Sermon Preached by Jack Cabaness as part of a series on Spiritual Practices
Covenant Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto, California
August 18, 2024
Scripture Texts: Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Mark 2:23-28
“Keeping Sabbath”
Surely, one of the highlights of this summer was the Olympic games in Paris, France. What a thrill it was to watch Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky in action. I also enjoyed seeing Snoop Dogg in the stands as he cheered everyone on.
It just so happens that Paris had also hosted the 1924 Olympic Games, one hundred years ago. One of the Olympians who competed that year was Eric Liddell from Scotland. If you’re familiar with the film “Chariots of Fire,” then you may remember Liddell’s story. He was born in China to Scottish missionary parents, and it quickly became apparent that he was an outstanding athlete. His best event was the 100 meter race. In the lead up to the 1924 Olympics Liddell discovers that the heats for the 100 meter race were going to be held on a Sunday. So Liddell announced that he would not run that race because his Christian convictions prevent him from running on the Lord’s Day. For Liddell running on a Sunday would be a failure to observe the Christian Sabbath. As depicted in the Chariots of Fire film, Liddell faces intense pressure to run on a Sunday just this once. The Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII, and members of the British Olympic Committee all pressure Liddell to run, but Liddell refuses to run. The impasse is finally broken when Liddell’s teammate Andrew Lindsey offers Liddell his own place in the 400 meter race on the following Thursday, which Liddell gratefully accepts.
Liddell’s decision to refuse to run on a Sunday really stands out. Nowadays we have all kinds of conflicts on Sundays. I had a family in my former church who complained to a soccer coach about Sunday morning practices, and the coach said, “Well, then you’ll just have to go to Saturday night mass. If you’re going to be on this team, you have to take part in Sunday morning practice. Eric Liddell would have no doubt told the coach to take a hike, but this particular family and their son felt a lot of peer pressure to stick with the team, plus their son loved playing soccer and he loved playing with his friends, so the family told me, “well, I guess we’ll see you when soccer season is over.”
What do you think about Liddell’s refusal to run on a Sunday? Was Liddell being too rigid? Or could it be that nowadays we have a tendency to be way too lax? What does it mean for us to observe the Sabbath?
In the story we read from Mark’s Gospel Jesus is confronted by a group of Pharisees who accuse Jesus and his disciples of not properly observing the Sabbath. Jesus’ disciples are gathering grain in a field, and the Pharisees interrogate Jesus, asking, “Why are your disciples doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
One question that immediately stands out is that if this particular group of Pharisees is so offended by people plucking grain on the Sabbath, then what are they doing in a grainfield to begin with?”
And then Jesus does something very interesting. He tells a story about King David and his companions. Jesus asks the Pharisees, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food, how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions?” Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath.”
The story that Jesus alludes to can be found in 1 Samuel 21:1-6 but it’s very different from the story as told by Jesus. In the original story, David was by himself, with no companions. The story does not mention hunger. David did not enter the house of God; the priest was Ahimelech rather than Abiathar; and, though David took the bread with him, the story does not mention that he
ate it.
Why did Jesus completely change the story? I’m persuaded by commentators who suggest that Jesus replies the way he does to show that these particular Pharisees, eager to burden the common people with the details of the Law, are actually so ignorant of Scripture that they do not notice one misquotation after another. Indeed, even today, those who try to quote a particular biblical passage as a means of condemnation often turn out not to know its context or relation to other biblical texts. (see William Placher’s commentary on Mark in the Belief series, page 51).
Another New Testament professor, Amy-Jill Levine, confesses that she occasionally invents new scripture verses to test whether or not her seminar students have done the reading! (see her book The Gospel of Mark: A Beginner’s Guide to the Good News, page 19. Levine agrees with Placher about why Jesus likely misquoted the story.)
It’s important to note that the real contrast in that story in Mark is not between legalistic Pharisees who made Sabbath observance burdensome and liberated Christians who had a better understanding of the Sabbath. Rather, the real contrast is between those in both traditions for whom laws about the Sabbath provide a blessing to which we should attend and those in both traditions who lose sight of the point of the laws in legalism. (see Placher, page 51). Indeed, Jesus says that the Sabbath was made for humankind, and the Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 85b makes the same point. (see Amy-Jill Levine, page 19).
I believe that the key to understating how Christians should observe the Sabbath is in Jesus’ reminder that the Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath. The Sabbath is meant to be a gift not a burden.
In Exodus 20, the rationale for observing the Sabbath is that God rested on the seventh day of Creation. By resting, God takes pleasure in what has been made. God has no regrets. There is no need to go on to create a better world or a creature more wonderful than the creatures that God created. In the day of rest, God’s free love toward humanity takes form as time shared with them. (Dorothy C. Bass, Practicing Our Faith, page 78). In other words, the Sabbath is a gift. The Sabbath is made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath.
When the story of receiving the Ten Commandments is retold in Deuteronomy 5, we hear a different rationale for observing the Sabbath. The people are told to rest on the seventh day because they were once slaves in Egypt. A slave has to work or be available to work 24/7. But because the people are no longer slaves, they have the freedom to have a day of rest from their labors.
