This morning I want us to look not at the healing but at John’s comment about the healing. “The day on which this took place was a Sabbath..so because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

It was not the intent of the Sabbath commandment that Jesus had offended but the traditions that had grown up around the observance of the Sabbath that over time had become as binding as the commandment itself. In order to keep from breaking the actual commandment to rest from all labor the lawyers had come up with fences or hedges that would protect and warn you long before you actually broke the commandment. They were like the rumble strips placed on the road encouraging us to slow down before we get to the actual danger spot ahead. These were called “chumrot” or fences. For instance, the Law forbids work on the Sabbath, but a fence commands us not to even handle an implement that we would use to perform prohibited work (such as a pencil, money, a hammer), because someone holding the implement might forget that it was the Sabbath and perform prohibited work. There were even elaborate loopholes created that would change the definitions of words to allow people to skirt the commandment without technically breaking the Law.

But Jesus ignored all that. He did not manufacture an exception or plead a loophole. There were no excuses or bargaining. He did not pay any attention to the elaborate hedges of tradition and rumble strips that would have kept him from danger long before actually breaking the Law itself. He simply ignored the tradition that had become more important than the commandment itself. Worse, he said God himself was without their permission also working on the Sabbath and while all the leaders were busily nosing around enforcing all their petty regulations Jesus and his Father were happily and creatively working while ignoring them all. Oblivious to their rules. There are many people who would rather be resisted than ignored. There is something about being ignored that makes them angrier than arguments. It makes them dangerous to be around.

But Jesus does not discard the Sabbath. He may break the traditions that were added but nowhere does he deny the value of the Sabbath itself. Richard Rohr writes in his book about midlife or what he calls the second half of life in “Failing Upward” that rules were made not to be abused but to be used and then set aside at the right time – like training wheels. “People who know how to creatively break the rules also know why the rules are there in the first place. Matthew 5 quotes Jesus six times, “The law says . . ., but I say. . . .” Jesus doesn’t throw out the law. He just goes further with it.

We must love and use the law not for its own sake, but for the sake of getting us started on the journey. What is the law’s goal? What is it leading us toward? Paul says, “The law was our babysitter until the Christ came, and then we could be legitimated by faith” It’s a daring line. We must learn the first half of life’s lessons and internalize them before moving on to the second half of life.

The point is not to get rid of the law, nor is it to glibly obey the law. The purpose of the law is to make us struggle with it long enough so that we can find its real purpose. It’s in the struggle that we learn..The point is to bring awareness to the struggle, to let it teach you, and to let it lead you to a new place.”

So, this morning I want us to look at the commandment but not the tradition. The law intended as a tutor and not as a master.

Steven Covey coined a phrase, “Begin with the end in mind” and I think that applies to the Sabbath this morning. What was in God’s mind when he spoke to the children of Israel about a day of rest? Was there something more than a day of rest in his mind? I think there was and I believe that end is to be found in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians

“For it is by grace you have been through faith – and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

I think it was through the Sabbath that God began the process of teaching them – and us – that everything is a gift. Everything is grace. Nothing comes to us through our own hand or merit.

“Make sure you don’t forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,

the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery;

the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness, those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;

the God who gave you water gushing from hard rock;

the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.

If you start thinking to yourselves, “I did all this. And all by myself. I’m rich. It’s all mine!”—well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors—as it is today.”

This is why Paul says in Galatians, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” A part of the role of the Sabbath was not just to lead us to rest but to lead us to trust.

This is why Jesus says he came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it and the fulfillment of the Law is faith and the recognition that everything is by grace – not just freedom from the constraints of the Law. Sabbath was intended for our good but not stopping there. Think of it as learning to play any instrument. We learn the notes and then we play our scales. But playing the scales is not the purpose of learning an instrument. Music is why we play our scales and master the basics. The same was true with some of the practices of the Law. They were scales on the way to music.

In Exodus 20, God says the original purpose of Sabbath is to be a sign – not just a rule with no meaning or something to be slavishly obeyed. It is a sign of a relationship between himself and Israel. If you are going to create a peculiar people then you create some peculiar characteristics – and the Sabbath is not something people would create on their own. We’ll see that even more when we look at the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee year.

Sabbath is about signs and weekly reminders of our relationship with God, each other and creation. There were five signs that began as reminders and were turned into prohibitions and burdens.

  It is a sign of the world created by a personal God and not chance.

  It is a sign that every created thing needs rest.

   It is a sign that God will provide.

   It is a sign that we are responsible for the poor.

There were 39 forbidden activities eventually and most of them were against being creative or making anything because God rested from being creative. Things as simple as weaving two threads, writing two or more letters of the alphabet, erasing two or more letters of the alphabet, putting the finishing touch on an object, baking, tying or untying. In other words. It was not just work that came bot be forbidden but any act of creativity. I don’t believe this is what God intended and why Jesus said man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath was made for man.

But in spite of their reversing it and becoming slaves to it there were four elements of the Sabbath that were originally and permanently intended for their good.

First, it was a time to cease and enjoy. It was not rest as a way to be more productive but rest as a way to let go and trust God. Aristotle said we rest in order to do even more work. That is not what Scripture says.

A friend of mine once told me that you cannot compete with the ones who work all the time. You have to resign yourself to that one way or the other. He was right for the most part. Yet, people are always amazed that Chick-Fil-A can afford to close on Sunday. Truett Cathy said from the start there must be something special about the way his people view their spiritual life and there must be something special about how Chick-Fil-A feels about its people. “In today’s business world, the closed on Sunday policy may seem to be a costly business decision, But as the company sales figures have consistently proven, Chick-Fil-A restaurants often generate more business per square foot in six days than many other quick-service restaurants produce in seven.” It’s not the magic of being closed on Sunday. It is rest. It is trust.

