We know the importance of taking breaks. "You've got to stop and smell the roses." "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy — and Jill a rich widow." Even the Bible affirms the premise — one of the Ten Commandments: "Observe 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 ..." (Deuteronomy 5:12-14). And it is not a suggestion; it is a command!
To be sure, many, through the years, have gone to absurd lengths in its interpretation. Ancient scribes set up all sorts of "fences" around the sabbath to assure that no one could violate the divine rule prohibiting work.
For example, they said bearing a burden was work. Then as a corollary of that general rule, they said that while a woman could have a ribbon sewn onto her dress, it must not be merely pinned on. If it were only pinned, it was not secure enough to be considered a part of the dress, and in wearing the ribbon with a pin, she was bearing a burden. Under the same heading, it was solemnly set down that false teeth were not to be worn on the sabbath ... they were a burden (and some of you who wear them might agree). I am afraid some Jewish brothers and sisters looked less than their best on synagogue days.
In our text from Mark, we find the Pharisees complaining to Jesus that his disciples were gathering corn on the sabbath ... reaping. That was work. But consider this: A woman was not allowed to use a mirror on the sabbath to prevent exactly the same sin. You see, they were concerned that she would see a gray hair and pull it out, and pulling out gray hairs was reaping. By the time of Christ, there were 1,521 things one could not do on the sabbath — including the rescue of a drowning man.[1] Foolishness. That is why the Lord finally put everything into perspective in one sentence.... "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath."
If we would think about it, a complete cessation of work on the sabbath would not have been possible anyway. Those ancient Israelites were an agricultural people, and any farmer knows that cows have to be milked, chickens have to be fed, and hogs have to be slopped no matter what day of the week it is. In America, for example, the 11 a.m. worship hour that so many observe was set years ago to accommodate farmers who, considering morning chores and travel time by horse and wagon, could not arrive until that hour. Some tasks do not care what day it is.
Note something else here — that list in the Old Testament commandment of all those who are to get a day off ... sons, daughters, servants, animals, day laborers. Who is missing from that list? The wife and mom! Sorry, ladies. Even the Bible knows that a woman's work is never done.
It would be nice to say that Jesus' word on the subject took care of the problem, and in the beginning it did. The early Christians enjoyed their Lord's day observances and fellowship meals so much that the Romans who passed by on the street outside a Christian meeting place thought they were having orgies in there. But, as is often the case, human beings cannot long endure the common sense of God. Within a short time, the church became as bad in fencing the Lord's day as the scribes and Pharisees had been with their rules.
In 789 AD, Charlemagne decreed that all ordinary labor was prohibited on Sunday to prevent breach of the fourth commandment, the first of the Blue Laws. By the time of the seventeenth century, one poor wretch in Scotland was hauled into court for smiling on the sabbath![2] In our country, Puritans punished people for not going to church on the Lord's day and for going anywhere else. They had placed such all-encompassing restrictions on the day that the commandment might well have read, "Thou shalt not enjoy life on Sunday."
When I was a boy, I heard over and over again that there were certain things done and not done on Sundays. Church and Sunday school were fine, of course. "Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy." But since the Lord's day, the Christian sabbath, was a day of rest, other organized activities were out.
Were all those Sunday prohibitions correct? The reason for the commandment guaranteeing folks a day off each week was not to bore them to death but to provide simple social justice. As Deuteronomy has it, "Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day" (5:15). In other words, the seven-day-a-week slavery that once was imposed on you is certainly not to be imposed by you ... not even on yourself!
So where does that leave us? If one day in seven is really God's gracious gift of a weekly day off rather than one set aside for strictly pious pursuits as our forebears believed, how do we get people to come to worship?
Perhaps the key might be in Christian people getting to the place of taking to heart Jesus' words about the sabbath being set aside for our benefit, not God's. If the church insisted that it be used as such, and then actually helped folks to enjoy the day (even by something as simple as encouraging them to "come as you are" for worship), a watching world might be attracted to such a loving and caring Lord, even to the point of wanting to worship. Wouldn't that be a kick!
It pains me, not only as a minister, but simply as a Christian, to see people staying away from the church in droves. It pains me to see Sunday slowly but surely become just another day. If that happens, it will be the church's fault as much as anyone else's. But if we do nothing but beat our breasts and wring our hands, our grandchildren will not have any Sunday to worry about. It will have become just one day out of seven.
How might the church recapture Sunday? We never will if all we want is to simply get people into the pews. But if our goal is to provide as many opportunities as humanly possible to make contact with a loving God, a Savior who meets and serves humanity through his body, the church — you and me — then the tide might be turned. It will take creativity, discipline, commitment, planning, and setting priorities — the best holidays (holy days) and vacations always do. There are even some reasonable things not to do included in all that planning.
A contemporary parable comes from the pen of Dr. Leslie Weatherhead who for years was the minister of London's City Temple. He wrote:
Near my home in a London suburb there is a little park. Formerly it was the grounds of a gentleman's house but the borough council took it over and made it into a very pleasant little spot for the enjoyment of the entire neighborhood. There are lovely flower beds, beautiful lawns, shady trees, a rock garden, and a little pool where two rather tired ducks make the best of the muddy water.
The park has been fenced in with iron railings and it's locked at night. There are notices which say "Do not pick the flowers" and "Please keep off the grass." Some might say "Why the fence and the signs? Why not leave people free to do what they like?" But I'm quite sure the answer is this: If there were no notices there would soon be no flowers; and if there were no prohibitions, there would soon be no little park for anyone at all. Many people, of course, would respect that little haunt of peace where one may sit on a quiet sunny afternoon and meditate, but many others would not. The borough council has even appointed a stalwart guardian who assumes a fiercesome demeanor, especially to little boys who disregard the notices; and as a resident, I would support the appointment of this friend, and I would support the maintenance of the fences and the signs. You see, I want the park preserved.[3]
Sunday is our little park ... our place apart in the noisy din of a hectic week ... a little oasis in the desert of a workaday world. The signs we put up and the fences we maintain can determine, not only for ourselves, but for generations to come, whether or not that park is to survive.
I make no judgments as to what is right or wrong on Sunday for you, but I will say this: Judgments must be made. I leave them to you ... to ponder, to discuss, to lift up to the Lord in prayer. We can rejoice that Jesus taught that "the sabbath was made for you and me and not you and me for the sabbath." But, at the same time, we keep in mind the earlier commandment: "Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy ... a holiday ... as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God" ... God's day off.
1. Joy Davidman, Smoke on the Mountain (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1954), p. 53.
2. Ibid, p. 56.
3. Leslie Weatherhead, When the Lamp Flickers (Nashville: Abingdon, 1958), pp. 107-108.