Twenty-Second Day of Lent

Twenty-Second Day of Lent

Saturday, March 25, 2017

The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.
Luke 6:5

What does Lord of the Sabbath mean to us today?

Years ago we were in Israel on a Sabbath, which of course is Saturday. We were in a hotel in Tel Aviv, and the entire building was filled with wealthy Jews who had come to the hotel to honor the twenty-four hour Sabbath by not working. (Don’t ask me how they justified the fact that others had to work as they kept their Sabbath holy.) The elevator was programmed to stop at every floor so that devout Jews didn’t “work” by pushing the elevator button!

This seems a bit extreme, but have we not gone to the other extreme? We do designate Sunday as the “Lord’s Day” and substitute it for the traditional Sabbath. But is Jesus – the Son of Man – Lord of our Sunday?

Do we do anything more than squeeze out an hour for what we call “worship?” Maybe he’d like to be Lord of our activity as we visit someone who needs to know he cares. Or cook a hot meal for someone who has only “meals on wheels.” Or find an hour to sit quietly with God and read his love letter to us, His Bible. Or at least invite him to join us as we tune in the Superbowl or a golf tournament? Luke tells us he plucked ears of corn and healed a man – both on a Sabbath. Both sound like work to me.

Do we need to rethink keeping the Sabbath holy? Maybe he’d just like us to ask him to be Lord of the day, and then ask him how he’d like us to spend it.

Prayer: Sunday is such a wonderful day. We love being together with others who love you as we worship. But, Father, help us to know how to make it really become the Lord’s day for us. Amen.

And He Set His Face toward Jerusalem. . . .

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, Spring 2007,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator