Keeping the Holy Day Holy - Deuteronomy 5: 12-15

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Third Commandment: “Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.”

When the Church gathers to hear the Word of God and receive His gifts on a Sunday morning, in the strictest sense, we break the Third Commandment. When the Church gathers to hear the Word of God and receive His gifts on a Sunday morning, in the fullest sense we keep the Third Commandment. We break it on Sunday; we keep it on Sunday. That, my friends, is the Third Commandment paradox.

In Deuteronomy, Moses delivers God’s Word that sets apart the Sabbath – what we call Saturday, the 7^th day of the week – as a day of rest to “remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.”  Sabbath wasn’t about resting, per se, it was about resting from work so they could intentionally remember God’s redemptive work of rescuing Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, sanctifying and setting them apart from all the other peoples of the ancient world of Canaan to be His and for Him to be theirs.

The release from Egyptian slavery resulted in rest from slave labor for the entire nation – Israelites, slaves, resident aliens, even animals all received the benefit of rest from their labors. No other people had such a day of rest. Throughout Canaan, every other nation worked seven days. This Sabbath-rest further distinguished God’s people, even in their pattern of work and worship, from other peoples. Surely the Canaanites, Jebusites, Hivites, and others noticed the Sabbath rest of Israel and probably were envious that the God of the Israelites blessed them even in their rest.

What began as a day set apart to remember God’s rescuing them from Egypt, slowly began to evolve into a day to show how well Israel was keeping the commandment, Instead of a Sabbath day of rest for remembrance of receiving God’s grace and mercy, Sabbath Law became a measure of bragging about obedience in Sabbath-keeping. Instead of celebrating God’s redeeming work, the people of Israel reveled in their own keeping of the law. The 3^rd and 4^th Commandment, “Honor your father and mother,” are the only commandments given in the positive with “you shall” instead of “you shall not,” it was “You shall.” But the human rules turned the positive into the negative, creating thirty-nine main actions, each having hundreds of subsidiary sections. It was no longer about observing the Sabbath in remembrance and holiness; it was about how successful Israel was in not breaking the commandment in minutia.

This conflict with man-made rules often put Jesus at odds with the religious leaders of His day. In this morning’s Gospel reading, the Pharisees were quick to point out the letter of the law, that Jesus and his disciples were “harvesting grain” by picking some grain to munch on while walking. Harvesting was banned, and according to the expanded rules, picking a few grains to eat was breaking Sabbath Law. Jesus cites King David, who ate the Bread of Presence from the Tabernacle because that was the only food available for he and his warriors. Then, He silences their claims by reminding them of what Sabbath was for: rest in the presence of God and His promises. “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

It was a foretaste of what was to come. When Jesus would enter into the Synagogue on Sabbath, He would do so to teach and proclaim the Word of God in that place. His preaching was fulfilling the Law, and it was allowing the people present to join in sanctifying the holy day with worship, prayer, and hearing the Word. Jesus made the day holy by healing, destroying and undoing the fallenness of the world, and in His own Exodus moment, setting the physically, medically captive free from that which bound them. Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets perfectly by being the liberty-giving Messiah whom the Law and prophets proclaim. He kept God’s Law perfectly while shattering the foolishness of man’s rules. This was called Jesus’ active obedience. Jesus also kept God’s Law passively. When the Jewish leaders finally had enough of Him and His rebelling to their rules and regulations, they set Him up, arrested Him and killed Him. The irony was, they had to hurry everything up because Sabbath was quickly approaching. We can’t be caught killing a man on Sabbath, now can we – that might be work, making us guilty of our own rules. After He breathed His last, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, along with Joseph of Aramathea, both who were convinced Jesus really was Messiah and not just a rebel, took Jesus from the cross and buried Him.

And, on the Sabbath, to complete and fulfill the Law, Jesus rested in the grave from all His labor of fulfilling God’s plan of salvation for us.

