“Again He entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. And He said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Come here.’ And He said to them, ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent. And He looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held council with the Herodians against Him, how to destroy Him.” – Mark 3:1-6
Sabbath or rest is often defined by what we cannot do. For most of us rest is doing nothing. My doctor asked me the other day, “What do you do to rest or relax?” Do? I thought resting was when you stopped doing?…you know…just “veg” out…chill. The less you do the more you are getting rest. Right? Not necessarily. Turns out that rest has as much to do with what you do as it does with what you don’t do. The restoration of your mind and body actually increases when you are doing something you love or helping someone else. Hmmmmm.
Unfortunately, our attitude seems to lean toward that of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. For hundreds, maybe thousands, of years they had focused on the Sabbath experience as a day when you did less of some things and none of other things. In other words, Sabbath was more about what you did NOT do rather than what you did.
So, it must have really bothered them when Jesus asked what them what it was lawful to do on the Sabbath or to do harm? “Do?”
It is true that a big part of the practice of Sabbath is being “off”…not “working”…doing less, but if it is only that than we miss part of the purpose of the Sabbath which is freeing up time to do good…to help…to heal.
Today, on this Sabbath, take time to think about what you will do to rest not just what you will not do. What would be something you could do that would refresh you and bring you joy…and joy to others. Relax in the Lord today. carve out some time to do good and, you might be surprised how much good it will do you!