INTRODUCTION
Jesus had a mission to
fulfill. He was heading to a final confrontation with the
Jewish leadership
in Jerusalem. He told his disciples what was to come,
including that
Jesus was to be put to death. Peter, true to form, rebelled
against
this. He was rebuked by Jesus. It was God's will that Jesus must
follow,
not the will of man. Even so, Jesus paused in his journey to Jerusalem.
It appears he may have wanted to confirm for himself, one more time,
that he
was doing the right thing, before continuing his journey.
We can read an account of Jesus' experience on the "Mount of Transfiguration"
in
the book of Mark: "And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter,
and
James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart
by them-
selves: and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment
became shining,
exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can
white them. And there
appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they
were talking with Jesus. And
Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master,
it is good for us to be here: and let
us make three tabernacles; one
for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
For he wist not what
to say; for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud
that overshadowed
them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my
beloved
Son: hear him. And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they
saw
no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. And as they came
down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man
what
things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the
dead."
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus found himself in the
presence of
Moses and Elias. Moses represents the Law of God and the
moral courage
to follow it. Elias symbolized Prophesy, the spiritual
evidence of God as
opposed to the testimony of the material senses
(See Glossary of S&H,
page 585). Together, the Law and the Prophets
brought reassurance and
comfort to Jesus, and the vision of success
to carry him through the upcoming
ordeal of the crucifixion. This experience
transformed Jesus' appearance. He
was radiant. It might have been tempting
to stay there, to linger in this inspira-
tion, but Jesus descended
the mountain and back into the chaos of human
need, and the tragic
events that awaited him below. Jesus had important work
to do, but
he "remembered" to pause and "wait on God" before resuming his
mission.
This is, perhaps, an indication of what a true Sabbath should be.
This experience brings to mind a statement by
Mary Baker Eddy in her
She writes: "Beholding the infinite tasks of truth, we pause, -- wait
on God.
Then we push onward, until boundless thought walks enraptured,
and
conception unconfined is winged to reach the divine glory." (S&H
323)
Now, let us take a look at how the disciples of Jesus handled
this awe-inspiring
event on the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter, James,
and John had earned the
opportunity to join Jesus on the mountain.
They, too, bore witness to the
appearance of Moses and Elias, and
heard the voice of God. But, at that time,
they were so moved and
shaken, they were not quite sure what to do in
response. Peter demonstrated
for us the natural human instinct to such a divine
experience: he wanted
to organize a building committee! He suggested they
build three
tabernacles, or booths, to commemorate and prolong the moment.
His
motion appeared to die for lack of a second. Jesus directed his disciples
not to discuss this incident until he had risen from the dead, perhaps
indicating
that until Peter and the other followers had found the risen
Christ in their hearts
(in addition to waiting until the resurrection
of Jesus), it would be best not to
offer their precious insights and
experience as fodder for what may be a dull
and ungrateful community.
WHICH KIND OF SABBATH SHOULD WE REMEMBER:
Building and maintaining
"tabernacles" is not necessary for our Sabbath
worship and communion
with God. But, as Jesus demonstrated, pausing to
turn to God to seek
His will and guidance through His Law and Prophecy, can
be a divine
and holy experience no matter where we are, or what day of the
week
it is.
Question: How often in our busy lives do we stop to "wait on
God"? Once a
week, perhaps, when we go to church? Once a year, such
as on Easter?
Only when we are in really, really big trouble? Or,
only when we are really,
really happy at something going the way we
had wanted it to, and we praise
God for giving it to us?
Setting aside
time on a regular basis to approach God, and to be alone with
Him,
and listen to His particular message for us in a spirit of humility
and
yearning, is what the "Sabbath" is all about. It is a willingness
to give up
doing things our way for God's way. It is accepting God
as the Supreme
Being who rules the universe. It is recognizing that
God governs, and that we
must be obedient to Him if we want to fulfill
our part in God's gracious plan for
His creation. It is taking a physical
and mental rest from all the worldly
activities that wear us down,
or that seem to drain our human resources,
and giving this same opportunity
for rest to those in our service or care. In
the teachings of Christian
Science, the Fourth Commandment provides an
important metaphysical
lesson, as well, which I will discuss later.
