All this talk of rest right before a passage that deals with Sabbath? This is no mistake. What is Matthew trying to communicate here? The people were in need of rest, both in ceasing from hard work shabbat and being present together with God nuakh. Jesus ushered in the promise and reality of both. Jesus taught that the Sabbath was about mercy and was purposeful. When followers of Jesus observe the Sabbath, we live as if this restoration has already taken place.
We take a break from the broken rhythms of hustle and hardship to set aside a time of submission to his rule and enjoyment of his presence and to extend these things to the world around us. So what does this look like practically? Does it mean attending a weekend church service, or turning off work emails, or volunteering at a soup kitchen?
Does it matter what day you observe Sabbath? Your Sabbath could certainly include those activities, and it could take place on the same day every week! But the text seems to emphasize the purpose of the Sabbath, rather than telling us rules for how to observe it.
As followers of Jesus, we aren't required to follow the laws given to Israel by God exactly. These were given at a specific time to a specific people group for a specific purpose. Yet the wisdom of those laws is enduring, and the law of the Sabbath is pure gold. Sabbath rest is an invitation to practice for eternity. When we practice this intentional stop, we make room for him to take up residence in our individual lives.
Even better, we are taking part in this new creation story, setting the stage for God to make his dwelling place, his resting place, right here. She loves to wrestle with Scripture until it lives in her in a way that she can communicate it with others richly.
How to Read the Bible. Word Studies. Old Testament Overviews. New Testament Overviews. Book Collections. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.
Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched. It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves.
On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. But they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.
Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.
In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.
And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. It shall be the prince's duty to furnish the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord.
Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered.
Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.
I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules, and keep my Sabbaths holy that they may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath. It is good to give thanks to the Lord , to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.
The employer's legal obligation to accommodate "pertains to prospective employees as well as current employees. The burden is then on the employer to demonstrate that factors other than the need for an accommodation were the reason for rejecting the qualified applicant, or that a reasonable accommodation without undue hardship was not possible. Court Defends Religious Rights," p.
Sometimes the employer wins the case, of course, because sometimes it truly would cause undue hardship for the employer to accommodate the employee. When undue hardship is not an issue, though, the law is on our side. Most employers are reasonable people and are intelligent enough to know that it would be wiser for them to accommodate your need than it would be to refuse you. Many employers will actually respect you for taking a firm, but polite, stand for what you believe.
If they are smart, they will know that a person with strong convictions is likely to be a reliable, honest worker with some integrity. They will want to find a way to accommodate you. Some employers are not so kind and understanding, and will simply tell you, "No, you have to work on Saturdays.
Would the Lord have you take your employer to court, or would the Lord have you look for a different job? You don't need to pray about whether or not the Lord would have you keep working on the Sabbath; He's already told you in the Ten Commandments not to do that! Fighting for your legal rights in court is one issue, but there is also the issue of maintaining a good testimony as a disciple of the Messiah.
Some questions you might want to consider:. Keeping your job should really be your third priority in this arena. Keeping the Sabbath and keeping your testimony should be the first priorities. If you can do this and also keep your job, that's great. Personally, I would not feel comfortable forcing my employer to pay extra costs in order to accommodate me, even though the law can require the employer to bear these minimal costs.
For the sake of my testimony as a disciple of the Lord, I would prefer to not exercise this legal right, and would pay for the extra costs myself, unless my employer voluntarily and cheerfully insisted on bearing the cost. I would also be reluctant to demand my legal right to "the alternative which least disadvantages the individual with respect to his or her employment opportunities.
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