October, 2008
To the Editor:
Houghton’s emphasis on
Sabbath, along with the recent “Simplicity Initiative” treatment of the
concept, leads to reflection. Though in
my childhood I was required to treat Sunday differently in some aspects, it was
not explicitly a set of “Sabbath” concepts that was enjoined on me during
formative years. Still, later in life, I
found myself almost bending over backwards to make Sunday a more “normal” day,
because every day is God’s day for the Christian, of course. Aside:
Incidentally, I’m not sure that notion was any different for the ancient
Jew.
Sabbath is, after all, a
Jewish thing. Today, ethnic Jews who
believe in Jesus as Messiah may choose to keep the Sabbath in a Jewish manner;
as far as I can tell, doing so does not violate any Christian principle. But Sabbath is Jewish in its origin, and that
origin had me, an Irish-English-Welsh-Scottish-German-Swiss mutt, ignoring the
idea for too many years.
I even confess to having
glossed over the Sabbath principle, to an extent, during my first year at
Houghton. I suppose that, had I
honored the principle more, I would have been more blessed. This year, I decided on a more-or-less
specific guideline or two for honoring Sabbath.
The time frame is somewhat fluid, but it starts on Saturday
evening. And I do feel good because of
the commitment, and blessed so far.
I would like to hold out
this view: for the Christian, Sabbath
is a principle, not a law. (Though
the New Covenant scriptures speak of the “Law of Christ,” this Law appears to
be more of a concept than a tangible, or even literal, law.) I know of no New Covenant scripture that
labels Sunday the “Christian Sabbath,” as though the old law were to have been
transferred to a new day of the week in all its specifics.
Other Old Covenant laws are
made obsolete in the New Covenant, but this is not to say that every old law is
without meaning or purpose now. Rather,
it is that there are now better, deeper, more living-and-breathing principles
that eclipse the old ones. For instance,
try these:
·
Clearly, we should not kill.
Jesus both fulfilled and trumped that law in His teaching and in His
living.
·
Clearly, we should not serve, or sacrifice to, “gods” other than
YHVH. Jesus’ apostle Paul articulated
the principle of living every moment of life as—and here we might imagine him
using the now-familiar two-finger quote mark gesture—“temple service” (the
notion implied by the Koiné Greek logikan
latreian) or even as proskuneo
“worship,” which is a different, but related, concept.
And many other Old Covenant
laws are fulfilled and given new life in the New. I would suggest that it is incumbent on us
not merely to adhere to Jewish laws, but to do better than they did. After all, they were but
pedagogues—literally, “child-guides” or “schoolmasters” to lead us to the
Christ (Galatians 2). In the case of
Sabbath, it is not enough to submit to seventh-day (or first-day) rest; the
purposes of the original Sabbath, to which we were being led, must be
perpetually explored. Under the New
Covenant, the principle is more important; the literal original
is not the end, but the means to a transformed end.
Even under the Old
Covenant, as Jesus pointed out in an interaction with the Pharisees, there were
allowances made for those whose life-rhythms didn’t readily mesh with the
weekly Sabbath norm. Surely these
allowances may be carried through to, and even expanded in, our time. Specifically, in our setting at
Should we rebuke those who
worked so tirelessly on Saturdays and Sundays to make the 125th
birthday of the College a celebratory reality?
Should we hire only non-Christians to work in food service and Safety
and Security on Sundays? And should
students be banned from computers and classrooms and practice rooms and study
groups on Sundays? Surely there is more
to it than this.
It’s more important that I
answer Sabbath questions for myself than for others. And what does all this mean for me? Well, my life-rhythms are different from
those of the ancient Hebrews. They are
not solely weekly rhythms! I could
make a case for their primarily being yearly, in fact; there are also aspects
of my life that are more daily than weekly.
Seasonal and “semesterly” changes occur for
me, as well. Perhaps, based on these
other rhythms, I could build in life-silences and withdrawals from the normal
“grind.” Yes, my primary Christian
assembly on Sundays gives the week a rhythm, too, but the weekly one is not the
only one.
It is for freedom that the
Christ set us free from the Old Law. For
me, there must be some freedom to live my life on an academic calendar without
fear of having trampled the (Jewish) Law.
Still, I plan to continue to find ways to rest, rejuvenate, recreate,
and even “take breaks” in ways that honor the Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12).
Jesus, Lord of
the Sabbath, guide my heart, head, laptop fingers, and feet as I try to find
ways to live as you desire.
References: Matt.
12:1-14; Gal. 2:24; Gal. 5:1; Heb.
5:11-6:3; Heb. 8:13-9:10; Heb. 10:1-18; Col. 2:6-3:1f
Dr.