The Gift of Rest

This past Sunday I preached on keeping the Sabbath, and, as I was prepping the sermon, I kept going back to a fantastic chapter in pastor Rich Villodas’s book, The Deeply Formed Life: Five Transformative Values to Root Us in the Way of Jesus.

I kept going back to that chapter… but I didn’t use any of it in the sermon. So, I thought I’d share a couple of things from the cutting room floor with y’all.

I mentioned Sunday that, for me, the key to Jesus’s understanding of the Sabbath comes in Mark 2:27, when he says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Or, like the NLT puts it, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.” One of those needs is the rest that Jesus offers in Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

And Rich Villodas does a wonderful job describing Sabbath practices that are aimed at meeting the needs of people and creating opportunities for rest.

He starts with a definition: “Sabbath keeping is a weekly twenty-four hour period of unhurried delight with no have-tos or ought-tos, resulting in deep rest and renewal.” (29)

Do you know that feeling of calm that comes when you mark the last thing off your to-do list? When you realize that there are no more responsibilities or deadlines looming over you? If Sabbath time is going to be restful, renewing, a time of unhurried delight, then it must be time when the to-do list is blank or at least set aside. Jesus cannot give us rest if we aren’t willing to set down the things that have us so weary and burdened.

Now, imagine you go to lunch with an old friend, and before you know it, they’ve told the waitress to bring them the ticket. You weren’t looking for this kindness, you tell them that you’ll pay for your own meal, but they insist. At that point, you know there’s no use arguing, and you just accept their gift and say “Thank you.” I’m sure you’ve been in a situation like that before, where you finally had to give up and accept someone’s gift.

Sometimes we’re reluctant to let go of the busyness and our have-tos and ought-tos. Maybe you take pride in your busyness and like to brag about your overloaded schedule. Maybe you feel a tinge of guilt if you find yourself relaxing when there are still things that you could be working on. But there will always be more you could have done or another thing you could get a head start on. There will always be some argument against resting.

But Jesus says, “I insist.”

There’s no use arguing with him. It’s time to accept the gift of rest he has for you and just say “Thank you.”

When’s the last time you didn’t have a to-do list hanging over your head?

Do you ever spend a day resting, when you aren't trying to accomplish anything?

What can you do to make space for “unhurried delight” in your schedule this week?