An innocent man was murdered because he was assumed a threat. His mere existence was a threat to their worldview and way of life. So they callously killed him like many before him. They didn’t carry out the heinous act themselves but empowered the authorities to carry out their unjust collective will. There was no justice for his family, not even a hope for it. However, there was an all-consuming urgent concern following his murder; how do we keep the Sabbath?
Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. John 19:31
Sabbath keepers wanted so much to observe the Sabbath that they needed to hasten a murder so that it wouldn’t cross over into hallowed hours. Their method to speed crucifixion was to break the legs of the victim so that he would lose the ability to breathe under the weight of his hanging body. Contemplate that; injustice and Sabbath-rest juxtaposed in the starkest of contrasts.
We know Jesus was not silent about injustice in His ministry, nor did He think it His duty to only address spiritual oppression. He chose the Sabbath to announce His mission to the world, Luke 4: 18-19. Yes, He fed people, He healed the sick, He prayed; but He also spoke truth to power in his vehement characterizations about the religious power structures of His day, He called out the oppressive players, He violently overturned tables because they were stealing from the poor, and, as a rule, not an exception, He humanized the unvalued, ignored, and unseen.
But, what exactly is the relationship between the Sabbath and Justice? Is there one?
Take a moment to re-read the familiar text, Exodus 20:8-11. Sabbath-rest isn’t just for you and it is not just to observe a holy day; Sabbath-rest was designed for everyone under your influence and it was a day designed to give respite to the weary. Exodus 23: 12 sheds additional light on the Sabbath’s purpose?
Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed. Exodus 23:12
Those that were marginalized in Hebrew society were the slaves and the foreigners. They didn’t enjoy the same freedoms the Hebrews did. God inextricably connected Sabbath-rest to the treatment of fellow human beings. He also expanded our sphere of influence to all those who lived among us, not just in our household.
We see this connection throughout the Old Testament. Particularly in Isaiah 1 and 58, God attaches the Sabbath with justice in a powerful and unavoidable way. As it was covered in a sermon, “Rest for the Weary”, last year, I won’t take the time here to delve into it, except to share this verse:
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to break the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke. To release prisoners and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Isaiah 58:6-7
We often do well with the compassion ministries of v. 7 and yet are often woefully silent about the justice ministries of v. 6. To the Sabbath-keeper, the Sabbath is a day unlike any other because it celebrates a God unlike any other. So the Sabbath-keeper should be uniquely positioned, unlike any other, to recognize intrinsic value, to lift out of oppression, to fight injustice for all those created in the image of God.
The Sabbath is a reminder that God is our Creator; how can we fully appreciate that God gave us the breath of life and rested on the Sabbath-day if that same breath of life is not safe-guarded in the life of all His children. Sabbath is a sign of a loving God who wants us to rest from our weary lives; how can we celebrate that love if there remain those who are weary from birth to death under the weight of oppression and inequity. Sabbath is a vision of a future where we will experience eternal rest. Do we believe is it acceptable to God for us to look past the bodies of His beloved strewn in the streets, mothers weeping for their children, and looking past all manner of injustices to catch a glimpse of a future with Him? It seems not. God has welded our eternal joy in Him to our present treatment of others.