Keep The Sabbath

Keep the sabbath. This is a command from our Lord: a command that is never abrogated. Yet, drive down any commercial street in America on Sunday, and what you will see are stores packed full of people. The parking lot at your local Walmart or Home Depot is full of people, many of whom, when asked, would claim to be Catholic. Why do we not give the sabbath the respect that God commands us to give it? That is a question worth considering.

Gospel - Matthew 12:1-8

Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath.

His disciples were hungry

and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him,

"See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath."

He said to them, "Have you not read what David did

when he and his companions were hungry,

how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering,

which neither he nor his companions

but only the priests could lawfully eat?

Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath

the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath

and are innocent?

I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.

If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,

you would not have condemned these innocent men.

For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath."

Scriptural Analysis

In 586 BC, the Jewish people were conquered by the Babylonians, and many of them were carried off into exile. The Prophet Jeremiah cites failure to keep the Sabbath as one of the principal reasons why the judgment of God was brought upon the people:

Take heed for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the sabbath or do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction.(Jeremiah 17:21-23)

Along with circumcision and the dirty laws, observing the Sabbath was one of the primary identifying traits of the Jewish people. Unlike the Gentiles who worked on the Sabbath, at the time of Jesus, the Jewish people strictly observed the Sabbath. For the Jewish people, this was not simply a matter of personal piety but one of national security. Keeping the Sabbath was essential lest the same faith that befell them 600 years earlier befall them again. This is why Jesus’s observance of the Sabbath was critical.

Passing through a field on the Sabbath, the disciples began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. This was allowed by Mosaic law, “When you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand.” (Deuteronomy 23:25) However, the Pharisees viewed this action as a violation of the Sabbath: the prohibition against plowing and harvesting, “In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.” (Exodus 34:21) Rabbinic tradition held that this interpretation, placing the heads of grain was a form of harvesting and thus not allowed. Therefore, the Pharisees ask Jesus why his disciples are engaging in unlawful actions on the Sabbath.

Note that Jesus does not argue over the legality of picking grain on the Sabbath. He decides to engage the Pharisees at a different level. He starts by appealing to the Old Testament story of David and his companions fleeing from King Saul, who was trying to kill him. David and his men entered the house of God seeking food, as they were hungry. The only food available was the bread of the offering, the twelve loaves that were placed every Sabbath in the sanctuary. This bread was to be eaten only by the priests, but David and his men were granted the priestly privilege of eating that bread.

In deciding to use this story, Jesus is comparing himself to David, which most certainly is a messianic claim. He also affirms the disciples’ participation in his messianic mission. This mission takes precedence over the ordinary demands of the law. Jesus further defends his actions by noting that the priests, serving in the Temple on the Sabbath, violate the prohibition against work and yet are innocent. Likewise, his disciples are innocent as they are free from the Sabbath requirements when necessary, just as the priests were, because something greater than the temple is here. This is an astonishing statement as the temple was the greatest symbol os Israel’s identity. It was the holy sanctuary where God met his people, serving as the center of Israel’s life and worship. For Jesus to claim himself greater than the temple implied he was the new focal point for worship, with his disciples as ministers in this new temple.

Perhaps the most astounding part of this exchange is Jesus calling himself the Lord of the sabbath. The sabbath is a divine institution, “So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:3) When God speaks of the sabbath he takes ownership of it, “You shall keep my sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.” (Exodus 31:13) Thus, when Jesus calls himself “Lord of the Sabbath” he is placing himself on par with God. He has the authority over how the sabbath is to be observed.

Daily Application

Observing the sabbath is crucial for humanity to be properly disposed towards God. In his great social encyclical, Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XII says:

The rest from labor is not to be understood as mere giving way to idleness; much less must it be an occasion for spending money and for vicious indulgence, as many would have it to be; but it should be rest from labor, hallowed by religion. Rest (combined with religious observances) disposes man to forget for a while the business of his everyday life, to turn his thoughts to things heavenly, and to the worship which he so strictly owes to the eternal Godhead. (41)

Leo notes that the sabbath is not simply a day of rest where we do not engage in servile work. Note how he also cautions against consumerism taking over the sabbath, which we earlier noted is a hallmark of our American culture.

Instead, Leo points out that the Sabbath is to be hallowed by religion. He properly understands what the Sabbath is about. It is about more than simply resting. It is about realizing that everything we have is a gift from God. He is our Heavenly Father, and we owe Him thanks and worship that He is due.

When Jesus engages the Pharisees, he is trying to get them to recall why the sabbath is observed. Our motive should not be the fear of the Lord, which causes men to approach the observance from a legalistic approach. Instead, it should be observed out of love for God: the greatest of the commandments. When that is done, it becomes easy for us to pass by Walmart without stopping because our observation is no longer a burden but a gift. Keep the sabbath and see how your relationship with God is transformed.