Sun Kwak, “Repurposing the Sabbath Cathedral”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgyryoLPxFI

TEXT: Mark 2:23-28

[23] One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. [24] And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” [25] And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: [26] how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” [27] And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. [28] So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

SERMON: “Repurposing the Sabbath Cathedral”

You might know that our family loves our insulated water bottles. And it’s because we really love cold water — but not just cold water but ice cold water. Meaning we need to hear the ice clanging inside the walls of these insulated water bottles. And so, we’ve always had these ice maker machines on top of our kitchen counter. And when Kalen was younger, she would try to refill her bottle with ice herself. And I guess this bothered me. So, I got a little protective, because I wanted to control who got how much ice and when. And so, I started making up these rules about who can access this ice machine. And initially, it was just — If you can’t reach it standing up, you can’t touch it. But of course, she got taller. So, I started stacking on other rules and restrictions. Eventually, I would start saying things like — you need wash your hands first, you need to use the ice scooper, you need to wash out your bottle first. That if you use the ice in the ice machine, it was your responsibility to fill the water tank in the ice machine with our filtered water from our Berkey. These were rules that I stacked on top of each other in order to preserve this ice machine and restrict access to it. Because I didn’t want others contaminating it by also having access to it and depleting the amount of already made ice, just in case I needed some. So, eventually, I wore them out, because my kids didn’t want to abide by these backbreaking laws made by Daddy, the ice legalist, any longer. And I guess this wasn’t too different from what the Pharisees were doing. And it helps answer and contextualize the question, in part — What were THEY — these Pharisees. What were THEY doing there? As in, the grain fields. It’s the same thing Dad does in the Kwak home. They’re trying to protect what’s sacred to them.

And what the Pharisees were particularly keen on keeping for themselves and restricting access from others was what we know as the Sabbath. This was one of the chief identity markers that was used to distinguish them from others. And the reason they were in these grain fields was because this was where the Sabbathwas often not kept. Not according to Scripture but according to these stacked on laws. And they weaponized the Sabbath to keep people outside of their own people out from their identity as God’s people. There were 39 known laws in these rabbinic traditions — these manmade additional laws by these religious rulers. And they were regarding work you couldn’t do on the Sabbath. And among these — sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, selecting, grinding, and sifting. And these are all related to things you in the grain fields. So, with these Pharisees trailing Jesus and his disciples, they’re thinking — Oh, he’s in trouble now. But the only thing was, these weren’t from God’s Word, the Old TestamentScriptures. But rather, they were from their manmade traditions. And their grievous error was putting God’sholy and inerrant Word on the same plane with their manmade traditions, and thereby, expecting the Son of God to yield to their traditions and customs — things they developed not out of reverence for God or faith in his promises but out of sinful desires of self-preservation and self-righteousness. Because these Phariseesdidn’t want others to access their holy day and contaminate their identity as a people of God. They wanted to control the who, what, when, where, why, and how of what it meant to be the people of God through how they kept for themselves the things of God, including the Sabbath. But what we’re going to find today is Jesus claiming authorship over the Sabbath. And in doing so, he commits to redefining the Sabbath. That just as he created the Sabbath with infinite wisdom, he reclaims it in order to restore its use and benefits for his creation. That it wasn’t to restrict access nor was it to constrain minds and hearts with legalistic observance. But rather, the Sabbath was created for rest, and here was Jesus reclaiming it in order to direct us to the need for deep rest for our souls.

Jewish rabbi Abraham Heschel describes how the Jews regard the Sabbath — that it’s not just about a developed rhythm but it’s a day of sanctity. Listen to his words: “The Sabbath is to time what the temple and tabernacle are to space. The Sabbath is a cathedral in time. On the seventh day we experience in time what the tabernacle and temple represented as spaces which is eternal life, God in the complete creation.” This was not just another day of the week. It was sacred. And you think about how the Jews in the first century made dividing walls of hostility to separate the Jews from Gentiles, creating Gentile courts in the Temple. And they used the Sabbath in the same way, in order to separate and to push out people who they thought were unclean and unworthy of having access in. And so, just as the Tabernacle and the Templewere designed not just for function but for beauty, the Sabbath was likewise, according to God’s design and his design in beauty. And many of these Jews thought that it needed to be protected from the contamination of all that was out there. And while it was certainly admirable to preserve beauty in God’s creation, if the Sabbath was something that you stepped into, then there lies a problem. And it’s the something the Pharisees never saw. Because we don’t preserve the Sabbath by keeping sinners out. Not as long as we step into it as well. Because every single one of us contaminate the perfectly made things of God, because we are sinners, and sinners sin. And so, we are those who contaminate and even desecrate the beautiful things of God’s creation. Russ Ramsey writes this about beauty and art: “Beauty is a relic of Eden — a remnant of what is good. It comes from a deeper realm. It trickles into our lives as water from a crack in a dam, and what lies on the other side of that dam fills us with wonder and fear. Glory lies on the other side. And we were made for glory.” Because what the Sabbath gives us is a sneak peek into is this thing called rest. And as a restless society, it’s what we need. Because every time you and I step into the Sabbath, we contaminate it, we obscure it. And what Jesus teaches us here. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. It’s not we who preserve the Sabbath. But in fact, the Sabbath was created to preserve us.

