Sabbath
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.. Exodus 20:8
There is a Jewish take on the Sabbath day, which it do us well, as Christians, to understand. “The Sabbath is a foretaste of the Eden, and observing the Sabbath restores Israel to Paradise.”[1]
The institutionalization of the seventh day of rest among observing Jewish families and communities involves a definite negative framework: don’t work, do not pursue mundane concerns (cooking, driving, etc.). But the Sabbath is also adorned with abstract affirmations: one must rejoice, one must rest!
I grew up with “Blue Laws” both as they were formally enforced and informally observed. Somewhere in the 1960s, they seemed to kind of go away, at least in Ohio. I think the Blue Laws evaporated into the clouds of Green Reality, as chain stores, shopping centers, and that new phenomenon on the retailing horizon- malls!- began to appear. It’s no accident, I also think, that Blue Laws began to fall or be disregarded as the “Great American Revival” of the 1950s, thin to begin with, began to melt away in the heat of Interstate highways, and television advertising revenue demands. (Sunday became A Great Day to go car shopping, with all the attendant stops at the drug store, clothing store, hardware store, and restaurants on the way.)
I’d forgotten about Blue Laws until we moved to Texas in 1979 and found odd little curtains covering certain merchandise in the stores that were open. We could buy milk for Sarah, who was a baby then, but we couldn’t buy disposable bottle liners. I could buy nails, but I was out of luck if I’d misplaced the hammer. The whole concept of an institutional Sabbath in Texas had become kind of a Dr. Seuss parody of what it had once been.
Here’s how Jesus would have observed the Sabbath, beginning at sunset on Friday and ending when three stars appear in the Saturday evening sky. We know this is how Jesus would observed Sabbath, because Sabbath is a tradition which has remained intact for over 3000 years!
By Friday afternoon, the best food in the house would have been cooked and the table set. Everyone would have bathed, and cleaned their clothes, to the best extent both practices could have been done in days of no running or hot water. As often as possible, guests- people unable to prepare Sabbath meals themselves- would have been invited for a visit.
After a brief prayer, led by the father or eldest male present, the best meal of the week would have been enjoyed together. Then, everyone would pray briefly again, and go to bed. The next morning, there would be a Sabbath service- a public reading from the Torah, and, at the time of Jesus for those in or near Jerusalem, a trip to the Temple to participate in or watch sacrifices being made. Then home for lunch, and a Sabbath nap. Often, there would have been another public service in late afternoon, followed by Torah study, and a third Sabbath meal.
As the first three Saturday evening stars appeared, a Habdalah ceremony was observed. This ceremony marked the separation of the sacred from the profane, the end of Sabbath, and the beginning of ordinary weekday time. Wine and lamplight preceded the principal prayer of Habdalah:
Praised are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has endowed all creation with distinctive qualities and differentiated between light and darkness, between sacred and profane, between Israel and the nations, and between the seventh day and other days of the week. Praised are you, O Lord, who differentiates between the sacred and the profane.[2]
Jewish people saw, and do see, the Sabbath as the primary sign of God’s grace upon and among them:
For thou hast chosen us and sanctified us above all nations, in love and favor thou hast given us thy holy Sabbath as an inheritance.[3]
In several Christian traditions, the Sabbath traditions evolved into a series of fairly joyless practices that were full of the prior mentioned negatives without a lot of emphasis on the affirmative and joyous aspects of the Jewish observance. It was Calvinism, the 16th century movement in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe, that spawned Puritanism and a Presbyterianism that was a very severe form of the Presbyterian church today. John Calvin ran Geneva in Switzerland like a church. There simply were no lines between church and state. Blue Laws in the U.S. grew out of the strict measures the Calvinists enforced in Europe, and came to these shores along with the brave souls on the Mayflower.
By the time all Blue Laws in the U.S. were dead, it was time for them to be dead. They were so cumbersome as to be silly, and very few understood what they were about anymore anyway. Stores that are closed now on Sundays, are closed voluntarily. Which is how, perhaps, Sabbath can best be seen again as a day of celebration and affirmation: by individuals and families voluntarily observing it, in accordance with the rhythms of God, rather than the coercions of humans.
So, if you’re one of those who feels a supernatural need for a nap on Sunday afternoon, and there is someone in the house who tries to stop you from taking that nap, ask them: “What would Jesus do?”
Because now you know the answer.
[1] Jacob Neusner, The Way of Torah, 2004, Wadsworth, p. 149
[2] From the Weekday Prayer Book, the Rabbinical Assembly, 1962
[3] A traditional prayer, Neusner
There is a Jewish take on the Sabbath day, which it do us well, as Christians, to understand. “The Sabbath is a foretaste of the Eden, and observing the Sabbath restores Israel to Paradise.”[1]
The institutionalization of the seventh day of rest among observing Jewish families and communities involves a definite negative framework: don’t work, do not pursue mundane concerns (cooking, driving, etc.). But the Sabbath is also adorned with abstract affirmations: one must rejoice, one must rest!
