“Remember
the Sabbath Day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all
your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to The Lord your God. You
shall do no work – you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your
livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days The Lord
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in the them, but rested the
seventh day. Therefore The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated
it.” Exodus
20:8-11 NRSV
We
have become a Sabbath-less nation; indeed we have become a Church that defies
the Sabbath. It occurs to me, however, that it is not strictly about defying
a direct and specific commandment of The Lord. What reaches deeper is that we
deliberately decline a profound gift. Yet what we may call a Sabbath
for ourselves such as in going out to eat, going to an amusement park, or doing
any other thing that compels others to work, we deny them this
extraordinary gift even the “livestock” are entitled to!
Some
have said Sabbath will not mean the same from one to the other, while others
might suggest the Sabbath does not necessarily have to be on a particular
day. The Word, however, does not allow this ambiguity and, in fact, goes
a little deeper when Moses again emphasizes the deeper meaning of what Sabbath
is about: “The Israelites shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath
throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign
forever between Me and the people of Israel …” (Exodus 31:16-17)
In
other words, it is not only the means by which we are permitted (commanded) to
distance ourselves from the secular world; it is entirely about reconnecting to
the Divine and Eternal world which is to come. We are to “remember” the
Sabbath, “keep” the Sabbath, and “observe” the Sabbath not only as a day of
rest but also as the “perpetual covenant”; that is, we carve out an entire day
to remember who we truly are “forever”.
Those
six days are what we do, but the Sabbath Day reminds us of something much
bigger and which goes much deeper: we are connecting not only to The Eternal
One, we are also staying connected to our Eternity! And we know too well
how easily we forget. This is why we are commanded to “remember”, then
“keep”, and then “observe” in the way we order our lives on that day.
Only
when we practice this absolute commandment can we ever come to fully appreciate
the Gift that is within. It is not something to be taken lightly, for “whoever
does any work on it shall be cut off from among the people” (Exodus
31:14). And lest we forget, Jesus came “not to do away with The
Law but to fulfill it” (Matthew 5:17) – to show us how to honor
and observe and rejoice in what we’ve been given: the only real way we be
constantly mindful of who we truly are beyond the grave!
Honor
The Lord by “remembering”, “keeping”, and “observing” all that has been handed
down to us by our faithful ancestors. It meant enough to them to do all
possible to help us to remember and to stay connected. Like all
commandments, it is more than an “order”; it is a Gift meant to be used and
shared. When we learn to use it properly, we will learn to share it
generously.
Blessings,
Michael
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