What does the Sabbath mean to you?

Unless you’ve grown up in a tradition with restrictive rules about Sabbath-keeping, it may be hard to understand what all the fuss was about when reading how the Pharisees constantly accused Jesus of violating the Sabbath. We know that honoring the Sabbath was one of the Ten Commandments—indeed, the wordiest of the ten!—but if the truth be told, most of us probably don’t take it as seriously as the other nine. Don’t murder? Got it. Don’t commit adultery? Never. Honor your father and mother? Well…okay, if you say so. But do you know my parents? And surely, there’s no harm in mowing my lawn on Sunday, is there?

Tell that to the guy who was executed for gathering wood on the Sabbath.

Again, the cultural and historical context matters. The ancient Israelites always struggled to show the uniqueness of their covenant bond with the one true God, falling into idolatry again and again. The law was meant to teach them the ways of God so they could embody the character of God in righteousness and justice. But it was always easier—and still is!—to turn all of this into an exercise in religious observance, thinking that the better you are at following rules, the more acceptable you would be to God and the more righteous in the eyes of others.

Yes, the Sabbath was one of the Big Ten and honoring that day was one of the key distinctions between the people of Israel and other nations. But what if, practically speaking, they had made the other commandments just as important to their identity? As Jesus would teach in the Sermon on the Mount, if they truly understood the intent of God’s commandments, they would get control of their anger, run from covetousness and lust, stop making empty promises, and become people who loved not only their friends and neighbors, but their enemies as well (Matt 5).

The commandments, in other words, weren’t about making the people jump through moral or religious hoops. They were tutors in righteousness, and as such were means to an end, not an end in themselves. Professional athletes, for example, drill themselves endlessly on the skills needed for their sport—not so they can win prizes for being skillful, but to be able to use those skills as second nature in live competition.

The goal, in other words, is to become people who live righteously because that is who we are, not because we’ll get in trouble if we don’t.

A proper and biblical understanding of the Sabbath, I think, would include its nature as a gift of grace from a loving God. We can see this in the instructions about gathering manna that God gave to the people through Moses. Remember, the manna itself was a gift of grace, given to a hungry people despite a conspicuous lack of gratitude on their part for the way God miraculously saved them from the hand of Pharaoh.

In Exodus 16, the people were instructed to gather enough manna for their families every morning; anything they tried to save overnight would spoil. But on the sixth day, they were to gather double, and on that night only, the extra manna would keep through the next day. Why? Because the seventh day was to be a day of rest, even from gathering manna. God didn’t ask the people to fast on the seventh day; he provided what they needed in a special way so they could enjoy a day of Sabbath rest.

The people, of course, didn’t listen, trying the patience of both Moses and God. During the week, some tried to save extra manna overnight, only to find—surprise!—that it had spoiled and was full of maggots (I know, gross). And some went out to gather manna on the seventh day, only to find—again, surprise!—that there wasn’t any. In response, God said, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days” (Exod 16:29).

The same Hebrew word is used twice, here translated as “give.” God gives his people the Sabbath, gives them the extra bread needed to honor it, and tells them to rest.

Does that sound like a mere restrictive rule to you, a demand from a God who only cares about obedience for its own sake? Or does it sound like a gracious provision, given to a people who don’t know how to stop worrying about what they’ll eat the next day?

I don’t know about you, but it sounds like grace to me. And whatever Sabbath tradition you may have grown up with, whatever else you may think the Sabbath commandment entails, I hope that you’ll hear it as a gracious invitation too.