Sabbath Day

This Essay is based on Luke 14. What do you think, when you hear the word: “Sabbath”. It's a day of celebration. A day of being alone with God. Doing, what you otherwise wont do. A Holy Day! It could be said, that the entire ministry of Jesus, was such a day. It was also the Pharisee day – the day, then they had the most to say. The day, then people looked up and revered, those who put their own needs aside, to be with God and give to the people, what the scripture says about the Law and Mercy of God. While the lawful side, was easy to relate, the Mercy side was somehow neglected. And then came along Jesus and started up fights with Pharisees, like He owns everything. Preaching, like he has some kind of Divine power and authority, the Pharisees dost not possess. At Luke 14:1-6 the hostilities are self-evident. Jesus comes to a head Pharisees house, to eat at Sabbath day – which was a big deal indeed, for you couldn't prepare meals on that day, so all you ate, had to be prepared on Friday! And there was a guy with Dropsy. Pharisees couldn't care more about it, they just worried, what ever would Jesus do about it! Because you shall not work on Sabbath day, and healing a sick is work!! And Jesus healed that Dropsy, after he got no answer from the Pharisees, about his rights to heal on Sabbath day. Pointing out, that even the Pharisees would pull their cattle out of a well, even on Sabbath day. The question was not only about work, or that you would loose the donkey; ox, but it would also endanger your water supply... It couldn't be helped. In a way, Jesus pointed out, that not helping somebody, because it is a Sabbath day, or something else like that, while you follow the law, you also break it, because you failed to understand and comprehend the heart of the problem. On a prior Sabbath day, Jesus already had a falling out with the Pharisees Luke 13:10-17 when he healed a Woman who had suffered the spirit of Infirmity for 18 years! When he pointed out, that Donkey's; oxen drink water even on Sabbath day, but the current parable of helping such a beast out of the well, is much more demanding. While you can ignore thirst, while being cruel in so doing, neglecting to mind about the purity of a well is also insane. That was the reason, why the Dropsy guy was regarded so well, to find something against Jesus, although they should have been with God on that day. It makes it kinda ironic and sad, that such Supermen of God became all too human.

At Luke 14:7-14 Jesus talks about choosing the lowly place. After all, he was invited to a head-Pharisees house, and all, who there invited – the establishment and burgeoisie, who there thinking themselves betters, than the tax-collectors or Romans occupying Israel. The Sabbath day was one of the Places there Israelites could be their way, then otherwise, they had to do business in the Roman way. Even their holy currency was only valid on Temple mount and elsewhere they had to resort to Roman currency!! Being invited there was a big deal, being able to talk to the host, while dining – for only the three seats closest to the host, could do that on both sides of the table. That meant only 6 people could be privileged to talk with the host, while the rest could only listen. That is the reason, why people craved for those places. And that is the reason, why Jesus was against it – you cant worship and commemorate God justly, if you're worried about the seat you're taking or whether somebody more worthy could appear on that festivity and cast you down. It was a practical advice, but also a slap in the face to the Pharisees, who had to shut up about the Dropsy guy being healed on Sabbath day...

Now happens a thing, what is quite common in such dinners. Luke 14:15 A young boy, who was also invited, jumps up and does a homage and fealty roll: “Blessed is he, who shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God!” In a way, it was similar to a different quote in the Torah. Amos 5:18 “Woe to you, who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness and not light!”

When people hear a prophet or a preacher speak, they naturally think, that they are among the righteous. They think, that at least them got more things right than the rest... That's a natural human response of self-preservation. Why not be happy about, what the young man said? It was Sabbath day! But in a way, that F didn't go to God, or meant something else, as Sabbath was destined to meat. It was like blessing somebody with Godspeed in the morning, then you didn't know, what the future brings, or not even the character of your own heart, lest to speak about, who you're blessing. We mean well with our blessings, because we want to get along with one another. Would we bless same fold a Communist; a Satanist; somebody we loathe and detest? Jesus Christ came to this world to die for all of us, and to search and save those, who are lost. Does someone, who thinks, he is eligible to sit in the Heavens and dine with God, feel anyway lost, as did Jacob or Isaiah. When ever prophets meat God, they have obsoleted themselves, confessing to deserve rather death, than exaltation. And yet again, if we come together to dine for God or to preach on Sunday, we expect people to say nice things and not salty vitriol statements of gloom and doom. People wanted to be happy in that table, there they all had been invited. And then comes the tzar bomber shell and nukes them all: Luke 14:16-24 What is the problem with this parable? There there no refrigerators back then, so when you prepared meat, it had to be consumed instantly, or it would have been rotten. So, then the servant said: “All is ready!” He meant, that after you have issued your timely reply and the host has inquired it from all participants, the correct schedule will be drawn and the final invitation will be sent out – and then the feast will be prepared by slaughtering the meat, what is to be consumed. Because of that, all those statements, why the invitees excused themselves. They there more than poorly chosen. You can't test your oxen indefinitely; nor fuck your wife nor inspect new landings. The real reason was, that those invited had no regard towards the host. In fact, they loathed the host! They didn't wanna do anything with him. In the Eastern world, if somebody sends you such an invitation, especially if it's somebody of high esteem and power, you can't simply excuse yourself from it. You go there with your entire family! It is The Event! The Sabbath was supposed to be such kind of Event as well. There God is the Host, and we breathe of our deeds to the Lord, to exalt Him!! And somehow, the issue of whether a Dropsy guy or a woman, with a spirit of Infirmity gets help on Saturday, is an issue. Just like it became an issue to the Christian church, whether Greek widows should be treated the same as Jewish widows, and the Deacons there first called, lest to make St. Peter and the others stop praying to the Lord, in order to give something, what should have already been granted. (Acts 6) Somehow authority becomes more important, than the nature and reason, why a certain rule or law has been put to place. The Young man, didn't think, he was stealing something from God. He was just being nice, but Jesus said, that non of the chosen shall feast upon it. Because when you have the honour and privilege to dine with God, it is not, because you did something right – it is because, God had mercy on you, and didn't do, what your deeds deserved! It couldn't have been more clearer, what the parable was talking about, to foreshadow, how the Jews would be pushed aside in this world, and a new church would be formed. Do I say that, to congratulate us? No! I say that, to remind us, as the Lord pushed aside the Jews, who where His Divine People and Priesthood for the rest of the world, how much more can he do the same to us, who we're pagans of descent! (Eze 16:3) That's, what the true meaning of Sabbath, what Jesus came to proclaim to this world, was. To break loose those, who there unjustly imprisoned under the law. Who lost all their belongings because of the law. For sinfulness is quite expensive if you honestly tithe according to the law. Just try to exclude from your finances as much as a heavy smoker monthly has to, and you will understand, what I mean. The tithe was meant to be a reminded, how cruel can sin be, but it became the enrichment of religious establishment, and not moral. While people respected the Pharisees and also the Zadokite, they there so excluded from the people, that they there not present at the Sabbath, because other things became more imminent and important. The question: “Can you carry a fallen leaf on your shoulder on Sabbath!” is notorious for its stupidity. How does that question exalt the Lord?!

