It is summer now, and I imagine that there are any number of places that you wish you could be vacationing right about now. One of those places might be a beautiful beach in a beautiful house overlooking the sea. Now, imagine that you actually get to build a house right on the beach. You are building it yourself, of course. You want it to be just right.
As you plan, you make sure that it faces the right direction, so that the windows get light.
As you set the footers, you make sure that the house will be high enough to remain dry, even in a surging storm.
You make sure to leave space around the house for plants and palm trees.
You put up walls and install big windows in order to let the sun in during the day and the moon and stars during the night.
Of course, you do all the plumbing and electrical work, as well as the drywall, the painting, and the placement of furniture. But, such a house would not be complete (it would not be a home) without some pets. So, you get a dog to run with you on the beach, and some tropical birds in a large cage to complete the scene.
And, after all of that hard work it is time to just focus on you. You bring in your own personal items, and then you stop. You lie on the couch and settle in for a nice long rest, staring at the ocean waves through the sliding glass doors.
But, it still does not feel right. Would it not be great to have some friends stop what they are doing, come over, and enjoy some time together at the beach? So, on the weekend, to your beach house they come in order to enjoy some good food, conversation, and of course, the beach.
Now, I want you to imagine that this whole story is not about you building a house, but it is about God building a universe. And, that after all the hard work of creating night and day, and sun, moon, and stars, and plants, and animals, God stops all of God’s work, and invites you to stop your work. God invites you to come to God’s house, and settle into the comfy furniture across from God so that you can rest deeply in God’s presence. That is what those who enjoy each other’s company do after-all.
Remember the Sabbath day and keeping it holy. Taking the Hebrew literally here, we could say, “Remember the ‘stopping’ day so that you can rest in God’s presence.” The Sabbath is a day of rest for a weary people. The Sabbath day is a chance to be in God’s presence, trusting in God for everything once again. The Sabbath day is a gift from our holy creator so that we can rest deeply in God’s presence and learn to trust God completely for it all.
Bible nerd time; if you were to read through the days of creation in Genesis, you would discover a very distinct pattern going on. After God creates something, if you remember, the text then almost always finishes, “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day,” or “the third day,” or “the fifth day.” This is likely nothing new to you. You have heard these words a million times. But, what you may not have noticed is that this phrase is not spoken on the seventh day. The seventh day, the day when God stops, the day that is set aside for rest and settling in, does not have an end in the text.
That is strange. It makes you wonder, “What is going on?” Well, I will tell you what is going on! The very next story then is the second creation account, where things are created in a little different order, but the focus of this story is Adam and Eve. It is about their time in the garden where they are granted the gift of walking around and talking with the Lord. In other words, the authors were really smart in how they put these stories together here: Adam and Eve are enjoying the seventh day. They are enjoying this perpetual Sabbath day when they can be with God, tend to the abundant garden, and generally just enjoy the Lord’s abundance and the Lord’s presence.
Is that not cool? I warned you that it was a Bible nerd thing, but it means something really big. It means that the Sabbath is a gift from God that provides two very needed things in our very busy and chaotic world.
First, it offers the gift of rest. Notice that this gift of rest is for everyone. Not even “your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns” are asked to engage in any work. It is a day of rest for everyone. It is a day in which the CEOs of the world do not get to dictate to you that the company is more important. It is a gift of rest and quiet in a world of productivity and efficiency. It is a gift that is hard to accept. After-all, many of us do work when we should rest.
And, what is the punishment for failing to observe the Sabbath? Does God send a lightning bolt and strike people dead for refusing to stop working? No. The punishment for ignoring the Sabbath is not getting a Sabbath. Not getting the rest that you need and deserve is quite punishment enough. How many heart attacks have occurred in this world because some people just are not able to stop? How many people in this world are run into the dirt because they are not free to stop, but are slaves to the whims of others? Remember the stopping day, and keep it holy.
The other gift (probably the primary gift) that the Sabbath provides is God’s presence. It is the opportunity to come to God’s house on the beach, allowing God to provide for your needs as you rest in God’s presence and engage in holy conversation.
In the Jewish parts of Jerusalem today, you see this amazing thing happen the hours just before the Sabbath starts. People are frantically buying food from the markets, running home and preparing the food for the next 24 hours. The streets are full and they are busy in a crazy way. And, as soon as the sun sets and the Jewish Sabbath begins (which begins at sunset Friday night), the streets are suddenly quiet except for the singing of hymns from homes and the smells of a delightful meal blowing out the windows and through the streets.
For the next 24 hours, the people of God will live as if they were in the garden of Eden. They will not prepare food, it is already ready, just like the plants and trees were ripe and full in the garden of Eden. They will sing to God and read from the Hebrew Scriptures, allowing God to be in their presence and shape and mold them. They will rest and remember once again to put their trust in the Lord, the one who creates and sustains everything.
That is the gift of the Sabbath. That is the gift worth holding onto. That is the gift that can revive the world. That is the gift which puts life and the world in perspective again. That is the gift that oozes God’s mercy and love for us, God’s people.
That is the gift of rest and divine presence that Jesus desperately wants everyone to be able to experience.
While walking through the grain fields, which should remind us of God walking with Adam and Eve in the garden, Jesus’ disciples pluck some grain and are fed from the graces of God’s abundance. It is an image of Eden. It also looks like work to some people. There will always be someone around to complain. But, humans were not created to serve the Sabbath; the Sabbath is a gift which is created for humans. What could be better than enjoying the day with the Lord?
Again, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath, allowing him to finally rest from the pain, allowing him to rest from the worry, and allowing him to be in the very presence of the Lord. Some complain that the healing Jesus does is work, but the Sabbath is about stopping all that destroys life and resting in the presence of the one who creates life.
Whenever
we are in the presence of Jesus, we are walking in that unending Sabbath day
where we can rest deeply, trusting in the Lord to provide.
And so, may your Sabbath day, today, be a day of deep rest and engagement with the Lord. May you learn to trust the Lord once again. May you walk in that garden with God where the sun never sets and the Lord’s goodness is always present.
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