Scripture Reading: Luke 6.1-15 Today's inspiration: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Exodus 20.8

Ah, the Sabbath.

A day for the Jews? A day most Christians barely esteem anymore? I remember as a child that we kept the 'Lord's Day' a little differently than every other day of the week. And several of my friends who attended a reformed church couldn't even ride their bike on Sunday or buy anything (because that meant you were causing someone to work); there was church and Sunday School in the morning, quiet time with the family in the afternoon, and then evening services. Much has changed, hasn't it? What do you think of that? The day really was different than the other days of the week. Do you think that was a good thing? Would you welcome 'a day of rest' into your week? No basketball, baseball or soccer leagues involving your children on Sunday? Do you remember Mom's roast beef on Sunday afternoons? I do. She would put it in the oven before we left for church, and we had supper about two o'clock. Because it was Sunday, and Sundays were special. . . different. . . set apart. Yeah, it wasn't long ago that the Lord's Day was treated differently in most of America. Perhaps the pendulum has swung just a little too far in freeing believers from 'keeping the Sabbath.'

Sabbath or not, people still need to eat--as did Jesus and His disciples, who passed by a field of grain. As permitted by law, they plucked some grain, rubbed it between their thumb and forefinger to wrest the wheat for eating. Hawk-like Pharisees swooped down to accuse them again--'how could they break the law by working on the Sabbath?' (There were 613 points of Mosaic Law, written by men to uphold, 39 of which pertained to the Sabbath alone. While the Sabbath laws permitted their plucking of the grain, they did not permit extracting the wheat kernel, as that would be harvesting the wheat--and that would be work--and that would be breaking the sabbath law!) The Pharisees used this circumstance to press Jesus again. . . He answered their accusation, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." His description of Himself as the Son of Man alluded to His humanity, and also to the fact that He was the fulfillment of prophecy, but He established a new precedent: He, Jesus, was Lord of the Sabbath. No doubt slack-jawed at His claim, the Pharisees were stunned again.

On another Sabbath, as Jesus taught in the synagogue, he noticed a man with a 'withered hand'--possibly paralyzed or twisted from birth. Jesus hid nothing, but invited the withered-hand man to stand before the congregation. Jesus posed a question that stumped all of the on-lookers, particularly hypocritical Pharisees--"I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it? then He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' When he did, his hand was well----back to normal! The smug Pharisees were furious, and began to plot what they should do to Jesus. As in the instance with the wheat, Jesus was more interested in preserving man than violating one of the Pharisees' many rules. The needs of people superseded the technicalities of ceremonial law.

Jesus went to the mountains for the night, to pray, and be with His Father. (Do you pray in the middle of the night? Chances are, if you are a thinker, then when you awaken at night, you are often 'up' for a while--what do you do? You can plead with the universe, the powers that be, or God to let you get back to sleep, because 'have you seen the day I have scheduled tomorrow?' Or. . . you can ask God to bring to your mind those who need prayer; it is a great way to spend your wakeful moments. . . and even if worries or anxieties keep you awake, turn them into prayer requests. . . He is listening, child.

Finally, open your Bibles to Exodus 20, verses 8 and following, and consider the fourth of the Ten Commandments: "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.." Besides refraining from work, how can we keep the Sabbath day holy? The obvious answer is to make the attendance of a corporate worship service a priority. Later, Paul would tell the Hebrews, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another." (10.25) Christians today have grown lax about attending and participating in weekly worship services--this ought not be so, my friends. Worshipping God through praise, solitude, meditation, and Scriptural instruction is key to our spiritual growth and to staying vital in our faith. Besides soaking in the things of God, it is a chance for us to offer praise and adoration, together with other sojourners. "To worship is to experience Reality, to touch Life. It is to know, to feel, to experience the resurrected Christ in the midst of the gathered community." (Richard Foster, from his important work, The Celebration of Discipline***) Do you still think honoring the Sabbath is optional? Oh, no! Please, let us put a whole new priority on worshipping God together with other believers----God is calling his Church back to worship, my friends. Don't miss the call. . .

So that you may know,

Christine

1) Do you keep the Sabbath in your home? 2) What steps might you take to honor God by Sabbath observance? 3) How do you feel about the importance of worshipping God together with other believers? (usually Sundays)

***This is a terrific book about spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Scripture meditation, worship, etc, that you should read, own, and keep handy on your book shelf; it really impacted me!