Matthew 12:1-8
One Sabbath, Jesus was strolling with his disciples through a field of ripe grain. Hungry, the disciples were pulling off the heads of grain and munching on them. Some Pharisees reported them to Jesus: “Your disciples are breaking the Sabbath rules!”
Jesus said, “Really? Didn’t you ever read what David and his companions did when they were hungry, how they entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? And didn’t you ever read in God’s Law that priests carrying out their Temple duties break Sabbath rules all the time and it’s not held against them?
“There is far more at stake here than religion. If you had any idea what this Scripture meant—‘I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual’—you wouldn’t be nitpicking like this. The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath; he’s in charge.”
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
I read a very interesting article at http://honors.uca.edu/wiki/index.php/Sunday_Blue_Law which tells the history of “Blue Laws” in Arkansas and the efforts by churches and religious leaders to encourage congregations to “avoid amusements, recreation, work, and unnecessary travel on Sundays.” The article further says that Sunday baseball had been illegal in our state since 1885.
In another section, the ridiculousness of this law is detailed… “In the 1960s the city of Little Rock banned sales of fresh Vienna sausage, pantyhose, and toilet paper, but put no similar restriction on bacon and bologna, baby clothes, or newspapers. Citizens of the city could buy lettuce but not cabbage. Cooked meats and fish could be purchased on Sunday, but not if sold in jars, bottles, or cans. In the 1970s, police arrested a shopkeeper for selling cups and sewing needles on Sunday. Another ran afoul of the law for selling nails, and a third for selling towels and a key chain. The point of prohibiting certain items but not others generally followed the rule of thumb that prohibiting certain or enough items would have the effect of keeping shops targeted by special interests closed entirely on the Lord's Day.”
Bear in mind that we could go to a restaurant and have a Sunday meal. It was apparently okay for cooks, dishwashers, wait staff and cashiers to work in an establishment where others were fed… but you could not buy certain foods at a grocery store to feed your family at home. My 21st-Century oven has a “Sabbath drawer” for warming food… a holdover from a time when it was considered sinful to cook on Sunday, so women prepared the meal on Saturday and warmed it in the oven on Sunday.
While this all seems absurd to us now… this law was not repealed in Arkansas until 1982…only 30 years ago! And some probably still wish that stores were not open on Sunday and people considered it more a day of rest than a time to catch up on shopping or do other things. But the point of this whole passage is made in one line… “I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual.” In other words…our Christian faith is not completely wrapped up in what we do on Sunday… or any other day, for that matter. If we are more concerned with ritual and appearances than the actual business of serving Jesus Christ – on ANY given day – we have totally missed the mark!
I’m not saying you should skip church on Sunday and go shopping or do something else. But you’re not necessarily a bad person if you do. If you have a job that requires you to work weekends – including Sundays – and you have a family to feed and bills to pay… there are other times and ways you can worship. And this is not just about what you do on Sundays… it’s much bigger. There are countless rituals, rules and requirements in every corner of the world and every denomination… from how to dress and wear your hair to whether or not you can eat meat – and what kinds of meat!... to whether you can have electricity and a telephone in your house. And when you drill it all down… none of these rituals and rules have a single thing to do with truly serving Jesus Christ and walking in faith with Him every day! I am not knocking traditions and religious tenets. If you attend a denomination that has specific requirements about your conduct - and you are comfortable with this - good for you! But do not let man-made laws dictate how you worship Jesus.
Study the scripture. Spend some time in prayer and meditation. Ask God what HE desires of you…and whether He finds fault with your conduct. If you are confident that you are obedient… faithful… and an honorable servant, then what others think really doesn’t matter. When we move our focus from pleasing man to pleasing God, everything changes. How flexible is your heart?
©2012 Debbie Robus
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