*These are some further reflections on Luke 5:33-61-11 which I’ve added into my work on Jesus and the Gospels.
Once we have talked about Jesus and the Sabbath, this raises questions about how we are meant to view the Sabbath. It is worth noting that there are disagreements within reformed and evangelical thinking over this. Some people believe that the Sabbath commandment was abolished because we are not meant to observe feast and fast days. However, it would be strange to see 9 out of the ten commandments still in force and one not. Part of the argument is that we look forward to our coming Sabbath rest in the New Creation. I would argue however that its is exactly because we are meant to look forward to that greater rest to come that we mark time for rest now as a foretaste.
Indeed, the Sabbath Day, could be seen both as a foretaste of the greatest Sabbath to come and a model for the rest of our rest, how we take time each day to pause. I am personally convinced that the we see evidence in Scripture of a move from Saturday Sabbath to Sunday as the Lord’s Day following the resurrection.
It is helpful to think both about what God does with the Sabbath and what Jesus was doing with it ro consider our relationship to it. When God created the world, he took six days and then rested on the seventh. We are not meant to think of him as being tired and needing time off. Rather, God in effect had built his own cosmic temple. Rest for him was the point where he took his throne and received glory from his creation, enjoying and delighting in its goodness. This tells us something about Sabbath rest. It is not just about time off, it is about enjoying the fruit of our labours. It is about taking time to delight and enjoy together. In thar sense, creation also gives back to us as God’s regents over it. Sabbath reminds us of that and this is why Sabbath was made for man, not vice versa.
It is helpful too, to think about what Jesus has been doing. We’ve seen how he has recapitulated Israel’s history. He has been through exile, he has spent time in the wilderness, he has been baptised, going through the waters of death. By implication, he is meant to recapitulate entry into the land and so into promised rest or Sabbath. This also means that when Jesus did good on the Sabbath and when the disciples had a picnic, it wasn’t just that these provided permitted exceptions to the Sabbath Law but they fulfilled the purpose of the Sabbath. It was that those good things fulfilled Sabbath by bringing life, health, enjoyment and worship.
That’s why we are meant to look forward to the greater Sabbath to come and our mini-sabbaths now should point us forward. So, I think it would be helpful for us to ask too things about our Sundays and our gatherings. First, do they point us forward, do they solidify our hope in the resurrection and the rest to come? Second, do they give us opportunity to delight in God’s goodness and to enjoy him.
Faithroots 