From what is recorded
in Exodus 20, the Sabbath does not appear to be
a divine requirement
to go to a particular denominational church, approved
by God, on a
certain day of our calendar. It is not a divine requirement to enact
laws
requiring all citizens to abstain from work designated by the lawmakers
or
church officials. It is not a call to place burdens on others in order
to fulfill
public or religious traditions, or to self-righteously
segregate church-goers
from non-church-goers. It is not an excuse
for checking off church attendance
on our mental To Do list, and then
forgetting about God and His command-
ments the rest of the week. It
is a most sacred commandment that needs to
be released from the burdens
of traditional thinking and seen from a more
spiritual perspective.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The term "sabbath" comes from a Hebrew word
which means "to desist" or
"to break off." The word "holy" means to
set apart to the service of God,
evoking or meriting veneration, or
awe, and sacred.
There is evidence that the Hebrews were already taking
a "sabbath" rest
before the Commandments were given to Moses in Mount
Sinai. In
Exodus 16:23-30, we read about the manna that God was going
to provide
the Israelites as they journeyed in the wilderness. They
were instructed:
"Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh
day, which is the Sabbath,
in it there shall be none."
There seems
to be a debate among scholars as to whether or not the
Hebrews picked
up the tradition of a seventh's day rest from the Babylonians.
The
Babylonians had laws in which their kings and priests were to stop
certain activities at the time of the new moon. It is also possible
that the
Hebrews may have been influenced by rituals of the Canaanites.
We do
know that the rhythm of life at that time revolved around the
seasons, the
movements of the sun, moon, and stars. We see in the
story of Noah
several mentions of "other seven days," as if the concept
of a week had
already taken the form of seven days.
You may be thinking,
"what about the seven days of creation in the first
chapter of Genesis;
wasn't that first?" Actually, no! According to the dozen
or so Bible
commentaries I researched, it is a known fact that the first
chapter
of Genesis, and the first four verses of the second chapter, are from
the
"Priestly Code" -- additions to the Old Testament stories that were
written hundreds of years later at the time the Hebrews were exiled
in
Babylon (about 550-500 B.C.). These writings were interwoven with
the
earlier documents, and it is not always certain which verses belonged
to
which manuscripts. In the beginning of Genesis, the Priestly documents
can be easily recognized by scholars from the "J" or "Yahwist" writings.
There is also the "E," or "Elohist" document, which starts at Genesis
15.
I bring this up because the Fourth Commandment as given in Exodus
20, is
also a product of this intermixing of documents written at
different times.
The original commandment given to Moses is the familiar
statement found
in verse 8: "Remember the sabbath day to keep in holy."
The rest of the
verses, which expounds upon verse 8, were part of
the Priestly Code added
hundreds of years later. Let us look at the
whole statement of the Fourth
Commandment, found in Exodus 20:8-11:
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour,
and
do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord
thy God: in it
thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor
thy daughter, thy manservant,
nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle,
nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
For in six days the Lord
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them
is, and rested
the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day,
and hallowed
it."
The original commandment given to Moses did not describe what
the
Sabbath day was, or how it was to be commemorated. It did not
identify it
with God's day of rest. But, later, after the Jews
had been in exile in Babylon,
and the Sabbath day had taken on more
significance to them, the writers of
the Priestly Code created an
addition to the Fourth Commandment which
identified it with the seventh
day of the Days of Creation. As the first chapter
of Genesis was an
inspired and instructive overture to the Bible, so this
explanation
added to the Fourth Commandment has given a fuller and
clearer idea
of the meaning behind the sabbath day, which is useful to us
today
on both literal and spiritual levels.
The Fourth Commandment instructs
us to "Remember" the sabbath day.
Since the Hebrews may have already
been practicing a day of rest, they
are possibly being told to remember
this tradition of the past, in addition to
being exhorted not to forget
it in the future. What may have been new to the
Hebrews, as the practice
of the commandment evolved over time, was the
instruction from the
Priestly Code to give others in the household a day of
rest, so that
they would have the time to refresh their bodies and souls. I have
to
point out, though, that there is no mention given to the idea of letting
wives
and mothers have a day of rest! This does not come as a surprise.
After all,
someone had to feed the guys taking the day off from work!
THE SABBATH FALLS VICTIM TO ABUSE
Even though the original intent
of God's commandment was both humanitarian
and a simple call to remember
Him -- a wonderful way to unite with God -- the
Fourth Commandment
evolved, instead, into a yoke that enslaved the Hebrews
to the terrible
burdens of countless rules and regulations that were petty and
illogical,
and created avenues of hypocrisy. It is a bit of irony that the one
commandment
meant to ease the stress and strain of human life should be
the source
of so much stress itself.
This burden did not come from the Commandment
as God gave it, but from
the human opinions and interpretations of
the Priests. The enslavement of
others to what they believed was the
correct way to obey this law led to the
height of unreasonableness
during the Maccabean revolt in 165 BC , when
the Jews refused to do
the work necessary to defend themselves because
