Growing up, the idea of keeping the Sabbath was challenging for my family. My dad worked at a hospital, and people did not wait to get critically injured or ill until the day of worship was over.

Being legalistic meant that my childhood church didn’t make many exceptions for not working on Sunday. They even suggested–but didn’t often follow–the notion that making other people work on Sunday was just as bad as working oneself. (Going to restaurants after church wasn’t unheard of).

There was also the suggestion that the sort of rest on a Sabbath should be more than just cessation of labor and having fun. Rest ought to be spiritual.

On some level, my childhood church got it right: the Sabbath is more than not working. But, what?

As often is the case, the life and words of Jesus illuminate the purpose of a particular spiritual practice and the ways we get it right and wrong.

As a starting point, we must consider that Jesus said: “The Sabbath was made for man; not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)

The Lord of the Sabbath

Given the above passage, God seems shockingly humanitarian in his impulses. Human beings are meant to benefit from the Sabbath. 

Let’s consider Exodus 23:9-13 to find out how the Sabbath is “for man”:

“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

“For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

“Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.”

Let’s list out some of the commands here:

  • Do not oppress a sojourner
  • Allow the domestic animals, servants, the foreigner (alien) to be refreshed
  • Allow the poor and then the animals to eat in your fields
  • Do not mention (worship?) other gods.

The Sabbath seems unexpectedly attuned to social problems: feeding the poor, giving rest to the foreigner or alien temporarily in your land (a sojourner). 

Only toward the end of the passage does the attention turn to other gods and worship. Perhaps a large part of what distinguishes the worship of God is the behavior of his people toward others.

With this context, the criticism of Jesus’ disciples for picking grains in the fields to stave off hunger demonstrates how far the religious elite missed the mark.

Lawful and Unlawful

“One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?'” (Mark 2:23-24)

Again, human laws or interpretations of divine law collide unfavorably with divine intent. Jesus condemns the pharisees’ ideas:

“‘Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?’ And he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.’” (Mark 2:24-28)

God is reminding us, as he did the pharisees, that he wants a particular outcome in human affairs.

But, what that outcome is requires a few more stops.

What does God Want?

In other gospels, this passage is contextualized by Jesus healing on the Sabbath (Matthew 12), to which the pharisees object. “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath,” Jesus retorts (Matthew 12:12). 

In Matthew 12, Jesus is also accused of casting out demons with the power of demons, which Jesus dismantles as a blasphemous argument.

In Luke 6, Jesus heals and also declares beatitudes, or blessings, on the poor (v. 20), the hungry and weeping (v.21), and those hated for his name (v. 22).

The people doing the hating are predominantly the religious elite in these passages, which is sobering.

Jesus, as God, seeks to bring help and healing to the oppressed and forgotten people in society when and where they need it, to the consternation of the religious leaders.

What’s our reaction like?

The Sabbath versus our Political and Social Values

If you’re a liberal or a conservative–or something else entirely–you have social values.

How do they align with God’s Sabbath values?

  • Do you personally help the poor, or do you rely on someone else (whether the government or private charities) to do so?
  • What about the foreigner, the sojourner, the alien: do they encounter you and walk away refreshed–regardless of your political position? Or, do you forget that you are a sojourner with no permanent dwelling in this world? (Hebrews 13:14)
  • Are you devoted to God as Lord of the Sabbath, or has something else taken the place of God in your life, when it comes to dictating your behaviors? Do you invoke other gods: politicians, movie stars, scholars, columnists, talk show hosts, when determining your values? Or does what God says about the Sabbath determine how you treat others or how you vet their ideas?

In the end, the Sabbath is about far more than taking a break once a week: it is a worldview without which we miss the heart and directives of God.

The Sabbath is unexpectedly attuned to social problems: feeding the poor, giving rest to the foreigner, etc. The question is: How much do you align with God's Sabbath values? Click To Tweet