I think it’s safe to say that as a society, we’ve all but extinguished the biblical practice of Sabbath. And we see this when the NFL season starts, and well-meaning Christians will opt out of Sunday worship in order to “Sabbath” in front of their TV — making the Sabbath something of man’s design and not God’s design. And we can be critical of that. But I want to challenge us that sometimes, we can do the same thing — the other side of the same coin — as those who religiously come to church. Because the Pharisees, I’m going to argue, did the same exact thing. It might have looked more on par with or according to God’s design, because their manmade design happened within the confines of religious observance. But it was just the other side of the same coin. They, just like many Americans who take Sundays to mean personal days, defined the Sabbathto be something according to man instead of according to God. Here, I’m reminded of something that JamieSmith says regarding time — that we are to partner with time. That when we have the proper understanding of our place as created beings, we come alongside time, which was created by the very same God. So, we don’t place it above us or below us but come alongside it, with full dependence upon God and his design for how we enter a relationship with time. For while the Sabbath is to be set apart as a day when God’s people come together to find our true identity in the rest we have in God, it’s not to be deemed as something moreor something greater than a mere sign post. It was to direct our attention to something greater. And when we mistake the sign post for the thing itself, which is what a lot legalism tends to do, then we lose the purpose of the sign post. And specifically, when we use the Sabbath to direct our attention more to what we’re doingrather than what God has done, we’re missing the purpose of the Sabbath.

One of my deeper regrets as a parent was how I enforced naps on our oldest Kalen. Nap time was sacred, so Judy and I really made it a strain to sleep, if that makes sense. We just had to make sure she got her one or two scheduled naps right when it was time. And the reason this turned into something regrettable is that when Kalen would refuse to sleep, whether on the bed or in the carrier, I would take her on drives. And for one, it was not environmentally friendly. But more than that, this was the last straw. By then, my patience was exhausted, and I was less willing to show grace to our little two-year old. And if through the rear view I caught her looking around and opening her eyes and looking at the trees God forbid, then Daddy’s wrath would come oozing out. It just made sleep and rest and nap time such an unenjoyable and restless time for us as parents, and I’m pretty sure, for her as a little toddler. But I don’t know if you’ve ever tried really hard to sleep. But you just can’t, because you’re anxious. I used to never have that problem, but I guess something happened. Because now, when I wake up in the middle of the night, I can’t go back to sleep — I’m up for good, there’s just too much on the mind, at least for a few hours. And when this started happening more regularly, I guess the Dad guilt started piling on, wondering if I made something that was meant to be enjoyable to become something anxiety-ridden. I made something that was good for her to become about her obedience to my demands. I made rest into a law. But rest is not about obedience, and likewise, the Sabbath was not about strict adherence and obedience. I know it’s a part of God’s law in the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. So, I understand that that statement could be confusing. But if we can take a step back and try to understand the context of when those words were first given, it may change our perspective of what it means to keep the Sabbath. Because when you look at the Ten Commandments, for the first three, you get these Thou shall nots, but then the fourth commandment screeches to a halt — Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. That this was not about a day of straining or restricting but first and foremost one of remembering our God, to remember what he’s done, and to remember where our rest is found, and thereby, remembering who and whose we are. It was a day of reorienting our restless and aimlessly wandering hearts to place our souls in better hands.

There’s a little story that I love to share titled The Boy who Lost His Boat. And in the story, there is a boy who once made this beautiful boat. He loved this boat, and one day, he carried this boat to the edge of the river to set it out to sail in admiration. He attached it to a string, but as the current got too strong, the string broke, and this boat started drifting away. He spent all afternoon looking for the boat, but it was getting late. And so, to his dismay, he returned home empty-handed. A few days later, he’s walking down the street, and he spots a boat through the store window — and it looks exactly like the one he had made. He goes to the storeowner to tell him in excitement that the boat belongs to him. But the owner tells him that he can have it, but he first has to pay a dollar. So, the boy races home, empties his piggy bank, and he has exactly a dollar. He races back to the store, hands the storeowner the dollar, and brings the boat back home. And on the way home, he’s hugging this boat, pressing it securely on his chest, saying — You’re twice mine. First, I made you, and now I bought you. And you see, the Sabbath served as two reminders for the Jews — first, that Godhas made his people, and second, that God has redeemed his people. And I think that second part of the Sabbath was what was tragically lost for the Jews during the time of these Pharisees. Because of their legalism, they forgot that God’s people are his treasured people, not because of what they did but because of how he bought them, that they were twice his. And on the Sabbath was the regular reminder that Godheld them closely to his chest, to remind them — You’re twice mine. First, I made you, and now I bought you.

