this one. But I’ll be honest, it scares me to think about that. You might remember that last year I wanted to really work hard on properly observing the Sabbath as my Lenten discipline. That’s just FIVE Sundays. Not even five weeks. I think I actually did 1 properly, and I failed miserably. My hope was to use that as a springboard to observe Sabbath properly from that point forward. I didn’t get better; I got worse. Why do you suppose that is?

Is it that my heart wasn’t in the right place? I don’t think so. At least, I certainly hope not. Competing priorities is definitely part of the problem. And here’s another part of the problem: nobody else is observing the Sabbath either. Now, I’m not blaming everybody else for my failure, but it’s a contributing factor. I have to learn to say “no, I’m sorry, not today”. That’s a hard thing for me to do.

Now, if Sabbath is the seventh day, which is Saturday, why do we worship and rest on Sunday? From the beginning of God’s story, Sabbath was the seventh day of the week. This understanding begins in the Creation story, as we just talked about in Genesis 2:3. It also follows God’s Commandment as given to Moses in Exodus 20:11. So God did 2 things: He blessed the day, and He made it holy. It’s important to remember that “‘bless’ is the language of giving, while ‘declare holy’ is the language of claiming. When something is blessed by God, it becomes a [vessel] of his generous giving and an expression of his warm concern. When God declares something holy, he claims it for himself, taking it out of ordinary circulation... and declaring it special.

This [gives us] a clue to God’s intention in requiring man to observe the sabbath. Freed from time-consuming everyday work, man should accept the seventh day as a blessing from his Creator (using it to recall all God’s goodness in creation and to praise him for it), and recognize the claim it makes on his life. As a day ‘set aside,’ the sabbath is a reminder that all time is the Creator’s gift—a fact man acknowledges when he consciously gives back to God part of what is his anyway.”[Elwell & Beitzel, “Sabbath,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1875]

So here in Exodus we find the first definitive teaching in the Old Testament about the sabbath. “In recognition of his Creator, and of the way he is made as a creature, man should stop work one day in seven. Any attempt to work a seven-day week is therefore an affront to humanity as well as disobedience to God.” [Ibid.]

So when we have the commandments re-introduced in Deuteronomy, we have a slightly different presentation of this commandment. This time, God reminds His people that He is not only their Creator, but also their Redeemer. Why the difference? The first teaching is to all of humanity - all of God’s created children - through Israel. This second teaching in Deuteronomy is directed specifically to Israel - God’s redeemed people. The Sabbath “is God’s signpost, pointing not only to his goodness toward all men as their Creator, but also to his mercy toward his chosen people as their Redeemer.” [Ibid.]

There is much to the Old Testament law about the Sabbath, including what may and may not be done by God’s people on that day. It wasn’t intended to stop all activity, just regular, everyday work. God did not want this day to be treated like all the other days. We might not think these details are important, but “obedience to the sabbath law was seen as the main test of the people’s allegiance to the Lord.” [Ibid.] Even more than food laws.

The final part of the OT sabbath law involved worship. Leviticus 23:3 tells us “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.” As a day set apart for God, it is appropriate that part of that day be spent in worship to Him. A day for a holy convocation… a day for a sacred assembly.

So if historically Sabbath was on Saturday, and our Jewish brothers and sisters still celebrate Sabbath on Saturday, why do we worship on Sunday? Two main reasons. First, we know from historical records that the first evangelists began to share the good news during the weekly Shabbat (Sabbath) service in the synagogues. Eventually (as Luke tells us in Acts), the Jewish leaders did not want this to continue, so they made them use the worship space the day after Sabbath, or Sunday. Eventually, they were kicked out of synagogue altogether, but for a time, they preached and worshipped on Sunday. They kept that day after they moved out of the synagogue and into house churches.

The second reason it moved to Sunday, and I think a far more important reason, is that Sunday is the day of Christ’s Resurrection. This event is central to our faith. It is the reason for our hope. We just finished celebrating this event over the last 7 weeks. Every week, we celebrate Christ’s victory over death, on the same day of the week that He rose from the grave. A weekly reminder of what our Savior has done for us. Even more so when we partake of His Body and Blood in the Eucharist.

If Saturday is the 7th day of the week, that makes Sunday the first day of a new week. This is also very appropriate for our worship. Christ’s death and resurrection made all things new. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” A new week, a new creation, a new beginning. Most appropriate for us to worship our Savior on this day of the week.

Earlier, when I quoted Luther, we heard his words that “according to its literal, outward sense, this commandment does not concern us Christians.” [Tappert, 376] Some of the detailed instructions on what’s permissible and what isn’t? Yes, I agree those aren’t as important as they used to be. But the intent remains. God wants us to rest at least 1/7th of our week. Anyone here tired, worn out? How’s your Sabbath treating you? Are you resting, or are you catching up on chores? Are you resting, or are you “busy”?

Remember the day when you couldn’t do anything on Sundays? Why did that change? Because we Christians let it. Imagine what would happen if JUST the Christians in our society properly honored the Sabbath. Refused to take a Sunday shift. Refused to shop or go anywhere that required others to work. If stores and restaurants regularly didn’t have customers on Sundays, eventually, they’d stop being open on that day. Imagine if our whole society could agree on a day of rest. Do you think things would improve? I certainly do.

I would also like to offer this: “rest” as I understand it doesn’t necessarily mean doing absolutely nothing. I know for some people, that would be a sheer nightmare. I would define rest as that which recharges your batteries. Maybe that’s kicking back in your recliner and watching TV. Or maybe it’s going on a walk in the woods, or a bike ride. Maybe it’s some kind of *activity* that you really enjoy, but don’t get to do when you’re working. If it takes effort, but it fills you up, I’d say that’s a fitting way to spend the Lord’s Day… after worship, of course. But what you do is not nearly as important as *why* you do it. If you’re spending it in honor of God, then I’d consider that Commandment kept.

I’ll close with a short story:

One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had. "I don't get it," he said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did." "But you didn't notice," said the winning woodsman, "that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest." [https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/s/sabbath.htm]

Brothers and sisters, let’s all remember what this day is for, why God has given it to us, and spend it - every week - honoring Him.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.