You can find the fourth commandment in Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Why does it say to “remember”? Because this is not the beginning of Sabbath. The Sabbath begins at the beginning of the world. Genesis 2 tells us, “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”
The Pharisees made a lot of rules to guard the boundaries of the Sabbath, however they lost the concept of ‘rest’ and celebration of creation. So how did Jesus keep the Sabbath? Let’s explore some of those stories:
Jesus Heals On the Sabbath — John 5
In John 5:1-15, Jesus takes time to visit where the disabled hang out. He offers healing. Jesus still offers to heal us physically, emotionally, and most importantly, spiritually. We take time to ponder what it would be like to be a paralytic and play I Spy. We learn about muscles and bones. We have an opportunity to accept God’s healing.
God made the Sabbath for us; Jesus restores health — Mark 2, 3, 13
When God finished creating the earth, He rested and blessed the 7th day and made the Sabbath Holy. From Sinai, He reminded His people that the Sabbath is holy and to do no work. The pharisees made many laws about the Sabbath. Jesus made it clear that the Sabbath was made for us, that we should do good on the Sabbath, and that God wants us to be healed and rejuvenated on this special day. In this presentation, Jesus and his disciples eat grain fresh off the stalk, Jesus heals a man with a withered hand and a woman who is stooped over. We have an opportunity to make blessing bags. There also is a Sabbath Activity ‘fortune teller’.