Church of the Holy City

Sanctifying a Day

Sanctifying a Day
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
December 1, 2013

Isaiah 56:1-2, 6-8 Mark 2:23-28 Psalm 92

The third commandment is, “Honor the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shall thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh is the Sabbath to the Lord your God.” In Hebrew, the word Sabbath means to rest. There is a level of meaning to this commandment that relates to this world, and one that relates to the spiritual world. Without its inner meaning, or spiritual meaning, it would perhaps be hard to see this commandment as holy. I interpret this commandment in two ways, taking into account this world and the next. First, make time for rest. Second, make time for God.
From the worldly point of view, this commandment says that we need to set one day aside for rest from work. And I think that our society really needs to take this commandment seriously. So many in our society work 7 days a week. They don’t even take one day off. The excuse is that they need the extra money just to make ends meet. So the Sabbath is forgotten, buried under the frenetic work schedule of so many today. I don’t think that this is healthy. Surely a person who goes and goes and goes will sooner or later break down and get sick. I think that God has us all in mind when He tells us to set one day apart as a day of rest. After all, Jesus says that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). We need a down day so we can recharge, relax, and find peace in a chaotic world.
Then there are the spiritual needs for the Sabbath. We need a day to spend with family and friends. We lose these spiritual treasures when we don’t take a day of rest—a Sabbath. And we need a day devoted to God, in a society that craves all our attention.
Some people do take one day off and try to cram all their chores into that one day—mowing the lawn or shovelling snow, grocery shopping, housekeeping, laundry, and all the other chores that work keeps a person from. Although on the positive side, many take that one day to sleep in and actually take a modicum of rest they so dearly need. That day of sleeping in and whirlwind catching up usually is on Sunday. Even taking one day off can crowd God out.
I ask, does a person need that much money? I think it’s really a matter of whether that one day of rest is valued. This gets us back to the very first commandment. No other gods before Me. There are so many worldly things that people think that they need that the Sabbath is buried. Do we need that expensive auto? Do we need that big house? Do we need those designer clothes? Do we need sumptuous food? These are the kinds of things that drive us to work and work and work to make ends meet. The question is whether those things matter more than our mental and bodily health. The question is whether they matter more than getting a personal life. For a person whose life is all work can’t really be said to have a life. I think of that sickness called workaholic. A workaholic is sub-consciously pushing away the personal things in life like loving, friends, and relationships. It is a fear-driven life and now we have a term from psychology that labels it as a sickness.
So it is no wonder that church attendance is dwindling. People’s lives are just too busy, among other reasons. The time that used to be reserved for God is eaten up by the demands of the world. For the Sabbath day is not just rest from work. It is a holy day on which a person learns about God and God’s kingdom, and meditates on the eternal things that really matter in life. On the natural level—that is, the level that relates to this natural world—we need a day to rest from work. But on the spiritual level, we need a day off work to meditate on God and to show our love to the neighbor. We need a holy day to fill our hearts with God’s Spirit in order to go back into the world with a spiritual disposition. For that spiritual disposition can easily wear thin and even wear out when our only thought is the demands of worldly life. All these considerations are contained in the first level of meaning for this commandment.
The higher levels of the third commandment are concerned with spiritual labor and spiritual rest. We struggle with spiritual temptations in this life as we regenerate. Our spiritual growth actually happens through struggle as we put off our cravings for selfish satisfactions and open our hearts to share with our neighbor and to do good out of love for God. While we are in this world, we are influenced by the spiritual world. We have those moments when we feel the angels near us with their peace and profound joy. But we also have moments when hell tries to drag us down from our heavenly reveries into fear and concern only for what the world can give us—prestige, wealth, and power. Swedenborg tells us that
The Divine Providence . . . continually leads unto salvation, and this through various states, sometimes glad, sometimes sorrowful, which the man cannot possibly comprehend; but still they are all profitable to his eternal life (AC 8560).
As we walk our spiritual pilgrimage, as we contend against unhealthy drives we are in the six days of spiritual labor. Paul has described this spiritual labor so well in Romans 7:
I do not understand what I do. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do. . . . For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil that I do not want to do–this is what I keep on doing (Romans 7:12, 15, 18-19).
But the third commandment is all about the Sabbath and rest. There will be a day of rest, when the conflict we know will come to an end. This state of mind is called being regenerated. Then hell falls away, and angels surround us with their comfort, love, and peace. Now God is in our hearts for good. And we now have peace and rest from conflict and struggle. This state of being regenerated is what the Sabbath stands for.
We find the stages of spiritual growth described in Swedenborg’s commentary on the seven days of creation. There we see that the world was created in six days. God rested on the seventh day and made it holy. The creation story is a metaphor for our spiritual regeneration. We are reformed for the six days of creation. Each day represents a new stage in our progress. On the seventh day, our work of reformation is over and we have the eternal peace that comes with union with God. In this we come to the final level of meaning for the third commandment. The Sabbath in the highest sense is union with God. When our struggle is over, we are united with God forever. The union of God with humans and of humans with God is two ways. God always comes to us. But we vacillate in our relationship with God. As we live we are now closer, now further in our own relationship with God. All relationships are two-way. You can say that God is always loving us. But we need to return that love in order for the bond to be full. When we are of fixed purpose and when God reigns in our hearts and when there is no longer trial and turmoil stirred up from hell, then we are in the Sabbath day.
This is why the Sabbath is holy. It is because ultimately it stands for God and for our union with God. This is the whole goal of salvation–of creation itself, in fact. God created humans so that there would be a heaven from the human race. God wants everyone to be in a love relationship with Himself, which is what heaven is. And when we are all-in, in that love relationship we are at peace—the kind of peace only God and the angels can give us.
This is the whole of religion. And it means more than taking one day off work to go to church. But taking that one day to reflect on God’s grace, and to meditate on our path is a step in the right direction. God has many ways to bring us to Him. And God knows our hearts better than we do ourselves. It may be possible for a person consumed with work to find peace in their day-to-day lives. I just cannot imagine it. But I can say that taking one day and making it holy is a good way to live. It is a commandment. And it coheres beautifully with the first two commandments. No other gods means setting time aside for God. Not taking the Lord’s name in vain means making the Sabbath important in our lives. I think this society needs to take the third commandment seriously, and give ourselves a break.

PRAYER

Lord, our hearts and minds go out to you on this Sabbath day. As you have commanded, we come together to worship you on one sacred day which is devoted to you. We pray that you lift our thoughts to you and fill us with love for you as we love our neighbor. Lord, we work hard in this world. And this world demands much of us. But it is your will that one day be set aside for rest. And one day be set aside for you. Bless our Sabbath, Lord, this day. And we ask that you bless this church, where we all gather to uphold the Sabbath that you have commanded. We thank you for this place of worship, and for this congregation who have all gathered together in your name to uphold your Sabbath day.

And lord, we ask that you watch over those who are struggling and enduring hardship, be it sickness, poverty, or national unrest. Send your peaceful spirit to turmoil. May aid come to those in need and may all the nations of the world come together in good will to help those nations who are enduring hardship.

Send the power of your healing love to those who are sick. We know on faith that in every trying situation, good can come. May we find the good in trouble, and healing where there is sickness.