Riffing on Sabbath
Scripture: Isaiah 58:9b-14 and Luke 13:10–17
In case you’re new here, I thought I’d share a little about myself. Although I’m a generally competent person, I’m not really good at anything in particular. During my life I’ve had several different jobs and careers, and pursued many hobbies and other endeavors, but if I take pride in anything it’s that I’m mediocre at a wide variety of things. That’s probably why I enjoy watching folks who are truly exceptional do their work. Whether it’s a subcontractor finishing drywall, Lewis Hamilton driving his Formula 1 car, or Branford Marsalis playing saxophone, it’s a pleasure to see something done at its highest level. I was serviceable with my tenor saxophone in high school, but when Branford Marsalis plays the same instrument, it sounds like it’s not. There’s a difference between someone who can play the right notes at the right times and someone who can riff.
When I was still engaged in my previous career, I had a colleague named Bill Murray. While not as well-known as his comedian namesake, Bill is a luminary in the field of cyber security. Bill already had many years of experience when I met him, and I was always impressed by his ability to engage our shared profession. When figuring out how to counter new threats, Bill is able to systematically evaluate and reasonably mitigate them, and he always delivers his assessments in a polished manner, as if he’d rehearsed what he was going to say in advance (even though he’d just learned of the situation). I once asked him how he was able to do that, and he said, “It’s who I am. It’s what I do.” In cyber security, Bill found a space where his passion intersected with his talent. Like Branford Marsalis with his saxophone, Bill is able to riff on cyber security. He can take the discipline places most others don’t think to.
Speaking of best-in-class talent, Isaiah as a collection of writings certainly stands out among the Bible’s books of prophecy. It covers a period of time from around 700BC, when the Assyrians besieged Jerusalem, to at least the mid-500s, when the Judeans were beginning to return from exile. It is the longest of the prophetic books, and Jesus cited it frequently.
In the verses leading to today’s scripture passage from Isaiah, you might say the author has recorded God’s riffing on the topic of fasting. At face value, fasting means abstaining from eating, and the people have been doing that . . . but God hasn’t noticed. God has chosen a different fast, one that involves loosening the bonds of injustice, letting the oppressed go free, sharing bread with the hungry, housing the homeless, and clothing the naked.
I should mention that the situation in the land at this time was difficult. Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians, and many Judeans had been forced into exile. What was once the kingdom of Judah was now a province known as Yehud. As biblical scholar Chris Franke writes, those who remained there after the catastrophic events of 587BC “eked out an existence with no infrastructure: no economic security, no food, and no governing bodies.” (loc. 23287) Now exiles and their descendants were returning from afar to what had been Judah, and trying to find a way forward with those who had stayed behind after the invasion. That’s the challenging context this scripture is addressing: Resentment toward foreigners, collision of cultures, and economic disparity. It’s no surprise that many people were in need of justice, food, housing, and clothing.
You’ll also find a riff on the topic of sabbath in Isaiah 58. Like fasting, sabbath should not be an insular thing. It’s not about going your own way, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs. I like the way biblical scholar Christopher Seitz puts it: “The sabbath is to be a day for God, set apart, honored. Not to be preoccupied with one’s own things is the height of worship, and gives access to the material joy that God wants to give.” (522)
In that spirit, now is a good time for all of us to take a deep breath. Let’s call it a micro Sabbath for our lungs. Please join me…
God wants to give us joy through the sabbath, but I have to admit I’m not always good at accepting that. Maybe it’s the Protestant work ethic embedded in me, or the always-on pace of society, or so many years spent in a corporate consulting world where we had to account for every 15-minute interval of time. Regardless, it’s difficult for me to settle down for a day of rest. I like checking items off of my to-do list, and it’s hard for me to transition from that mentality to one that does not prize productivity. As is true with many sermons, today’s message is intended at least as much for me as for anyone else.
It’s clear that the sabbath is important to God. It’s mentioned in the creation story and the Ten Commandments. In preparation for this message, I did a search for “sabbath” in the NRSV Bible translation and it returned 170 instances. In scripture, the idea of a time of rest even extends to the soil; in Exodus 23, God commands that every seventh year the land should lie fallow and rest. And as we saw in today’s gospel reading, the sabbath was observed and valued by Jesus as well.
That said, I’m ashamed to admit that it wasn’t until I was in seminary, when sabbath observance was mandated in our formation classes, that I began to seriously pursue the joy that comes with shaking up my Sunday. I knew the sabbath should not look like every other day, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I was supposed to do.
One thing that set me on the right path, if you’ll pardon the pun, was hiking. When I was a kid, I loved being in the woods, but years spent on the computer for work and school had resulted in spending too much time indoors. So I started hiking the trails near my house, and I found that the more I walked, the more I saw. I noticed species of plants and birds that I hadn’t before, all of which gave me greater appreciation for God’s creation. For me, this led to taking delight in the Lord, as it says in verse 14 of today’s Isaiah passage.
