3/1/26 “A Rhythm of Rest”
“A Rhythm of Rest”
Mark 2:23-3:6
When most people think of music, they typically think about sounds & beats...right?
We think about the notes that comprise a particular melody....
When you get a song stuck in your head....which - by the way - is called having an ‘earworm’...it’s the infectious melodies (or beats) that we just can’t seem to break free from...
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had earworms last for an entire day...has anyone else had that happen?
.....Anybody have a specific song that keeps getting stuck in your head?
I think my most recent all-day earworm was Chris Tomlin’s new praise song called “How Good It Is”.... such a catchy melody.
Well...believe it or not....one reason why some songs are so infectious is due to the absence of notes and beats...
....something we call rests.
Strategically placed rests can make the difference between a song that is very effective....and a one that is relatively forgettable....
....kind of like the name ‘Andy’ is easily forgotten...We established that a couple weeks ago 😊
For instance, one of the most impactful musical patterns contains 3 notes followed by a rest...or 3 beats followed by a rest
It sounds like this: 1-2-3 Rest 1-2-3 Rest 1-2-3 Rest 1-2-3 Rest
Some of you are already thinking of songs that fit this pattern...
Even the USA chant that we heard at the Olympics last week fits this rhythmic pattern.........U-S-A (Rest) U-S-A (Rest)
Ok...you get the point.
What makes that rhythmic pattern so effective is the one solitary rest at the very end of every measure.
Placing a rest on every 4th beat has the power to transform a somewhat forgettable song...into one that is - very memorable.
In other words, the song becomes much more effective because of the rhythm of rest imbedded in the music
We also see a rhythm of rest, so to speak, in scripture....
This Rhythm of rest is called - the Sabbath.
Buth rather than occurring after every 3 beats of music....the Sabbath rest comes after every 6 days of work.
The Sabbath is a divinely-prescribed day off from labor....a time for one’s body to rest from the previous 6 days of toil and strain...
....and - also - to get ready for the next 6 days of work.
Not only does a rhythmic Sabbath have physical value for our bodies...but spiritual value for our souls as well.
And – honestly – the Sabbath is a topic that often flies under the radar in modern evangelical churches....
Perhaps it doesn’t get brought up very often because we sometimes wrestle with what to do with it.....
For instance, It’s the 4th of the 10 Commandments, yet we often treat it differently than the other 9.....why is that?
Many Christians wonder – are we....in the NT....commanded to observe the Saturday Sabbath in the same manner as the Israelites were in the OT?
Has Sunday completely replaced the Sabbath for believers in Jesus Christ?
These are all important questions – and we’ll look at how God’s Word answers them....
But first, let's begin by defining our terms – what is the Sabbath?
The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word ‘Shabbat’....which literally means ‘rest’....or ‘to completely cease from activity’
Many people think that the Sabbath was first introduced in Exodus chapter 20....when Moses receives the 10 commandments from God upon Mt. Sanai.
But – actually – the Sabbath rhythm is found all the way back in the 2nd chapter of Genesis.
If you recall, God created the Earth and everything in it over the course of 6 days...and then on the 7th day – He rested.
Genesis 2:2-3 reads “By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.”
So, here we have the Sabbath rhythm of 6 days of work – followed by 1 day of rest – occurring all the way back in the first few pages of the Bible...
...and, by the way, God didn’t rest because He was tired, ok?
I remember my Sunday school teacher from 50 years ago telling us kindergarteners how God had gotten so tired from creating everything in 6 days – that He needed that 7th day to rest & get His strength back.
She meant well....and that’s the story that resonated best with a group of 4 year-olds...but an omnipotent, all-powerful God who never slumbers nor sleeps – also never grows tired or weary.
What is implied here in the text is that God ceased from His labor – to admire His work of creation.
After all, it was a good creation.
Have you ever completed a long project...or job of some kind....and taken a few moments to sit back and appreciate the accomplishment?
Not in prideful selfishness....but in thankful satisfaction over a job well done.
We’ve all been there....
Maybe it was a beautiful quilt that took you months to complete....
