My therapist once told me “If you’re thinking about everything that you should be doing while you are resting, then you aren’t actually resting.” While I didn’t particularly want to hear this, it made sense to me, and it continues to serve as a good reminder on my day off all these years later. Because, it’s really difficult to actually rest if my mind is racing in twenty different directions thinking about how I need to grocery shop, and I should probably wash some laundry, maybe clean up around the house a little bit. Those things are not Sabbath rest, yet those were often things I was doing on my day off each week because I felt obligated to do them when I had the time. That, and, sometimes we become conditioned to view rest as laziness or something to feel guilty about, which is the exact opposite of what our Scripture readings teach us about Sabbath.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is judged for not honoring the Sabbath because the disciples are plucking grains, and he heals the man with the hand injury (Mark 2: 23-3:6). The religious leaders cannot see how Jesus’ work on the Sabbath is actually allowing the community to truly rest. Because, if you’ve ever been hungry or in pain, you’ll know how difficult it is to truly find rest because those things take up a lot of our emotional and physical energy. Jesus works on the Sabbath so that the community can rest. I think that we are called into this work too. To do what we can for the people who are not able to get the restorative rest that their souls need because of hunger, violence, lack of access to necessary resources. Sabbath isn’t just for us but is for the whole community. It doesn’t matter who someone is or what they do, they deserve rest too. It isn’t meant to be a hierarchy where only the wealthy are able to rest because they can afford to take a day off.
And, while they leaders keep trying to catch Jesus breaking the rules of the Sabbath, Jesus reminds them that the Sabbath was made for humans, not the other way around. When the Sabbath becomes a checklist of things we can and cannot do, when we are so worried about doing the Sabbath wrong, then it doesn’t become about rest anymore but is actually just another form of work. We are proving our righteousness through how well we honor this Sabbath, when in reality we are given the gift of Sabbath because we are already called worthy. Our belovedness in God’s eyes doesn’t depend on our productivity or how well we rest. And, our readings today recall for us that everyone needs to take rest. Even God after creation. And, Sabbath is about so much more than just not doing something for the day.
Sabbath doesn’t mean that we have to just sit and stare at the wall all day. Even our concept of rest is so much more than just sleeping, because I’m sure most of us have experienced days where we slept the night before but for whatever reason we still didn’t feel rested. Instead, I think Sabbath is also about connecting with the things that bring us life and fill our souls, the things that bring us closer to God and our communities. This may be reading, gardening, spending time in nature, being with friends and family, going to worship, creating artwork or music. When we think of Sabbath rest in this way, it doesn’t just have to be set aside for a specific day or time, but we are able to find moments of rest throughout our lives.
I once had a friend who said never turn your hobby into something that you are paid for because that thing that once brought you joy will now bring you stress too. I think about this in relation to Sabbath and the ways that Sabbath rest is so countercultural to the hustle and bustle of the world that tells us we are only valuable if we are being productive. Not everything that we have to do has to be productive, we should also be able to do things just because we enjoy them.
And, I know that is a privileged thing to be able to take the time to rest, especially when some people in places like Seattle have to work 2-3 jobs just to afford rent and food. But, I don’t think that is a critique on the Sabbath, but on the way that we treat and value other humans. The reality is that we all need rest. Sabbath isn’t something that God says to take every once in a while when we have the chance, but it is a regular occurrence because rest is so important to our ability to thrive individually and live well in community. I know that on the weeks where I don’t get much rest, I’m tired, grumpy, and a whole lot less patient than I normally am. I don’t interact with the people around me in the ways that I want to be able to and the ways I know that I can. And, everyone needs to rest. We were not created to work 24/7.
One of the things I appreciated hearing from my friends who live in Europe is that stores aren’t open 24/7. There is usually at least one day a week when the stores are completely closed, and while it means you have to plan a little further ahead to get your grocery shopping done, it means that all workers are able to have a designated day off each week. There isn’t an expectation to still be there for nights and holidays, but instead collectively the people have decided that it is more important to take care of one another than to have a system that is a little bit more convenient for some.
So, Sabbath isn’t important just because honoring it is one of the ten commandments, but it is one of the ten commandments because it is integral to our ability to have an abundant life. It is so important that we are able to rest spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally because it is a way that we honor God, ourselves, and our communities. It respects us when we say that it is okay to not keep constantly doing, but it also respects our communities by showing that this is an acceptable and needed way to be in community together. That there is a different way forward beyond the exhausting systems that we have always known.
When we think about Sabbath, it is actually an incredibly radical way of being in our society. It’s a way of providing care by making a few simple changes to the way we live our lives. The Sabbath is about having the space for restorative rest, and also not feeling guilty about taking time to rest. It’s not about doing the right things and not doing the other things on a certain day of the week, but it’s about how we experience joy, connect with our families and communities, and draw closer to God because we have set aside all of the expectations of the world to simply be for a little bit. Sabbath is supposed to be freeing, not another thing for us to do or perfect. This is what Jesus is reminding us of today when he says that we were not made for the Sabbath, but it was made for us, because even God knows that rest is holy too. May you find ways to honor the Sabbath in the weeks ahead.
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Sunday June 9th, 2024 Worship