"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation." -Genesis 2:1–3
The Sabbath is extremely misunderstood, and if you think about it, it always has been. For Jesus, the seventh day was the day He got into trouble with the Pharisees, which was no doubt angering (Luke 13:15 is my reference for this). Because the Pharisees legalized the Sabbath, we often do too, and that is most likely why it is mostly an abandoned practice (at least compared to what it once was).
Nowadays the Sabbath is looped in with those strict old Jewish laws that we don't "have to" practice because of Jesus...right?
From the beginning, the Sabbath was something that was set apart entirely, and it wasn't just another law to deal with. "God blessed the seventh day and made it holy". This is shocking because while other religions have their god setting aside a mountain as holy, or maybe a temple, or even a cathedral or something, God blessed and set aside a day. He made a day holy. I think arguing about if it should be Saturday or Sunday is beside the point because whichever day we choose to practice it, it is a gift. It is quite literally set apart (holy) from everything else.
Back to Jesus, though. The common assumption, at least based on conversations I have had with people, is that the Sabbath is just another strict law that Jesus didn't appreciate very much.
Quite the contrary, He proclaimed Himself "Lord over the Sabbath", because in Him there is rest, and peace, and shalom. Recall how God rested on the seventh day of creation, how from the beginning it was woven into the fabric of the world we live in. We are able to enter into that same rest when we come to Christ because He is the seventh day. He is rest. He is our Sabbath, and what a gift He is.
"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. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience." -Hebrews 4:9–11
Okay, so what does that look like for my Saturday or Sunday? How can you actually set aside a day and rest? What does that look like for us as followers of Christ?
An interesting thing to note in the passage above is the language used- strive to enter that rest. That Greek word could also be translated fight or even work. This language is very interesting because, well, we're talking about rest here, but in order to achieve it we have to fight for it. That's because accepting the free gift of rest in Christ is extremely difficult for us, especially because we live in a culture that prioritizes extreme productivity (and money to show for it) which will only lead to exhaustion, and your language will change over time to sound a lot like the writer of Ecclesiastes- meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless! What's it all for?
The Sabbath, a gift from the Creator to His very, very broken creation, isn't a requirement or a law, it's a gift. And it's a gift worth fighting for.
Set aside a day to truly, deeply experience rest. Spend the holy day seeking after simply the presence of Christ, Lord of the Sabbath, because "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). Resist the urge to be "productive", to return to the to-do list, and instead rest as God Himself rested. Delight in it. Be thankful for it. Maybe for you, this looks like writing or reading or just sitting still or baking bread or biking or riding your horse or making cookies or going outside or of course meditating on His word and praying through it all.
However it may look, with a grateful heart recognize how truly beautiful it is that our God rests Himself, and invites all of His children to do the exact same. Celebrate it! Relish it! Our God isn't like Pharaoh telling his slaves to make more, more, more bricks. Our God isn't like Marduk, the Babylonian "creator god" who created humanity to be his slaves and to do the heavy lifting so he could sit back and rest himself. No, our one true God invites us into rest, to dine, to enjoy Him in all moments, and He even provides us a day designated just for that, just for Him.
So, come to Him, all you who are weary and heavy-laden and exhausted and stressed and anxious and starting to adapt that Ecclesiastes mentality. He will provide you with true, full, deep rest that will leave you feeling truly satisfied.
Come.
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