The ReturnSample

Jesus is Our Sabbath

Many Christians think the Sabbath is on Sunday. The Scriptures, however, tell us the Sabbath falls on Saturday, the seventh and last day of the week. So why do we go to church on Sunday? The Scriptures call Sunday “the Lord’s Day” because it was the day of the week Jesus rose from the dead. The reason we as Christians don’t celebrate Sabbath on Saturday is because Jesus became our Sabbath.

The work of Jesus was doing His Father’s bidding and loving people by teaching them, healing them, and blessing them. Jesus shows us what heaven-on-earth work looks like. We must not work as if our job is providing for us or our money will save us. We must work as though we are already citizens of heaven. We must view our work here on earth as if God himself assigned it to us. This perspective transforms our work into worship! But when we work, we work from the Sabbath of Christ. And we do it because of love. 

Three Easter’s ago I traveled to Israel with my friends in The Whosoever’s. Our trip to Jerusalem fell on a sabbath. It’s a powerful thing to see a whole city shut down. It begins with a dancing celebration at the Western Wall at sunset on Friday to welcome in the “Shabbat” as they call it. We saw families gather together during the day on Saturday having picnics and reading Scriptures to each other. Our tour guide Yuval, responded to our great fascination with Shabbat saying, “Why don’t you try to have Shabbat on this day when you go home?” When we returned from Israel we began celebrating “Shabbat” in this way . 

What I started learning was phenomenal. First, I learned that I can get way too caught up in housework, emails, news, texts, and social media. When I set my heart to focus on my family and cultivate heaven in my home among my family, I see heaven happen. I see the love they feel. 

To cease housework. To get off my phone. To make eye contact for as long as my children need it. To listen without interruption for as long as they want to share. That’s heaven! And it’s here in my house! I can run around the kitchen island with them as many times as they want to until they get tired because I have nowhere else to be. There is enough food for everyone to eat and there’s no work to be done, except the heavenly work of love and attention given to the hearts of our family members.

My conversations with my husband on the Shabbat become silly. We talk more like friends. I saw, in the deep connections we made on these nights, how the clock, my phone, and my chores can divide my heart up. The Shabbat atmosphere shines deeply with heaven culture. It restores our hearts.

It teaches me where I fall short of honoring Jesus as my Sabbath every other day of the week. It’s a beautiful reminder of what really matters. 

Would you try practicing the Shabbat this week with your family, friends, or community? What would you like to experience within your home and yourself when trying to bring heaven’s culture into the Sabbath?