4/26/15-Do Good

This particular subject has been a question to Christians since the time of Jesus. Should we keep the Sabbath or not?

Jesus answers here, “the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, so do good on the Sabbath”.

So what is exactly one to do on the Sabbath? Well I would say take time to love God and your fellow neighbor.

However you treat the Sabbath, do it as a joy. Here we see Jesus two different times doing what was untraditional on the Sabbath

One time he picks heads of grain to eat. The other time, he heals someone with a withered hand.

The first, Jesus is walking through grain fields on the Sabbath picking the grain and eating it and so were his disciples.

The second, Jesus heals a man in the synagogue, in the church, the one place you would want to be get a divine healing, yet they are against it

Jesus’ disciples are criticized because they are picking grain heads, they were not breaking any Old Testament law though, because they were not harvesting the grain for profit, they were gleaning it to eat.

Harvesting for money was illegal on the Sabbath, but gleaning was not because that is how poor people ate.

So the Pharisees criticize and Jesus comes back at them with another story…about someone all Jews respected, King David.

David was hungry, and he was dependent on an act of mercy to feed him, and so he was fed. This shows something Jesus is trying to tell these guys. The Pharisees desired rule-keeping above mercy.

God desires mercy above rule-keeping.

When following rules overrides mercy and human need, the practice leads us away from God not toward Him. On the other hand, when we look at the next story, we see Jesus doing good on the Sabbath. He is motivated by godly compassion.

I don’t want to make the Sabbath rest a strict requirement, but I also don’t want you to miss out on the great blessing God has given you in rest. Brothers and sisters, God does not want us to run ourselves ragged, you and more than the work you produce. You are more than a paycheck.

The Sabbath is a day to restore what was diminished.To replenish what has been drained, to repair the broken. So when Jesus heals the man’s hand, he is doing exactly what the Sabbath is all about. The word Sabbath means deep rest, a deep peace, a state of wholeness and flourishing in every area of life.

Jesus is the source of that peace. He is our Sabbath, the source of the deep rest that we need.

The one-day-a-week rest that we take is just a taste of the deep divine rest that we need, and Jesus is its source.

Jesus can give us the rest we need, mentally, physically, spiritually.

Don’t go trying to prove yourself to anyone.

Because it is a never-ending battle, because often when we are trying to prove ourselves to others, it is really just trying to prove something to ourselves. Don’t worry about others in this regard.

If they love you, you don’t have to prove anything to them, just show them Who you belong to.

When God finished His work of creation, he said, “it is finished” and he could rest. Jesus died on the cross and said “it is finished” and we could rest.

 

God wants us to have a deep rest of the soul. Rest in Jesus and his love, knowing that that love will never change. Allow that deep rest of the soul to restore you, no matter what day of the week it happens upon. Whatever you do, love God and your neighbor by doing it. Whatever good you do, whether it is family time, alone time, or serving time, whatever day your Sabbath day is, whether Sunday, Saturday, or the Wednesday, treat this rest, as a gift and as a joy, and know and have peace, that God will take care of everything. AMEN