That was the reason, why this parable was so insulting to all, who there invited, including the host. Who was this Jesus, to say that in the house of a head-Pharisee?? It reminds me of a different audacity, then Edward. R. Murrow challenged senator McCarthy in America with his brutally honest shows to protect Americans from false allegations and fear-mongering, in the name of fight against Communism. I recently watched “Good night and Good luck” (2005) Starring George Clooney, and it brought me to tears. If a reporter can't speak, because disagreeing with something is too unpatriotic, or has to have viewpoints to prove his patriotism, when we would look like this young boy, who shouted: “Blessed is he, who shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God!” when already Amos disagrees with it, lest to talk about Jesus or common sense. When our seat or name becomes more important, than the truth, then we have lost something precious.

But it doesn't stop there. Jesus knows, how to crank it up a nudge further. Luke 14:25-33!! Great multitudes there following Christ and what does he do? He turns over and sais thus: “If anyone, who comes to me, and doesn't hate his father or mother; wife or children; brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple!” Let's stop here and think... No success theologian or other person, who lives by Sermon or book-sales or Essay draft, would ever dare to say that nowadays!! You don't insult your audience with controversy – the thing Mr. Murrow was accused of, for defending probable Communists. Controversy doesn't sell well, it makes people choose sides and sometimes those choices leave you bleeding out in the desert all alone... Big organisations don't like that, because they have a lot to account for. (Mat 19:22) The more money you possess, or power, the more it possesses you. It is funny, how I cannot even play Diablo 3, without thinking about, how the wizards who summoned the first demons in the lore, became their servants! How that speaks against us, just like Jesus Christ; or when J.K Rowling wrote “Harry Potter” how it speaks against us. Not because it speaks of Witch-Craft, but how we neglect the mercy part of our faith all too eloquently and readily. It is so easy to erect your own Voldemort and follow it, to further your own goal, until it leads to Hell. It becomes more important to say thus, that 'you shall not let a witch live'; or 'don't to wizardry'. When all our deeds could be like wizardry to God – for what did the prophet say to King Saul, then that person could not await the arrival of Samuel; or how the king spared the better cattle from destruction, to then tithe some of it to the Lord? Isn't that born for loving ourselves and our loved-ones too much. To the point, we would sacrifice even truth itself, lest we could live one more day untouched. If you don't possess this kind of self-loathing, there you're for life and the truth, you cannot find Jesus! The problem stands, that the Torah also said: Pro 30:17 one of my favourite quotations: “The eye, that mocks his father; scorns obedience to his mother. The ravens of the valley will pick it out, the young eagles will eat it!” Israel was built upon respect. And now Jesus demands us to disregard all that, to follow rather Him! Must have been hard for the Jews, especially for the Pharisees to hear thus. He even adds to parables to further his intent. The building of a tower, which was a defensive structure and only valuable, if finished. You had no luxury to ponder upon it indefinitely, because your competition would just smother you. So telling about how you should know if you could make ends meat, was like telling how every bottle shall be filled with wine! (Jer 13:12,13) Everybody already knew about it! Or the parable about Two Kings warring and the other sending out emissaries to acquire for peace, because he is unable to fight. Nobody disputed those kind of things. And yet demanding to follow him without regard, was a lot to ask – on a Sabbath day!

And now for the punchline or the nail in the coffin. Luke 14:34,35! Unflavoured salt has the same problem than gold, what lost his shine, it is both worthless and impossible. In normal circumstances neither gold nor salt can't stop being what they are. And yet, the Pharisees and Israel became exactly that! We could become exactly that! Tasteless salt and shineless gold... If something becomes self-evident and compulsory, it will assume the place, what it's meant to represent. In that case, priesthood will become its own deus ex machina! Just a mere contraption of theatrics and amusement, nothing more. The Sabbath is indeed more, than amusement and holiday from work. It is breathing along with God, so others could share in with that exaltation of the High Heavens. It is about living for something far greater than Myself! To the point we give up our lives for that dream, others could depict as madness. Who wants to become a Christian and follow to the Cross?