....or maybe it took years for you to overhaul and restore a vehicle and the day finally came when it was all finished....
.....and you were able to take it out for its first ride as a fully restored vehicle....that’s the 7th day!
So....here in Genesis 2, God has already established a pattern of how work & rest ought to relate to each other....what the rhythm of Sabbath should sound like.
Now....Let’s fast-forward to Exodus chapter 20.
The emancipated Israelites were in the desert near the foot of Mt Sinai
Moses goes up the Mountain and God (Yahweh) reveals to Him 10 Commandments that would serve to summarize the entire law....
Exodus 20:8-11 reads, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor you manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
So here in the 4th commandment, God is instructing the Israelites to abstain from their work routines on the 7th day....
The seventh day of the week would eventually come to be known as Shabbat (or, Saturday) and was ordained as a day of rest for the entire nation of Israel....
...Interestingly enough, Shabbat would actually begin at sunset on Friday night....and conclude at sunset on Saturday night.
....this was the observed 24-hour rhythm of the Sabbath.
Practicing Jews today...along with 7th Day Adventists...continue to observe the Sabbath each Saturday - as it would have been practiced by 1st century Jews in the time of Christ...
In fact, many traditions of Shabbat are integrated into the culture of modern-day Israel.
One thing to be aware of – if you’re ever in Israel on a Saturday....expect almost every business to be shut down for the day....
....AND - this one really floored me - elevators only travel up and down one floor at a time!
In other words, if you’re on the 20th floor of a hotel in Jerusalem...and you’re wanting to reach the 1st floor lobby....you better pack a lunch & bring a good book to read....because it’s gonna take a while.
....The elevator will be stopping on every single floor to open and close its doors before eventually reaching the first floor....
You might be wondering...why on earth would they do this?
Well...it has to do with an ancient rabbinical restriction that prohibited anyone from igniting a spark on the Sabbath....
....what does an elevator have to do with a spark?
Well...when you press a button in the elevator to tell it what floor you’d like to go to....that act of pressing the button creates a tiny spark within the electrical circuitry of the elevator...
....and sparks – it was decided - are a no-go on the Sabbath.....
....A spark resembles fire...and fire resembles work....and work – of course - is forbidden on the Sabbath.
Does that sound a bit excessive?
For 300 years....from roughly 100 BC until around 200 AD – this would include the 33 years when Jesus walked the earth -
Rabbis and teachers of the law were compiling a commentary on the entire Jewish law....it was something that became known as the Mishnah...
Later, it would be expanded even further into a collection called the Talmud....maybe some of you have heard of these Rabbinical works.
Basically, the Mishnah was a collection of man’s thoughts that were imposed upon the Jewish people as if they were the same as inspired scripture....
....In it, there were 24 chapters - 24 CHAPTERS - dedicated to the question of what constituted work....and - therefore – was forbidden on the Sabbath...
Thousands of man-made Sabbath restrictions such as:
Carrying anything heavier than a dried fig.....If you tossed something into the air, you had to catch it with the same hand – catching it in the opposite hand would constitute work.....you could not drag a chair across a dirt floor on the Sabbath because it may cause a groove in the soil, which would be considered plowing (and plowing is work).....
.....you couldn’t drop more than one seed on the ground – that would be considered sowing....no picking up fruit...no fishing....
Can you imagine trying to remember 24 chapters of these man-made regulations and restrictions surrounding the definition of work?
One of these rules was that there was to be no gleaning on the Sabbath.
And that brings us to our passage for today in Mark chapter 2.
Jesus and his disciples are walking through what are most likely wheat fields on Shabbat – the Sabbath - and they begin to pick some heads of grain to eat....something that everyone was legally allowed to do in those days...
Suddenly, in verse 24 (Mark 2:24) Pharisees appear...
Don’t ask me where they came from....they just seem to pop up in the story like agitated prairie dogs....
They ask Jesus in verse 24 (Mark 2:24) why he would allow his disciples to pick grain – and eat it - on the Sabbath
This restriction of plucking grain for food on the Sabbath was an example of a Mishnah restriction....it was a man-made regulation that was not found in scripture....
