Resurrecting Sabbath

Where do you find holy restoration?

1 Samuel 3:1-10(11-20)
Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
2 Corinthians 4:5-12
Mark 2:23-3:6

© 2024 The Rev. Seth Olson

This sermon was preached at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles on June 2, 2024 and a video of it may be found here. 

Holy God, let my words be your words and when my words are not your words, let your people be wise enough to know the same. Amen.

When I was about 10 years old, I accidentally practiced Sabbath. It was the summer time, and I had already attended my camp sessions, soccer camp, and the like. A good friend had spent the night, but he had to go home. It was a Saturday morning, and I had nothing to do. I went to my parents to figure out something to do, but that didn’t work. I was bored. 

I was so bored that I said to my mom, “I am going to die of boredom.” Spoiler alert: I did not. Instead I tried to find something to do. There was nothing on TV. I had no new toys. I felt stuck. So, I did something unusual. I did nothing. 

Well, I say I did nothing, I was looking out a big picture window in my childhood home. I saw birds soaring, squirrels bouncing, insects hovering—later the trees would sway as a thunderstorm rolled through. I cannot say that I enjoyed my accidental dabbling in Sabbath at the time, but nonetheless something in me shifted because of that experience. At that time I was not familiar with our Gospel lesson for today, but even then I was learning that though we humans are not made for the Sabbath, the Sabbath is made for us and for our healing. 

Christians though normally do not uphold Sabbath as a laudable practice. This stems from those in the Early Church rejecting the Jewish mandate of a total prohibition of work, specifically on Saturday. When Christ came, early Christians argued, the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament had been fulfilled. And, while this makes theological sense, what our forebears did was throw the baby out with the bath water. Certainly, we do not need punitive laws restricting work—like how the Pharisees were deriding Jesus for his disciples’ picking the heads off of grains—and yet, we as human beings benefit greatly from intentional rest. Let’s examine some ways to incorporate Sabbath into your life, but first let’s clarify what Sabbath is and why it is useful.

The day known as Sabbath, which we inherited from our Jewish siblings is Saturday. According to Exodus 23:12 there was to be a complete prohibition on work. As Christians, we observe the Great Sabbath on Holy Saturday when Jesus either rested from his work of salvation. When Christians proclaimed that Jesus had fulfilled the law freeing them from following all the ceremonial bits of the Old Testament the religiously significant day became Sunday, the Day of Resurrection. Except to some Christians.

There are some Christians for whom Sabbath practices still apply. Seventh Day Adventists and a few other Christian groups still worship on Saturday. Plus, there are some called Sabbatarians (yes, that’s a real word) who still apply many of the Old Testament commandments about Sabbath in their own lives. These are typically Scottish and English Calvinists who have prohibitions on work deeming Sunday to be the Christian Sabbath. Even in our own culture many of us will recall a time when not much was open on Sundays because of “blue laws” meant to restrict activity on the Day of Resurrection. 

Historically, these have been some practices of Sabbath within the Judeo-Christian Tradition. And yet, these do not seem to capture the essence of what Sabbath is or what it can be in our current age. When I say time is ____, how do you fill in the blank? Money, correct? Our culture often proclaims, cash is king and time is money, so let’s fill every second of every day with opportunities to earn more dollars. This is the way of our world. Now, I am not against work. Purposeful work, sometimes called vocation, is crucial to the health of our souls, but consumerism and capitalism have made it such that even most of our pastimes come with a price tag. 

Want to watch something? It costs money. Want to go somewhere? That costs money too. Want to have a fun experience, like a concert or sporting event? These will cost you even more. And, if you think, well I will simply do something free like see how my friends are doing on social media, even here there is a cost. Often now, when you do not see a price tag associated with an app or service, the companies are making money off of you. You are the commodity that is being sold. Your information is being auctioned off to other businesses. 

When the point of a system is to make money, then of course there will be insidious ways that people use to get an advantage. I am not against entertainment or events, nor do I think social media is without its merits, nor should we throw out capitalism off hand. Still, our relentless ways require an overhaul. Sabbath provides an alternative way. It is a salve in which holy rest provides for our entire selves—body, mind, heart, and soul—an opportunity to experience restoration. 

The way I imagine Sabbath, it is a period of time, up to 24 hours, when we reset our lives, recalibrating our internal compass, such that we are attuned to God and God’s way of living, moving, and being on this journey of life. For some it may mean abstaining from screens, for others it may mean intentionally sitting down to enjoy a movie with the whole family. For some Sabbath might be taking a break from cooking, for others it may mean preparing a meal intentionally. What I am saying is there is no one way to sabbath. 

With that said, here are 3 ways to help in establishing Sabbath times: 

+Begin and end your Sabbath period in prayer. Ask God to help you to experience restoration.

+Prepare ahead of time for this time period. Those in the Jewish Faith will prepare all week to ensure that the Sabbath happens. This can be helpful too. For us to enjoy restoration requires to offload those nagging worries that may hound at us if we do not attend to them in some way ahead of time.

+Finally, be gentle and open. Sabbath is not a competitive endeavor. It is a gift God gives to us, even if we are not good at it. So, as you experiment with Sabbath be kind to yourself and open to how you might need restoration. One week it may be actually doing nothing. Another it might be reading something that fills your soul. Another it might be reconnecting with a soul friend. 

