Pentecost 12C

I have a confession to make: I am concerned that haven’t been "keeping” the Sabbath Day. I’ve been aware of this for a while now. Now before we go any farther, let’s be perfectly clear on what we’re talking about. Let’s define the terms, because there are different views on this.

According to the Old Testament, the Sabbath Day is technically on Saturday. Sunday is the first day of the week, Saturday is the seventh day—the day of rest. Here’s what the Small Catechism says: “THE THIRD — ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.’

6 What does this mean?

Answer: 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. [Theodore G. Tappert, ed., The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959), 342.]

Well…that didn’t clarify much for us. How about the Large Catechism:

The Book of Concord (The Third Commandment)

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT — 78 “You shall sanctify the holy day.” 79 Our word “holy day” or “holiday” is so called from the Hebrew word “Sabbath,” which properly means to rest, that is, to cease from labor; hence our common expression for “stopping work” literally means “observing a holy day or holiday.” 80 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. 81 In time, however, the Jews interpreted this commandment too narrowly and grossly misused it. They slandered Christ and would not permit him to do what they themselves were in the habit of doing on that day, as we read in the Gospel—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. 82 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.

Luther goes on to explain that “we keep holy days…first, for the sake of bodily need… [and] secondly and most especially, we keep holy days so that people may have time and opportunity, which otherwise would not be available, to participate in public worship, that is, that they may assemble to hear and discuss God’s Word and then praise God with song and prayer.” [Ibid., 376.]

Did you notice how Luther started this article in the Large Catechism? He doesn’t use the word “Sabbath” this time. Now he simply says “the holy day”. He does this on purpose, to point out that as Christians, we are not restricted to a particular time or day, as the Jews were. They were commanded to keep a particular day set apart as special. But Christ himself reminds us in Mark 2:27

Mark 2:27 (ESV)

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

So how did we get to Sunday from Saturday? For this, I’ll share with you what I learned on my trip to the Holy Land. During our visit to Capernaum, we visited Peter’s house. As with many holy sites, there is a church build write over the top of it. The floor of the church is glass, so that you can see the remains of Peter’s home. First you see the walls of the smaller, original structure… and then you can see where they had to expand the building to accommodate more people as they turned it into a gathering place for their “home church”.

You see, Peter’s house was just a 100 yards or so from the front steps of the local synagogue. Originally, as we read in Acts, the apostles would preach the Gospel in the synagogues during Sabbath worship. People would listen, and the church would grow. But as we heard from Paul, some Jews would just not allow this, and they stopped letting them share the Gospel on the Sabbath. At first, they would tell the Apostles “you can use the synagogue tomorrow (Sunday), but not on the Sabbath.” So for a while, the Gospel began to be shared in the synagogues on the first day of the new week. And as we read in the earliest Christian writings, this was fitting, as Christ was raised on Sunday, and to worship him on that day is to remember his glorious resurrection. It is the beginning of a new creation. Sunday is the day that the greatest of God’s promises to His people is realized - He has conquered sin, death, and the devil, and our eternity is assured. Jesus’ resurrection proves this and gives us comfort and hope, knowing that eternity is secure. Thanks be to God!

Sunday worship for Christians is most appropriate and fitting. Eventually, Peter and the other apostles were completely kicked out of the synagogues, and began to meet in homes, eventually constructing their own church buildings. But the practice of worshiping on Sunday stayed.

The Book of Concord (The Third Commandment)

87 [W]hen you are asked what “You shall sanctify the holy day” means, answer: “It means to keep it holy.” What is meant by “keeping it holy”? Nothing else than to devote it to holy words, holy works, holy life. In itself the day needs no sanctification, for it was created holy. But God wants it to be holy to you. So it becomes holy or unholy on your account, according as you spend the day in doing holy or unholy things. 88 How does this sanctifying take place? Not when we sit behind the stove and refrain from external work, or deck ourselves with garlands and dress up in our best clothes, but, as has been said, when we occupy ourselves with God’s Word and exercise ourselves in it.

Ok, so that part I think we’re doing fairly well. We gather together in God’s house on the holy day to hear His Word and receive His Sacrament. But how about the rest? Do we spend the day doing holy or unholy things? This is Jesus’ lesson to the ruler of the Pharisees and his guests. We know that Jesus healed on the Sabbath at least a few times from what we read in the Gospels. Each time, he would be accused of “work” on the Sabbath. Today’s reading is his direct response to that accusation.

Now that we’ve read Luther’s explanation, Jesus’s act in Luke 14 makes even more sense, doesn’t it? Healing a sick man is certainly a holy act. It sanctifies that entire event as a great and holy thing that Jesus has done for the man with dropsy. That would, I think, make that day holy regardless of when it fell on the calendar. And his question to them about their son or their ox falling into the well shows that they would have done the same thing.

Over and over, Jesus teaches that sin begins in the heart. I daresay that so does obedience. It also begins in the heart. When we know what God has done for us in His Son…when we appreciate how deep and rich God’s grace is… when we ask ourselves “how do I want to live my life, knowing what God has done for me?” - that is when the Holy Spirit will work on our hearts, doing that thing Luther calls “sanctification”. Making us more holy. Leading us to do holy things.

Yesterday was a holy day. I wish I could have captured the feeling we had while we were putting all those flood buckets together. Mary Bates, the director for the NALC’s Disaster Response efforts, told us that what we were doing would go to bless people that we would likely never meet. But the people who would receive these buckets are in such dire need that we can’t even imagine. But these seemingly inexpensive buckets and their contents are providing some vital tools to help those devastated people as they recover from tragedy. And these resources are ALWAYS given with God’s Word and Christian love.

The work we did yesterday was unquestionably Kingdom work., not because of the work itself, but because it was surrounded by God’s Word, which, as Luther says, “92 At whatever time God’s Word is taught, preached, heard, read, or pondered, there the person, the day, and the work are sanctified by it, not on account of the external work but on account of the Word which makes us all saints. Accordingly, I constantly repeat that all our life and work must be guided by God’s Word if they are to be God-pleasing or holy. Where that happens the commandment is in force and is fulfilled.” [Ibid., 377] We read God’s Word when we started and when we finished, and God was among us as we worked. In the same way, God was with all of you who brought supplies or provided funds to purchase those supplies. And all throughout this, God is showing us little glimpses of what Christian community truly is. This is how we are to love our neighbor. And yesterday, this is how we sanctify our day by reading God’s Word and listening to His Gospel proclaimed, and spending the day doing holy things.

Our society has us doing more and more “things”. We are all busy, aren’t we? There’s always too much to do, and not enough time to do it. I intend to spend some time learning more about God’s teaching about the 3rd Commandment, and how we should rest, how we should be deliberate at least once a week in doing holy things, and how to live that as Christians. Many of you probably remember what Sundays used to be like, when every business was like Chick Fil A - closed on Sunday. You could barely even get gas in your car. Now, Chick Fil A and Hobby Lobby are “weird” for closing on Sunday. Can you imagine if Sunday went back to being a true “holy day” for all of us?

One of my mentors says that he and his wife are resolved to not do anything on Sundays that requires anyone else to work. I think that’s a darned good start. But however this takes shape in my household, it has to start in my heart, as I ask God to bring me closer to Him, and to help me to follow His will for me and for my family. As we get better at keeping the holy day holy, I pray that it would be a means for helping those around us to see God’s love for all of his children.