Hiking represented a break in the week’s rhythm, as did doing more reading for pleasure, and taking the time to prepare a meal for my family that we’d be able to enjoy together (which is rare for us on weekdays). But there’s no single recipe (again, pardon the pun) for what sabbath should look like. If you cook every day, going out to eat together might represent a better sabbath activity for your family.
One of the books we read in our seminary formation classes was Sabbath by Wayne Muller. I recommend the entire book to you, but here’s a portion: “The world seduces us with an artificial urgency that requires us to respond without listening to what is most deeply true. In Sabbath time, we cultivate a sense of eternity where we truly rest, and feel how all things can wait, and turn them gently in the hand until we feel their shape, and know the truth of them.” (84–85)
Sabbath is not a time to be self-involved or rigid, as today’s passage from Luke demonstrates. So rather than a list of instructions, I’ll instead offer you some questions:
- What brings you together with your family and your neighbors?
- What reminds you of who you are in God?
- What makes you feel truly yourself, exercising your “own created excellence.” (Ottati, 193)
- What will happen if during your sabbath time you create a space where you can riff?
Let’s take another micro sabbath here. Please join me in a deep breath…
Just as we saw riffing on the topic of fasting in Isaiah 58, in today’s passage from Luke, Jesus breaks down barriers the synagogue leader has constructed to contain sabbath. A woman bent over from a crippling spirit comes to see Jesus during his last visit to the synagogue. She’s been suffering for 18 years, and though waiting another day would spare him the scrutiny of the synagogue leader, Jesus heals her immediately.
In the eyes of the synagogue leader, the woman’s gender makes her invisible, and her physical condition is a source of shame. To Jesus, her condition is an urgent matter. As a devout Jew, perhaps he has today’s Isaiah passage in mind when he removes her yoke and addresses her affliction. Furthermore, he “confers on the woman a status of dignity” (Culpepper, 225) by naming her a daughter of Abraham. This does not endear him to his opponents, who view women as inferior as was common in the culture of the time. By the end of the story, though, any shame the woman had experienced due to her physical condition was transferred to the opponents of Jesus, and she was rejoicing and praising in the synagogue alongside her fellow children of Abraham.
As he continued to teach in the synagogue that day, Jesus riffed on the Kin-dom of God by comparing it to yeast and a mustard seed. Jesus knew his Hebrew scripture, and was thus able to interpret it in new ways for his followers.
It’s not happenstance that Isaiah parallels topics of sabbath and justice, nor that Luke insists justice be a part of sabbath. Yes, a break in the week’s pace is needed, but rest does not assume acceptance of unjust suffering. This was true 2500 years ago when the exiles were returning to Yehud, it was true 2000 years ago when Jesus was teaching in the synagogue, and it is true now.
It’s not hard to find the effects of injustice in our communities. Whether they are immediately visible to us or not, we are surrounded by victims of the opioid epidemic, which was fueled by pharmaceutical companies in pursuit of profit. That contributes in part to our country holding the #1 ranking in the world when it comes to incarcerating its citizenry, a ranking that is also attributable to those who own and operate private prisons. That has a considerable impact on future generations, as will our failure to adequately address the climate catastrophe we’ve brought about.
That’s a short list of systemic shortcomings that require the attention, prayer, and action of Jesus-followers, and I’m sure you witness things in your lives that could help me expand it. An exercise like that is enough to bring about fatigue, which seems to run counter to the idea of sabbath. Where can we find the time to follow the example of Jesus if we spend our sabbaths resting?
Here I’d like to suggest that in pursuit of justice and the kin-dom of God, energy is more important than time. When I’m inspired, I’m able to do more in an hour than in three when I’m exhausted. A wise investment of time can result in benefits that outweigh the expenditure. Thus the importance of stopping to breathe, of recharging, of disrupting the routine, of sabbath. Again quoting Muller, “if we believe our soul is naturally luminous and that we are filled with innate, natural perfection, if we are the light of the world, then when we sink into quiet we return to peace.” (42)
For one last time, please join me in a deep breath…
Sisters and brothers: removing yokes, repairing breaches, and restoring streets is hard work. But we have a promise that when we perform that work, God will guide us and satisfy our needs, and our light will overcome the darkness.
Sabbath offers us an opportunity to reject the societal forces of manufactured urgency and trivial pursuits, allowing us to build energy as we focus on God’s priorities for ourselves, our families, our communities, and our world.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
References
Culpepper, R. Alan. “Luke,” in New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume VIII. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015.
Franke, Chris A. “Isaiah 40–66,” in Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The Old Testament and Apocrypha, ed. Gale A. Yee, Hugh R. Page, Jr., Matthew J. M. Coomber. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014. Kindle edition.
Kim, Hyun Chul Paul. Reading Isaiah: A Literary and Theological Commentary (Reading the Old Testament). Macon, Georgia: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Incorporated. Kindle Edition.
Muller, Wayne. Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives. New York: Bantam Books, 1999. Kindle Edition.
Ottati, Douglas F. A Theology for the Twenty-First Century. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2020.
Seitz, Christopher R. “The Book of Isaiah 40–66,” in New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume IV. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015.
