Scripture — Matthew 12:9-14 (NRSV)

[Jesus] left that place and entered their synagogue; a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath?” so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

Devotion

In last Wednesday’s Life for Leaders devotion, we observed Jesus healing on the sabbath. Though many of his contemporaries considered this an example of law-breaking work, Jesus stated that “it is lawful to do good on the sabbath” (Matthew 12:12). Healing, according to Jesus, fell into the category of good sabbath work.

In my devotion, I noted that we participate in God’s healing work in various ways. Doctors, nurses, medical technicians, orderlies, janitors, and many others participate in works of healing on the days we think of as sabbath or the Lord’s Day. Many Christians who consider Sunday as their day of rest will, nevertheless, pray for the sick on this day. Divine healing is part of God’s gift of sabbath.

When it comes to doing good on the sabbath, healing isn’t the only possibility. Our times of regular rest may also give us the chance to do other kinds of good work, work that is appropriate for our time of rest from ordinary work. I think, for example, of people who teach Sunday school, sing in the choir or band, take care of babies, greet visitors, set up and take down worship spaces, and so forth . . . the work that is common on Sunday mornings (or Saturdays for Seventh Day Adventists).

Sometimes the good work we do on the sabbath or Lord’s Day takes place not in the gathered church but out in the world. Folks from the church I pastored in Irvine would often go on Sunday afternoons to places where they could serve food to the hungry and sit with them in mutual friendship. Most of the people who participated in this feeding ministry had very full lives during the week. It would have been hard for them to take time off from ordinary work to feed the hungry. Yet this was something they could do on the day in which they stopped doing their usual work.

In order to strengthen the connection between the work of feeding the hungry and the work of worship, in one of our worship services we would make sandwiches. Yes, during the service! As we sang and prayed, or as I preached, folks would be standing at a side table making sandwiches to be given out later in the day. They were doing this as a way of caring for people in need, to be sure, but also as a way of worshiping God. (I’ll confess it took me some time to get used to having people making sandwiches while I preached.)

I believe that making sandwiches and sharing them with people in need were fitting ways for us to work on the Lord’s Day. However, I have known Christians who fill their times of rest with so many good works that they scarcely experience the main activity of the sabbath which is, of course, rest. As one who often works on Sundays as a preacher, I know how tempting it is to forgo regular rest altogether in order to get my ordinary work done. When I give in to this temptation, I am indeed failing to unwrap God’s gift of rest.

So, when it comes to doing good works in our times of rest, we need to be wise about what we do, when, how, and why. We also need to avoid rationalizations that excuse our failure to rest. I’ll confess that I struggle with this sometimes. When I’m not preaching on Sunday, my sabbath time usually begins on Saturday afternoon and ends on Sunday afternoon (like the Jewish sabbath, only on Sunday, the Lord’s Day). Sunday mornings before corporate worship are quiet times of prayer, biblical reflection, and spiritual reading. I like to show up early for worship at my church so I can sit quietly in the sanctuary and prepare my heart for communion with God and God’s people. BUT . . . sometimes I feel so anxious about all the work I need to do on the following Monday that I “sneak some of it in” on Sunday mornings. I rationalize by telling myself that the work I’m doing is good. I believe it is actually good. But I also believe I need to learn to trust God more when it comes to my work so that I am able to receive the gift of regular rest. I know from experience that choosing to rest in fact helps me trust God more. But sometimes I struggle to do (and not do) what I believe to be best when it comes to sabbath observance.

The example and teaching of Jesus encourages us to do good on the sabbath. This includes healing and other acts of compassion and concern. We should be open to how God might want to use us during our times of rest for ordinary work. However, those of us who are inclined to work too much, including volunteering at church, must be sure we don’t miss the central “activity” of sabbath, which is rest.

Banner image by Matt Briney on Unsplash.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project’s online commentary. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Working on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-8).

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