In the words of Dorothy C. Bass,
together, these two renderings of the Sabbath commandment summarize the most fundamental stories and beliefs of the Hebrew Scriptures: creation and exodus, humanity in God’s image and a people liberated from captivity. One emphasizes holiness, the other social justice. Sabbath crystallizes the Torah’s portrait of who God is and what human beings are most fully meant to be. (Practicing Our Faith, page 79).
Once again, the Sabbath is a gift. It’s a gift that is made for humankind and not a burden that humankind has to endure.
Christians have inherited the Sabbath from our Jewish forebearers, and different Christian traditions have observed the Sabbath differently. Most Christian traditions have held to some kind of observance on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, but some Christian traditions, like the Seventh-Day Adventists, have adhered to Sabbath observance on Saturday.
For the Christian traditions who did shift the Sabbath to Sundays, this was done to remember Jesus’ resurrection and to celebrate Christ’s victory over the powers of death.
But what does it mean to observe the Sabbath? How strictly should we observe the Sabbath? The Calvinistic, New England Puritans had a reputation for very strict Sabbath observance, which included long hours spent in Sunday worship and abstaining from nearly all forms of recreation. In contrast, there’s a story that John Calvin himself would unwind after Sunday services by going bowling. (Alas, that story is probably apocryphal but it’s fun to think that it’s true.) Nonetheless, as a general rule, the later generations of Calvinists were often more rigid than Calvin had been.
Most of us are probably not in danger of keeping the Sabbath too strictly. But how should we observe the Sabbath? What does it mean in practical terms to observe the Sabbath when we live in a 24/7 kind of world?
Many people have to work on Sundays, and that pressure is reinforced by all those who go to stores and eat in restaurants on Sundays. (Chick-fil-A is famously closed on Sundays, and not too long ago Shake Shack, in a not-so-subtle dig at Chick-Fil-A, started offering free chicken sandwiches on Sundays).
Today we had the blessing of the backpacks, and I hope that that blessing will include some time for rest, because many students feel the pressure to study on Sundays because they don’t think they can afford to take a break.
How do we make time to open the Gift of Sabbath?
There are no easy answers, and there’s not a one-way-fits-all method for observing Sabbath. I’d like to offer some suggestions from the practicing our faith website,https://practicingourfaith.org/
Let Sabbath time shape the way you begin and end each day. In the Bible (Genesis 1), each new day begins at sundown. The first part of each day begins in restful darkness, preparing for the gift of light and activity. As Eugene Peterson notes, "I go to sleep to get out of the way for a while." God and nature go on without us, and we join the work in the morning. The Jewish Shabbat observance, which begins on Friday evening, honors this biblical view of time. How might "beginning" the day in the Genesis way change your attitude as you start and end your day?
Invite an observant Jew to explain how his or her family keeps Sabbath and what this practice means to them. Adapt Jewish Shabbat prayers to welcome the Sabbath on Saturday evening. Jews bless the ending of Shabbat by giving children something sweet so the taste of Sabbath peace will linger on the tongue. Offer this kind of blessing to someone on Sunday evening.
What's good to say "yes" to on the Sabbath?
Joyful worship.
Feasting, playing, taking delight in nature and in one another.
Freedom that contributes to the freedom of others and to the well-being of the natural world.
Something different from what you do regularly all other days.
What's good to say "no" to on the Sabbath?
Committee meetings, even for church. Schedule meetings on other days.
The marketplace. Try not to spend money on the Sabbath. Refuse to let the marketplace govern life this day.
Sadness and mourning. "The Sabbath does not 'do away' with sadness and sorrow," writes Pinchas H. Peli in The Jewish Sabbath; "it merely requires that all sadness be 'tabled' for one day so that we may not forget that there is also joy and happiness in the world and acquire a more balanced and hopeful picture of life." Even mourning is suspended in order to rejoin the community for Sabbath. "The Sabbath, by its very being, comforts and heals."
Rest from commerce. Name three things you might do to "rest" from commerce on the Sabbath.
Rest from worry. What activities summon worry or anger in you — paying bills, doing tax returns, making "to do" lists for the coming week, thinking of things or people who irritate you? If you knew you could refrain from those worrisome activities for 24 hours every week, how would it change your week? How might it help you let go of slights and grudges?
Rest for creation. How can we spend Sabbath practicing a way of life that is good for creation? What might this do to us during the other six days?
Rest from work. What would this mean for you and for your friends and family? Do you know anyone who is required to work on Sundays? Name what Sabbath might mean in this person's situation. How can you help him/her find joy in Sabbath?
Indeed, the invitation is for all of us to open up the gift of Sabbath and find joy.
All glory and praise be to our God. Amen.
Please note: Each week I try to write a complete sermon manuscript in advance, but in the preaching moment I often use an outline or sparse notes. Accordingly, this written blog post will likely differ slightly from the sermon as actually preached.
For Further Reading:
Chapter 6, “Keeping Sabbath” by Dorothy C. Bass in Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People; Dorothy C, Bass, editor; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997, 2019.
Pastor Jack
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