At the beginning of this sermon, I said when the Church gathers to hear the Word of God and receive His gifts on a Sunday morning, in the strictest sense, we break the Third Commandment. We break it because we worship on Sunday, not Sabbath (Saturday). But when the Church gathers to hear the Word of God and receive His gifts on a Sunday morning, in the fullest sense we keep the Third Commandment. With the commandment completed in Christ’s rest, we are freed in Christ’s resurrection to gather, worship, remember Christ’s saving work for us in His perfect keeping of the Law and in His perfect death; to receive His gifts in Word and Sacrament, and to join together as the body of Christ in loving care and support of each other. We are now free, in Christ, to worship any day; we are free in Christ to worship every day. Early on, the Church chose Sunday for the day of corporate worship because it was the day the Lord rose from the grave – Easter Sunday. It was also the beginning of the week – what better day to begin the week than in the Lord’s house? It was the day of Pentecost, the birth of the Christian church, and the early church gathered each Sunday in celebratory remembrance. We follow that pattern, worshipping on Sunday, and in doing so, gathered around Word and Sacrament, we keep the Third Commandment in the fullest sense of the term.

We keep it on Sundays, not to avoid work, but to remember the promises of God fulfilled in Christ Jesus. We gather, on Sundays, not to get out of vocational responsibilities, but to be enlivened in Christ to do our vocations faithfully. We gather on Sundays, not to escape the world outside these walls, but to be encouraged as we engage the world outside these walls. WE celebrate on Sundays, not to pretend we are better than anyone else, but we recognize that we are sinners for whom Jesus died, both now and into eternity.

Today’s temptation is the 180 degree opposite of the ancient Israelites. They kept the Sabbath to show themselves as worthy law-keepers. Today, we dismiss the Sunday-Sabbath for worship entirely. We go to the Lord's house, disengaged and not listening to what is being preached, read, prayed, and sung. We fail to keep the Commandment when we don't believe the Word of God as powerful words for today, dismissing it as irrelevant, for "someone else at another time," and no longer necessary. So, people say, “Why should I go to church – I can worship God on the golf course, or in the Bay, or at the ballfield.” Absolutely! You are freed in Christ to worship wherever and whenever you choose…but, do you? Do you worship God with other brothers and sisters in Christ, with Scripture and song and prayer (and by prayer, I don’t mean “please let me sink this put,” or “let me catch the big one,” or “let my kid strike this batter out.” I mean prayer grounded in the Word, praying as Christ prayed for the church)? Or are these dismissive excuses for not going to church? Let’s be honest: a reason is a fact; an excuse is an emotional justification. Reasons are slim; excuses are plentiful, abundant and easy – and satan loves to fill our ear with his lies. It’s funny…I’ve never had a person who is elderly or shut-in offer a single excuse for missing church, but I have had them weep at the reasons they are not able to attend.

If you’re too busy to remember the Sunday-sabbath, push back against the excuses. Push back against the ball games and practices. Push back against the “to do” list. Push back against Sunday morning lazies. Push back against the notion that sitting on the couch in PJs and Cap’n Crunch is the same thing as being among the saints receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. (NB: I’m speaking of the excuse to not be at church, not the reason that keeps you away. If you’re sick, stay home. If you don’t want to put on your Sunday best, whatever that might be, that’s an excuse.) Repent of listening to the excuses. Repent and get yourself up, out the door, and make haste to the Lord’s House. It’s His house. He’s the host. He’s present in Word and Sacrament for you. He welcomes you with open arms. Don’t refuse His invitation.

A word for those who work on Sundays: I get it – remember, I work on Sundays, too. Make another day your Sabbath day for resting and remembering the work of God in Christ Jesus – not just to rest, but to rest in Christ. Perhaps it’s a Tuesday evening or a Thursday morning. Set aside a block of time for deliberate and intentional interaction with the Lord in the Scripture, with prayer, and with hymns. Load up Sunday’s service on Facebook and listen to the readings and sermon, sing with the hymns if you know them. Come to Wednesday evening Bible study for time in the Word and time with brothers and sisters in Christ. IF you find yourself missing multiple Sundays and you are hungry for the Lord’s Supper, give me a call – I’ll meet you at your home, in my office, or here in the Sanctuary, just the two of us (or bring your family!), and we’ll have the Sacrament together. I treasure my Sundays off when I get to sit in the pew with my family and to be fed and nourished together. I can only assume the same for you.

And, when you arrive to remember the Sunday-Sabbath, or the Thursday-Sabbath, or the Wednesday-Sabbath, or whenever your Holy Day may be, remember that you were a slave sin, death and the devil, and the Lord your God brought out from there with His mighty hand and an outstretched arm that had been nailed to the cross.

Amen.