Sabbath

Anne here:

Treatment countdown: 7

Sabbath. Rest. When the Hebrews left Egypt guided by cloud and fire, the only identity they had was one of slavery and a dim memory of a God who spoke to humans. At Sinai this God stamped them with an identity they would carry forever, through kingdoms, exiles, and holocausts, an identity as a people chosen, and free. Sabbath for the Hebrews meant that they were no longer slaves, but freemen forever.  At the turn of the last century, when the pogroms of Russia sent its Jews fleeing to America by the millions (watch The Fiddler on the Roof), they brought their identity as free people with them. Those thousands of expert tailors and furriers flooding New York City soon dominated the garment industry where the working conditions were deadly. They united as workers, striking to demand better working conditions, and won for the United States not only the rights of workers to form unions, but our 8 hour day, and our two-day weekend that includes their Sabbath.

Sabbath. Jesus was the only human to ever obey the Mosaic Law to perfection, including both its moral code and its cultural law. When he died he buried the cultural law and wrote the moral code on our hearts with his Spirit. He freed us from the law, and in celebration, we do not worship on the Sabbath but on Sunday, the day of his resurrection, the first day  of the new creation. Jesus was the only human to ever obey the Mosaic Law to perfection. On the Sabbath, he rested. Perfectly. In a tomb.

Sabbath. The rest of Jesus on the Sabbath was a forced rest. He did not choose it or want it. It was a cup to be drunk in obedience so that something Good could come. So I feel is the cup of liquid going into my vein today—a cup bringing a forced rest that I do not choose or want. But from this Sabbath rest I know some good will come that is far beyond these burdensome side effects, some good I and my husband and my son and my daughter and all my friends could never have experienced any other way. And not one hair that falls from my head today (and they are many) will have been wasted.