What can I do on Sunday afternoons?

1 Chronicles 17; Jonah 1; Luke 6; James 4

In her teens, my sister did a short skit where she stood on stage wringing her hands and portraying agony. Her words were brief before running off into the wings: “Nobody loves me. Everybody hates me. I’m going out in the garden to eat worms.”

I’m not certain why everyone laughed but they did. Maybe they identified with those feelings and laughter was a relief. I thought of her this morning and that skit, feeling deeply unworthy of love and uncertain of the Lord’s blessing. Part of it came from wasting time yesterday but I know that the love of God does not depend on me or what I do. With that in mind, I began singing, “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place . . . “ and in seconds, the sense of His presence turned my negative emotions to joy.

After reading the four sections for today, the sense of God being with me almost overpowered His voice to me. However, I did note a couple of things.

One passage relates to yesterday’s devotions about “going home” after corporate worship and “blessing” my family; the example of Jesus on Sabbath activities. I’ve not confused the days of the week though. In the Jewish calendar, Sabbath was the seventh day of the week, a day of rest that related to creation when God worked six days and rested on the seventh. In the early church, the day of rest and worship became the first day of the week, now called Sunday, and the celebration relates to the resurrection. While some of the meaning of Sabbath rest has been transferred to a different day on our calendar, the issue isn’t so much about what day it is but about a working and resting cycle and about the way that day of rest signifies salvation. Christians rest from our “works” and rest in Christ’s work for us, looking forward to eternity when our work here is done.

Yet the example of Jesus is significant. He was scrutinized and judged for ‘working’ on the Sabbath.

On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” (Luke 6:1–2)

Lest I relegate this to back then, there are people today who have a set of ‘rules’ for Sabbath. A few insist it should be Saturday and the OT guidelines followed. Others go for Sunday but no work at all. Some Jews will not light their stove on Saturday. Some Christians will not let their children play outdoors on Sunday. This can be confusing.

And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” (Luke 6:3–5)

Basically Jesus is saying that He has authority over the Sabbath. Luke gave one more example to emphasize this:

On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus. (Luke 6:6–11)

Some time ago in our culture, business places took a rest and closed on Sunday. Some still do that, but not as many. Others feel free to give employees a different day of the week to physically rest. Whatever the practice, Jesus indicates that eating, even eating ‘holy’ bread isn’t a problem. He also demonstrated that physical needs are important. That is, Sabbath rest is not about depriving oneself but about doing good and wholeness. This could mean different things to different people. Wholeness for a tired laborer could mean a long nap. For others, it could mean reading a good book or playing tag with their children or knitting a sweater.

APPLY: Like every other day, Sunday activities mean listening to Jesus for what He wants me to do. He may prompt me to call a relative or friend. He may encourage a walk in the snow or a drive in the country. He may ask us to take a meal to someone or restore a worn-out and discouraged person. He is Lord of the Sabbath, but also Lord of life. All that I’m doing should be at His prompting, not by rote, habit, a sense of duty, or man-made rules but because Jesus is directing my path.