In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. On the first day, light, and on the second day the sky and the sea. On the third day came the earth and plants, and on the fourth day the sun, the moon, and the stars. On the fifth day fish in the sea and birds in the air, and on the sixth day along came animals and with them us, humankind. That could have been the end. All things had been created. But it wasn’t the end. It’s important we hear that on the 7th day, God rested. God blessed that day, because on it he rested.

From that point on, the biblical witness is that God’s people were called to rest on the 7th day. 6 days shall you do your work, and on the 7th, you shall rest! Why? Because that’s what God did. If God rested, then so should you.

So imagine the surprise of the Pharisees, when this upstart Rabbi from the north appears and condones the plucking of grain on the Sabbath. How dare he? His disciples were hungry? So what?! Surely they weren’t starving. And not just plucking of grain, but healing too! Was it really necessary? You can’t tell me a withered hand can’t wait a few hours till the Sabbath is over.

But this Rabbi will not be cowed. He does not entertain their outrage, instead he points them back to the Scripture they are so eager to abide by. You are picking and choosing your verses, he says. Priests work on the Sabbath, yet they are guiltless. And you would save your animal, even on the Sabbath, if it were necessary. You have missed a piece of the puzzle. The sacrifices God asks for are only a small part of the story…it is mercy that he desires. Mercy is what you are missing.

It’s not that the Sabbath is bad…far from it. God instituted it for a reason. Our desire to work and provide for ourselves and our family can easily turn into a problem, an unhealthy desire, even an addiction. Just a few more hours. Just enough to get ahead. But we need rest. We need a reset. We need a reminder to stop and bring ourselves before our creator. The Sabbath is a gift. A gift, if you’ll pardon the phrase, that keeps on giving. But it was never intended to hinder love, it was never intended to be a burden. Sabbath was made to be of service to us, not the other way around.

If we want proof of this we can simply look to Jesus himself. Jesus, who regularly took time away from his work, his mission, and yet lived out his love for others through acts of mercy, on the Sabbath or otherwise. And we have the privilege of hindsight, we know something the Pharisees did not. That in Jesus, it is the very God who created the Sabbath, who is the one who steps in and ‘breaks’ it, for love of neighbour. Let me say that again. In Jesus, it is the very God who created the Sabbath, who is the one who steps in and ‘breaks’ it, for love of neighbour. That love, that mercy, cannot wait, not even for a few hours. 

We come before a God who is abounding in steadfast love and mercy. This God gives good things to his creation. This God gives the gift of the Sabbath, a time of rest, reflection, and rejuvenation. And this God gives the permission to set the Sabbath to one side when love and mercy are needed. Perhaps this is a taste of what Jesus means when he says, “I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfil it.”

Amen.