Shabbat (Sabbath)
We live in a neighbourhood that is mostly orthodox Jewish. Come Friday afternoon, many of them are doing last minute shopping in preparation for the sabbath, or, more properly, ‘shabbat.’ Families gather in homes before sundown, as it delineates the beginning of shabbat. On Saturday many walk to one of the two local synagogues. Jewish shops and businesses owned by the observant are shut for the day.
The sabbath separates them from the communities they live among. They are different and live differently - not unhappily. Throughout history, wherever possible, Jewish communities have kept and hallowed the Sabbath. In many ways it defines them. They have been variously ridiculed, persecuted, even killed for their dogged belief that the Sabbath day belongs to God.
They treat it with due reverence and seriousness; they are clear what it stands for and why it should, nay must, be observed. We, on the other hand, well, I’m not sure we know what we believe. And because of that we are missing something that is of practical and spiritual significance.
We rightly confess to Jesus being the fulfilment of the law, in that he fulfils, not abolishes, it. He is our Sabbath rest, Hebrews declares, which comes to us by the gift of faith. Faith enables us to cease from striving to do God’s will, and God gives us the Holy Spirit to fulfil the purpose of the law – namely, love of God and others. We are no longer captive to the law, which empowered sin, nor are we any longer needing to live under condemnation. We are now, by faith, by allegiance, in Christ who is our sabbath - our shabbat.
The purpose of the Law is completed/fulfilled in Christ. But that doesn’t mean the value or point of the Law is null and void. The Ten Commandments haven’t been suspended or abolished, as if no longer necessary. They stand any community in good stead. Many of our laws are premised on the prohibitions and exclusions of these commandments.
As to sabbath, it does pay to remember the day of rest wasn’t inaugurated by Moses. He incorporated it into the Law, but it was the Creator God who instituted it. He rested after the six days of creation. This is not because He was ‘plum tuckered out.’ It marked out the dignity, godliness and necessity of a day of rest. God did – we need to, after our six days of creative activity. Anyone that failed to keep sabbath would always incur the penalty of breaking sabbath – death, and in our case, it is a slow death.
We have become captive to the philosophy that celebrates non-stop work, as though it were noble, when in fact, it is foolish in the extreme. And it declares that we don’t trust God; lost time equals lost opportunity and lost opportunity equates to lost financial benefit. Except that it doesn’t, as God has so constructed this cosmos and our place in it that resting one day brings with it benefit, not loss - loss is the result of not resting. Resting one day, we are better focussed for the six, family/relationship is celebrated, and the breakneck pace of the frenetic is calmed.
Nobody is more guilty of sabbath violation that the successful. Convinced their success is in large part dependent on their energy and focus they fail to moderate their pace of life – until, that is, they have a meltdown (always seen by others as imminent) and fail in either their integrity or health.
It is not uncommon amongst church leaders, who end up discovering an unsustainable pace is – unsustainable. They fail to see the frailty of their humanity and, more importantly, the wisdom the God; sabbath is, amongst other things, a buffer zone.
A sabbath isn’t just a good idea; it is a necessity. You don’t have to keep Saturday, nor necessarily Sunday. That aspect of the law, we aren’t bound to, but one day a week given to rest is wisdom. Younger church leaders are taking this more seriously than their overworked elders. They see the inclusion of sabbath as, honouring to God as well as their families, and contributing to a sustainable pace of living. It may be a quiet revolution in which the whole person is considered and cared for.