And as broken and as disfigured as God’s people were and are, the Sabbath is the day where we get to come back to be reminded that we are God’s treasured possessions. Because you see, when the Israelitesfirst heard the fourth commandment, it wasn’t when they were particularly obedient or organized or disciplined as a group. They were redeemed, but they were broken people. What else would 430 years of brutal slavery do to a people but break their backs? But it’s after they’d been liberated, after they’d been redeemed, after they’d crossed the Red Sea, even after they’d enacted distrust and disobedience, where God tells them in Exodus 19:4 that they are his treasured possessions — not because of anything that they had done but because of what he had done for them, that he had rescued and delivered them from the harshness of their slavery. And so, he tells them to remember. Because those 430 years were hard years. That as these Israelites were growing in number, the Egyptian taskmasters decided to use them as Egypt’sprimary labor force. And as a result, they were bound to the ceaseless and endless demands to work and to work, dehumanizing them to the likeness of animals plowing the fields. And so, God takes these broken and dehumanized people to reprogram them week after week. Because God knew how the brutality of slavery had broken their spirits. And so, he built in this regular habit. That every seven days, they had to rest. Because here he would steadily reprogram his people to remember. Not them but him, what he had done and how he is different. And how that shaped and formed them and their identity as his people. That they were twice his, first he made them, and now he redeemed them.

And so, you could see where Jesus was agitated by what the Pharisees were doing. Because in a religious way, they were engaging in the same back breaking, dehumanizing activity of straining the hearts of people with their legalistic demands. And I don’t know if you’ve ever felt that weight, of feeling the need to attain approval by your performance. It’s crushing. And God does not want that for you. And so, Jesus confronts these Pharisees, and he tells them — The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath. And here, he not only addresses the issue, but he enters into the conflict. And by using his favorite self-title of the Son of Man, he’s bringing back the image from Daniel 7 of how the Son of Man approaches the Ancient of Days — approaching the bench with all that he did for those he was king over. And here, with the Sabbath, when his disciples are accused, he puts the spotlight on himself — upon his entrance into the scene. For just as God entered the story of Israel’s restlessness and weariness through reprogramming the Sabbath to be that of rest for them, Jesus does the same.

We read the words of Matthew 11:28-30 — Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Here, Jesus identifies our yoke, what’s breaking our backs. And he takes the form of a ceaselessly, endlessly working animal. And he puts the yoke upon himself in order that he might latch himself to his weary and tired and restless and broken people. Taking a yoke, a wooden structure upon himself and over his back to enter into our plight, yoked and latched upon us to give us rest by ceaselessly and tirelessly working on our behalf. For Jesus would experience the ultimate dehumanization and restlessness when latched onto another wooden structure, what we know as the cross. In order to latch himself to us, to work for us, to remind us, to have us remember that he will never let us go. That heaven’s approval is not dependent upon us. No matter how restless our hearts, no matter how much we wander, that we are his treasured possessions — twice his and carried near his chest. That because he loves his story and because he loves his people, instead of authoring our ultimate death, he decided to author his own by entering into the conflict and putting the spotlight not upon accusations put on us but upon his perfect obedience that eternally mitigate these false narratives. This is the story that weaves us together, as those interlocked in this community. We are bound to him, and so, we are to one another, because our Savior has latched himself onto us personally and corporately. For us, he experienced deep unrest so that we might receive what the Sabbath was designed to do — to provide deep rest for our souls.

And at the start of each week, we as a community have the unique privilege to remind each other that the work is finished. And we enter into Sabbath rest with one another, knowing that God not only made this daybut he redeemed his people, and as the playwright who’s entered our plight, he’s with us by his grace. For we are twice his — he made us and he bought us, by his life and his blood. And ours is a story of remembering — not our yokes but Jesus’. Week by week, we come to be reminded that we have been covenantally latched upon the shoulders of our King. Find me another religion, another story of where the King willingly assumes the position of a working animal to be amongst his people, to go beneath his people. My sisters and my brothers, there is no one like Jesus. Come to him — there’s rest here. Recline into his grace, because you’re safe in his nail-pierced and punctured hands. The hands that first made you and by his blood has eternally bought you.