“The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did this on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working still, and I am working’” (John 5:15-17).
By even the strictest accounts, Jesus has done nothing to violate the law because he didn’t even lift a finger to touch the man, instead curing him with his words of command. It never ceases to amaze most of us that Jesus would get in trouble for healing on the Sabbath at all. Isn’t healing always a good thing?
The Sabbath is an important day, because it allows us to remember that God rested on the seventh day, and gives us a chance to fulfill the obligation of worship. But the Sabbath is first and foremost a gift – “the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath (Mk 2:27). If that gift descends into ritualism devoid of compassion and life, then the gift ceases to be so, and becomes a kind of prison. God never intended any law to take precedence over love, and any worship of God without that love is empty. As God always loves, so too are we called to put love fist. Love does not take a break. Love does not take a backseat to ritual observance.
We are called on the Sabbath, and on every day, to worship God by living with love. We are called to try and make people’s lives better each and every day. By learning to put a living love ‘before’ worship, we infuse each moment with a new kind of worship that is embodied in how we treat each other. Each day is the Sabbath day if we live it as a gift from God and an opportunity to do God’s work.
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