Of the Ten Commandments, the fourth one seems to be the least honored, at least in my own life. Sure, I don't go to work and don't have classes and attend church to worship God, but do I truly rest from my everyday life? Sundays are still filled with occasional chores, shopping trips, meetings and last-second homeowrk assignments. My legs might take a break, but my mind is still focused on my task list.
The Israelites were commanded to abstain from collecting manna on the Sabbath and the assembly stoned to death a man who had gathered wood on the Sabbath. Yet in the New Testament, Jesus' desciples picked grain and Jesus healed on the Sabbath. When the Pharisees questioned him about this, Jesus replied that it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
As with giving tithes and offerings to God, giving a day to be holy to the LORD is an act of faith and requires responsibility. The Israelites were responsible to gather twice the manna the day before the Sabbath and had to trust that it would be enough to last through the Sabbath. The man who was stoned should have been responsible in gathering wood before and should have trusted the God would provide. I should be repsonsible by getting homework done before Sunday, and depend on God, not my own works.
Another point Jesus made to the Pharisees was, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Mk 2:27). Like other holidays, the Sabbath was made as a reminder for us, to give us rest and keep us focused on the most important thing: God.
We all need the Sabbath, and we need it regularly, not just those days when we're feeling extra spiritual. This past semester, I got too busy for the Sabbath. I skipped church occasionally, filled my Sundays with homework and other assignments and even neglected my daily devotions. It had it's side effects. I slowly checked out spiritually and I searched for other ways to take my mind off of school-work, like computer games, food and television. I don't believe it's a sin to do any of these things, but I needed a vent from the stresses of daily life, and was devoting time to meaningless things instead of God.
Life is stressful and full of task-lists. There's always something else to do and we're always looking for a place of refuge. The Lord of the Sabbath says, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Mt. 11:28). I believe we need to give time to God not only weekly, but daily, to give us rest from our work (even if missions), and remind us of our purpose.
