Dear Friends,
For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.
(Matthew 12:1-8)
In today’s gospel lesson we are reminded of three important teachings:
- The importance of the sabbath day
- How we are to keep the sabbath day
- Our Lord’s relationship to the sabbath
First of all the origins of the Sabbath go back to the very beginning of the Old Testament, namely, the book of Genesis. We read that after God completed His majestic act of creation (over six days) He rested on the seventh day or the sabbath. The importance of keeping one day each week for rest was underlined in one of the Ten Commandments, which states, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:8-11)
In the days of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ and even today the Jews give great attention to properly observing the sabbath day as a strict day of rest. By virtue of the great miracle of the resurrection of Jesus Sunday became the Christian sabbath – a day of rest dedicated to worshipping and celebrating our Lord’s glorious resurrection. Today’s gospel passage indicates that sadly some had overly legalized the intent of the commandment and even criticized those who did works of charity on the sabbath.
Our Lord Jesus imparts to us God’s desire for not only the sabbath, but every day, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” In other words our gathering each Sunday to worship the risen Lord is not meant to be a burden, but rather a delight. It’s not to be about fulfilling obligations, but instead is an occasion to give thanks and praise because of all of the manifold blessings that we receive from God.
Finally, the passage concludes that the sabbath – Sunday is a gift and not a burden. If it is to have meaning for us, we need to recognize that our Lord is to be central to everything that we do – For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.
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With prayers.
Hayr Simeon
June 1, 2008