Show Notes
In week eleven of Ordinary Time, we turn to Isaiah 58 to rediscover the beauty and significance of the Sabbath. Why does rest matter to God—and how can it shape our lives today?
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Episode Transcript
May the God of all grace and goodness shine his light of love and truth on us that we may walk more closely in his ways and reflect more of his nature to the world around us.
A reading from Isaiah, chapter 58, beginning in verse 9.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
A couple of years ago, the New Yorker published an article about “the quiet revolution of the Sabbath.” It addressed how more people are rediscovering a biblical principle that rest and renewal are essential for a good life, especially in our always connected 24/7 world. We just need to switch it off regularly. For Christians, it’s not just about the physical and emotional wellbeing that can result, important as those benefits are. It’s about going against the flow of the modern world and saying no to its demands. As the title of Walter Brueggemann’s book on the topic says, it’s seeing Sabbath as resistance, saying no to the culture of now. Putting aside our work, whether that’s earning a paycheck, studying for exams, or tidying up the yard, is a declaration that ultimately God is our source and provider, not our own best efforts. The prophet Isaiah cautioned his people against serving their own interests and pursuing their own affairs. This doesn’t mean doing nothing. By laying down our need to produce, we can be more present to God, to those near and dear to us, and even to those in need. Remember that Jesus healed on the Sabbath, much to the disapproval of the Pharisees. While physical and emotional refreshment comes through Sabbath, it’s not the primary factor. God didn’t rest on the seventh day of creation because he was tired. And think about Adam and Eve’s arrival on day six. Their first full day living out God’s mandate to be fruitful and multiply was a day off with their Creator. So when they went out into the world of work, it was from a place of rest and relationship. Without getting mired in legalism, how might you be more intentional about laying aside your own interests and affairs on a weekly basis, as Isaiah encourages, and in so doing, declare your faith in the God who is over and in and through all.
A reading from Luke’s chapter 13, verses 10 through 17.
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
Let’s pray with Trinity Church on England’s Channel Island of Guernsey.
Lord Jesus, thank you for the gift of the Sabbath. Thank you that you showed us the way to create a rhythm of work and rest. Thank you for your love and care which allows us time to rest. Teach us your rhythm for our lives, Lord, so that we may be rested and you may be glorified. Please show us how to make more time for you and how to keep the Sabbath holy. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen.
A reading from the 71st Psalm.
In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;
turn your ear to me and save me.
Be my rock of refuge,
to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.
For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,
my confidence since my youth.
From birth I have relied on you;
you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
I will ever praise you.