Jesus...knowing this....reminds them of a story from the book of 1st Samuel involving David and his men who are on the run from Saul...
David and his friends are starving, so they seek shelter in a tabernacle about a mile North of Jerusalem...
...they go in and ask the priest Ahimelech if they would be able to partake of what was referred to as consecrated bread....
This was bread that normally would have been reserved for priests...but Ahimelech had compassion on David and his companions....and allowed them to eat some of the bread.
It was an example of a ceremonial regulation being subordinate to a more urgent human need...the wellbeing of men was more important than a ritualistic regulation...
In other words....Necessity trumps Ritualistic legality.
...And this is why Jesus says what he does here in verse 27 (Mark 2:27)
...one of the most important verses in understanding the biblical role of the Sabbath....
....Jesus says “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
God’s purpose for the Sabbath day was to give His people a weekly rest....but the Pharisees had turned a divine blessing into a dreaded burden...
God never intended ceremony, ritual, and tradition to stand in the way of mercy, kindness, and goodness toward others...
The first 6 verses of Mark chapter 3 further illustrate this truth when we see Jesus meet a man on the Sabbath who is in need of healing...
Verse 1 (Mark 3:1) reads, “Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there”
Jesus has the man come forward and, in verse 4 (Mark 3:4) says to the crowd standing around them – including the Pharisees - “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: To do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”
This question put the Pharisees in a catch-22....
If they agreed that it was lawful to do good and save a life, then they would be unable to accuse Jesus of any wrongdoing...
....and it would have contradicted rabbinic tradition...while at the same time....acknowledging that an act of healing would be acceptable.
On the other hand, if the Pharisees answered that it was indeed lawful to do evil and to kill, it would have contradicted numerous commands in the Torah concerning the need to flee from evil....
....not to mention it would have exposed their calloused hearts toward others....something the Pharisees knew to be true internally, but would never admit publicly.
So.....what did they do?
They didn’t say a word.....they remained completely silent...
They took the 5th, so to speak....
...no matter what they said, it would have incriminated them.
Now....Look with me at verse 5 (Mark 3:5)
Other than when Jesus flips the tables in the temple court....and when he chastises his disciples for not allowing the little children to approach him....
....this is the only other time in scripture that Jesus is specifically described as being angry.
Verse 5 says that Jesus “looked around at them in anger”.....and that he was “deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts.”
Think about that.
The situations that caused Jesus – God in the flesh – the most anger were when people were intentionally – and irreverently - ripping others off outside the temple.....
.....when children were being mistreated....
....and when professed people of faith prioritized tradition over love for others.
...And consider this....Jesus’ anger in all 3 of these instances is directed toward people who should have known better....
....individuals who professed to be people of faith.
Let that sink in.
His anger wasn’t directed at lost people who had no spiritual training or understanding....it was directed at those who had already been exposed to the word of God....
.....in the case of the Pharisees, people who studied it their entire lives!
If you are someone who professes to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior....you better act like it, right?.....and that’s for me, too....it’s for all of us.
Let’s make sure that our attitude, words, and actions match up with what we claim to believe....
....As members of the body of Christ......as members of the Church....
.....We are held to a higher standard of conduct than those who have no moral compass whatsoever....
God expects us to act in accordance with what we profess to believe....
Lastly, verse 28 of chapter 2 is – I believe – one of the most important verses in all of scripture...
Jesus says “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath”
Here, Jesus – by announcing His authority over ceremonial laws and tradition – is proclaiming His divinity.
Jesus is greater than the Sabbath itself because He is the source of eternal rest for those living in Him.
That’s why He could say in Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
As Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus is our rest....He is our solace & our peace.
Well....there is so much more to cover when dealing with the Sabbath...and so many questions to answer for how it effects believers today...
Remember some of those old 2-part TV shows that would end with a cliffhanger....
....and then you would hear: “Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion”
Well folks....Tune in next week for part 2 of looking at the Sabbath when we’ll answer some important questions about what Shabbat means for Christians today....
Let’s Pray.