I grew up with “Blue Laws” both as they were formally enforced and informally observed. Somewhere in the 1960s, they seemed to kind of go away, at least in Ohio. I think the Blue Laws evaporated into the clouds of Green Reality, as chain stores, shopping centers, and that new phenomenon on the retailing horizon- malls!- began to appear. It’s no accident, I also think, that Blue Laws began to fall or be disregarded as the “Great American Revival” of the 1950s, thin to begin with, began to melt away in the heat of Interstate highways, and television advertising revenue demands. (Sunday became A Great Day to go car shopping, with all the attendant stops at the drug store, clothing store, hardware store, and restaurants on the way.)
I’d forgotten about Blue Laws until we moved to Texas in 1979 and found odd little curtains covering certain merchandise in the stores that were open. We could buy milk for Sarah, who was a baby then, but we couldn’t buy disposable bottle liners. I could buy nails, but I was out of luck if I’d misplaced the hammer. The whole concept of an institutional Sabbath in Texas had become kind of a Dr. Seuss parody of what it had once been.
Here’s how Jesus would have observed the Sabbath, beginning at sunset on Friday and ending when three stars appear in the Saturday evening sky. We know this is how Jesus would observed Sabbath, because Sabbath is a tradition which has remained intact for over 3000 years!
By Friday afternoon, the best food in the house would have been cooked and the table set. Everyone would have bathed, and cleaned their clothes, to the best extent both practices could have been done in days of no running or hot water. As often as possible, guests- people unable to prepare Sabbath meals themselves- would have been invited for a visit.
After a brief prayer, led by the father or eldest male present, the best meal of the week would have been enjoyed together. Then, everyone would pray briefly again, and go to bed. The next morning, there would be a Sabbath service- a public reading from the Torah, and, at the time of Jesus for those in or near Jerusalem, a trip to the Temple to participate in or watch sacrifices being made. Then home for lunch, and a Sabbath nap. Often, there would have been another public service in late afternoon, followed by Torah study, and a third Sabbath meal.
As the first three Saturday evening stars appeared, a Habdalah ceremony was observed. This ceremony marked the separation of the sacred from the profane, the end of Sabbath, and the beginning of ordinary weekday time. Wine and lamplight preceded the principal prayer of Habdalah:
Praised are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has endowed all creation with distinctive qualities and differentiated between light and darkness, between sacred and profane, between Israel and the nations, and between the seventh day and other days of the week. Praised are you, O Lord, who differentiates between the sacred and the profane.[2]
Jewish people saw, and do see, the Sabbath as the primary sign of God’s grace upon and among them:
For thou hast chosen us and sanctified us above all nations, in love and favor thou hast given us thy holy Sabbath as an inheritance.[3]
In several Christian traditions, the Sabbath traditions evolved into a series of fairly joyless practices that were full of the prior mentioned negatives without a lot of emphasis on the affirmative and joyous aspects of the Jewish observance. It was Calvinism, the 16th century movement in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe, that spawned Puritanism and a Presbyterianism that was a very severe form of the Presbyterian church today. John Calvin ran Geneva in Switzerland like a church. There simply were no lines between church and state. Blue Laws in the U.S. grew out of the strict measures the Calvinists enforced in Europe, and came to these shores along with the brave souls on the Mayflower.
By the time all Blue Laws in the U.S. were dead, it was time for them to be dead. They were so cumbersome as to be silly, and very few understood what they were about anymore anyway. Stores that are closed now on Sundays, are closed voluntarily. Which is how, perhaps, Sabbath can best be seen again as a day of celebration and affirmation: by individuals and families voluntarily observing it, in accordance with the rhythms of God, rather than the coercions of humans.
So, if you’re one of those who feels a supernatural need for a nap on Sunday afternoon, and there is someone in the house who tries to stop you from taking that nap, ask them: “What would Jesus do?”
Because now you know the answer.
[1] Jacob Neusner, The Way of Torah, 2004, Wadsworth, p. 149
[2] From the Weekday Prayer Book, the Rabbinical Assembly, 1962
[3] A traditional prayer, Neusner
posted by D.Barry Weber at 11:50 PM
2 Comments:
It's been awhile Barry, and I decided to check your blog to see what you have been up to. What a lovely surprize this article is. I did not know much of the information you presented and reading it somehow made me decide to rethink my priorities. When I was a child, Sundays were indeed a day of rest, but for most of my adult life, they have certainly not been. I vaguely recall, now that you mention them, Blue Laws in Arizona. I will have to check with my dad to be sure.
Your writing is filled with goodness and gentleness and all things wonderful. You deserve wide publication. People without the opportunity to rest in your words (I have never used that expression before - ever "rest in your words" but that is what I do) anyway, I intend to share this page with everyone I can. Meeting you in cyberspace has been an honor. Maple / Lyn.
Hiya Barry,
I think it's also important to point out two things about the sabbath. First, Christ said that the Sabbath was made for man, not vice versa. In other words, it is in man's best interest to honor the sabbath. Second, he showed that it was lawful to do good on the sabbath, so those people who refuse to sell hammers might well
look at the reason the hammers are being sought. I mean, if someone really wanted a hammer on a day normally reserved for rest and worship, there might be a derned good reason for it. So what would
Jesus do? It really depends on the
circumstances. But one thing is for sure: Jesus recognized the sabbath and its purpose and value.
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