Jesus tells us that Sabbath is not something we humans were made to excel in practicing. Regardless, God gifted us with Sabbath. God even modeled for us a period of rest when laying the foundations of Creation. When we follow in this way taking time to experience restoration of body, heart, mind, and soul we practice Sabbath. May we find times to rest, so that we may continue to work together to reveal Christ’s Reign already present among us. Amen. 

Moving for the Treat: Luke 14:25-33

This is from September 1, 2013:
At first glance it seems pretty easy what to take away from today’s gospel: All who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted. We can even take it a step further and nod in agreement with Jesus’ advice to the Pharisees about giving up their place at the table and inviting in the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Clearly Luke describes for us Jesus passing out this new form of table etiquette; a Christian Cotillion class, if you will, that seems so obvious that we can just hear it without it affecting our lives. We can, and I often do, rush through life without the Word of God even registering as anything more than a cliché: all who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted. Yet, Jesus does not simply say something as a throwaway line, this is not dinner party advice, rather it is a parable!

Parables, those seemingly nice, sweet fables overflowing in Luke’s Gospel, are more like a Trojan Horse than a bedtime story. These stories typically possess some sort of hidden kernel of wisdom that tends to hit us when we least expect it. However; before we get to the deceptive story of this wedding banquet, it is worth setting the stage for Jesus’ delivery of this parable.

The gospel starts, “On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.” Like last week when we heard of Jesus healing a long suffering, crippled woman, our reading takes place on the Sabbath, a day that served as a litmus test for how faithful Pharisees to the Law. Unlike last week’s story, which took place in the Synagogue, today’s gospel occurs within the home of a Pharisee. Today this might be like having dinner at the home of a wealthy CEO or even a celebrity. The Pharisees are watching Jesus closely to see if he will mess up something on the Sabbath. Is he going to follow all the rules? Spoiler alert: NO!

While the lectionary cuts this part of the gospel out (Luke 14:2-6), Jesus again finds himself curing on the Sabbath and explaining that healing should not be hindered by what day of the week it is. If someone is suffering, they deserve God’s wellness NOW, not tomorrow! This Sabbath healing sets the Pharisees on edge and of course, does not conform to the rules of the day. Jesus has broken the Sabbath Law in the Pharisee’s home no less! So what does Jesus do to follow up this “heretical practice”? He tells a parable, of course.

I have always loved parables because no matter how many times I listen to them, I always hear something new. One way of deepening our experience with parables is actually by thinking of the shape of a parabola, both words come from the same root. The arc of a parabola goes up and comes down and where it starts it does not end. A parable is actually like a parabolic arc and one example is a doggie treat flying through the air and into the mouth of a waiting puppy. When the dog biscuit leaves my hand the canine has to move to make the catch. If we are to understand what Jesus is tossing to us in a parable we have to shift to grab the treat.

          In the home of the Pharisee, after Jesus has riled up this wealthy religious leader by healing on the Sabbath, He passes out advice, but it is not just about earthly matters. Jesus begins the parable with some insight into how to approach a wedding banquet, but also how to enter the Kingdom of God. We all get the invitation from the host, but the question is “How will we respond to it?” Will we seek out the best seat in the house?

During Jesus’ day, much like in our own day, where you sit at a wedding, in a meeting, and even in a synagogue or church is a big deal. But place is not just the physical seat at the Table, but rather one’s larger position within society. Jesus is saying more than just do not make a faux pas at the next wedding banquet you attend. Sure the arc of the story is leading us to think of the practical side, but what about the Kingdom of God? I believe Christ Jesus is urging us not to go about our daily lives thinking primarily of our place in this world OR THE NEXT! Rather, we are to seek out those lowly seats at the Table, in this world, in the Kingdom of God. It is not about groveling or false humility, but rather knowing that regardless of our place at the Table the way we take our seats requires our reverence of our Holy Host. We sit at this Divine Table having been invited by God who sits in the seat of honor.

         The second part of this dinner party parable is directed at leader of the Pharisees, the host of this earthly party. Jesus says to him do not invite your friends, but instead the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, for they cannot repay your kindness. If seen as advice, this seems so counterintuitive and paradoxical. How will this Pharisee impress his colleagues and prove his place in the world if he doesn’t show off his lavish home to his peers? But Luke’s gospel is so full of paradoxes: when you exalt yourself, you will be humbled; the first will be last and the last will be first; to gain your life, you must lose it. And here in this parable of hosting a party, another paradox: the rich make you poor and the poor make you rich.

          Often in this world I believe we get caught up in trying to impress one another. I have even told Auburn football fans that I like their team, so that they would like me. What Jesus is telling us is that the Kingdom of God is not about doing political favors, impressing others, or pretending we like something, so that we can move up in the world. It’s not even about trying to grab the best seat in the house, but rather it is about taking our true place, right here at God’s Table where everyone’s seat is the best seat in the house.

          Are we catching the treat yet? How is this parable asking us to move, so that we might get a better insight into the Kingdom of God? I think the true treat being tossed up is not good dinner party etiquette, but rather this parable is giving us a glimpse Kingdom living, what it means to help reveal it here on earth. We all have an invitation waiting from God our host, we all have a place at God’s Table, but instead of fighting over where we are sitting our call is to invite others into the Feast. How will you share your place at God’s Table?