It’s not irresponsibility or denial but the obedience to a command to stop and put your life back into God’s care. What are the things that wear us out during the week? For most of us it is not physical labor but worry, anxiety, fear and striving. Eugene Peterson said, “I go to sleep to get out of the way for a while,” and the Sabbath is getting out of the way. He went on to say, “We are not ultimately responsible. While we rest, life goes on. There is no healthy responsibility from which we cannot rest. In spite of all that’s wrong, all that needs doing or undoing, all that is wicked, painful, unfair and difficult, God does not need us all the time.

It is rest to look back – not look forward. It is rest to, like God, see what has been done and bless it. However, I can barely remember last week from thinking about the future. How can I bless it? I love the way Ecclesiastes puts it. “I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That every man may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil – that is the gift of God..Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them..this is a gift of God..God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.”

Second, it is a time to congregate. It is not solitude or withdrawing from people. It is not isolation. It is coming together to honor God and his provision. Originally, before all the prohibitions that defined it, it was just that and then became in the New Testament a time of music, talk, food, prayer, and reading. It was more like a party than a prohibition. It was a time to break bread and give thanks. Time and again in the New Testament you see the relationship between breaking bread together and giving thanks. Paul says giving thanks in all things and I think he is is talking about coming together in all things. Supporting each other in all things. Carrying each other’s loads in all things and we do that by congregating. What has survived is donuts, coffee and teaching but I don’t think that was the original plan . The original plan was to come together, break bread and eat together to give thanks together. The Quakers call it a “holy gladness.”

Third, it was a time to contribute. Paul says to the early churches that when they are together they are to set aside some money for the suffering church. James says we are to take care of the poor, the widows and the orphans. Sabbath – and especially the Sabbatical year and Jubilee – tells us that not only are we to recognize God’s provision but we have a responsibility to the poor. It says, “so that there will be no poor among you.” Of course, we all know the verse, “there will always be the poor” but that is not the ideal. Taking care of the poor is not charity. It is a responsibility. It is not voluntary. It is mandatory.

I started wondering this week why Scripture has so few clear definitions of “the poor” and yet there is such a clear expectation that they would be cared for. We have literally thousands of organizations created to take care of the poor and still have no common definition of what it means to be poor. The Old Testament and New Testament are simply focused on our obligation to take care of the poor.

Years ago we did something called “dollar day” in the class. Everyone put a dollar in the pot and we gave the total to someone to do something with it that would benefit the poor – however they chose to define it. The following week they would come back to the class and report what they did with the money.  Maybe it is time to do that again. It is time to contribute.

Fourth, it was a time to concentrate. The Sabbath is “unto the Lord” and not simply a day of rest. It was a time to refocus and not simply recuperate. It was a day of respect for the Lord asnd not just a day to reflect on our own lives. It was time to be grateful for what he has done. It was not a time to do nothing at all for fear of breaking a rule. It was a time to focus on what God has done.

But the weekly Sabbath was not an end in itself. It was preparation for the Sabbatical year. It was a habit with a purpose. It was a “faithful in little then faithful in much.” God doesn’t want just a day a week. He wants a lifestyle of trust and permanent faith in him – a permanent release.

Every seven years, the land was to lie fallow and all agricultural activity was to cease. People were to live off what the land had already provided. The land was given a rest.

Every seven years any claim against a brother was forgiven and the debt was cancelled. It did not forgive business debut – only the debt that was personal.

Every seven years any Hebrew who had indentured himself or his family was to be released.

Every seven years debt carried by the poor was forgiven and they were allowed to ear from the fields anything that grew on its own without cultivation.

In other words, the weekly Sabbath was the way God chose to prepare th people to do something completely counterintuitive and even strange. They were to rest from production and release people from their debts. The poor and those who had become slaves to repay their debt knew their indebtedness would not go on indefinitely. There was hope.

Of course, there were all sorts of cunning and creative ways developed to get out of forgiving debts and releasing slaves and letting the land lie fallow but God was clear – if you will make rest and release a habit of your life I will bless you. If you will have faith that he will provide then he will.

Even the Sabbatical year was not an end in itself. It was the preparation for the Jubilee when every 49 years the people were to be stretched in their faith even more. There was to be a reset.

Not just rest but return. The land could be leased for 49 years but in the 50th year the lease was terminated and the use of the land reverted to its original owner. No land could be sold outright because it did not belong to them. “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.”

Not just rest and return but release. “Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. If one of your brothers becomes indigent and has to sell himself to you, don’t make him work as a slave. Treat him as a hired hand or a guest among you. He will work for you until the Jubilee, after which he and his children are set free to go back to his clan and his ancestral land. Because the people of Israel are my servants whom I brought out of Egypt, they must never be sold as slaves. Don’t tyrannize them; fear your God.” There were to be no generations of people in bondage.

Not just rest, return and release but risk. “Keep my decrees and observe my laws and you will live secure in the land. The land will yield its fruit; you will have all you can eat and will live safe and secure. Do I hear you ask, “What are we going to eat in the seventh year if we don’t plant or harvest?” I assure you, I will send such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant in the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and continue until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.”

So, what do we learn from Sabbath? What should be true in our lives as well?

First, hold things lightly.  There is a limit to what we can hold.

Second, we are not in charge or ultimately responsible. We trust.

Third, we are not to be simply voluntarily charitable. We have a duty.

Fourth, everything is a gift – even the power to produce wealth.

“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”