Whiteboard: Rest Area

We call it a day of rest.

The Sabbath. The one-in-seven days that is set aside, made holy, and reserved.

That pattern is built right into the Bible. We read it in the very first of the Genesis creation stories ("On the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day"), it is right there in the middle of the Ten Commandments ("Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy"), and Jesus himself spends a fair amount of time talking about the Sabbath.

This Sunday I'll be talking about rest. How it is important; holy even. We'll talk about how Jesus viewed the Sabbath, and how in this work-a-day world the idea of "sacred rest" really has become radical.

Oh, and I'll be talking about the Olympics too! Because it turns out, one of the things world class athletes know that the rest of ordinary shlubbs don't really appreciate is the importance and necessity of rest. Don't believe me? Well come and hear about on Sunday!

-------

Luke 13:10-17 Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 

But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’

But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ 

When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.