Friday Gospel Recharge: A Reflection on the Gospel of Matthew: 12: 1 - 8

Friday Gospel Recharge Series

Friday Gospel Recharge

A Reflection on Matthew 12:1 - 8 

(Friday Week 15, Year A of the Liturgical Calander, 2023)

Rest on the Sabbath: The Christian duty

The Sabbath, in case you were wondering, fellow Neighbour, is a sacred day of observance for the universal Church each Sunday. It's treated sacred because Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, as our faith informs us, and we observe it because we hold it in remembrance of his resurrection. From a practical point of view, when observed and treated with reverence it serves as a reminder that someday we will die and meet God and be judged; and when that day arrives, praying we will also reign with Christ for all eternity in heaven with the saints and the angels and, of course with our Heavenly Father and the Spirit. Now we cannot forget those two.

For me, when I look around, it seems that the honour owed to the Sabbath is near forgotten in parts of the world in which Christianity held as a strong hold: England, majority if not all of Europe, and Lebanon perhaps. In places like China, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Sunday is another day on the calendar and not regarded as a sacred universal day: another philosophy or ideology dominates the social, cultural, and economic sphere of those places. However, wherever we may be placed in the world, observing the Sabbath in former Christian strong holds or not can also be tough for Christians irrespective of their denomination since the day is highly commercialised and spared as any ordinary day.

Putting aside the troubles associated with observing the Sabbath due to social structures in place in various parts of the globe, what does it mean to observe the Sabbath you might be thinking?  On this day the people of God are called to refrain from their servile, everyday labour and rest their mind and body instead, and worship God.

In the tradition of the church, one way to fulfilling the duties of worship on the Sabbath is done by our attendance at Mass. Attending Mass if you were wondering is an obligation that is not transferable, nor an optional free choice for baptised Catholics and those in communion with the Universal Church; attending Mass or if you are not familiar with that language going to church makes part of observing the Sabbath. We have a requirement to be there, it is a sign of love and veneration of the Heavenly Father who created and knows us best.

Equally important to fulfilling the Sunday Mass obligation, is that we give rest to our body and mind from unnecessary and needless work. In other words, we are called to have a day off work. A day of rest is necessary for the whole man: it allows us to reflect on the week past and plan how we can better serve our God. In addition, it provides time and no excuse to skipping our obligation of attending Mass.

So we rest on the Sabbath to worship God and to give our mind and body rest- these are the two primary reasons why we take time on the Sabbath to rest from our labour. We can say also that we rest on the Sabbath because God rested from all his work on the Sabbath, after seven days of creation as it reads: “God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation” (Gen 2: 3), and since God rested from all his work, we too require a patten of work and rest from our labour: after all we come from God and reflect in our own existence to resemble something of the divine.

Although God rested on this sacred day, we must bear in mind however that in God there is no rest. According to that famous theologian, Thomas Aquinas, God is existence itself and existence itself is a pure activity. If I can draw from an example perhaps it would help paint a picture. When one rests, he or she is not exactly doing anything active but remains in a passive state of existence. For example, if I am a graduate in medicine and operate as a doctor in either a practice or a hospital, I am actually a doctor when I attend to patients and draw from my medical knowledge. If after a day’s work I've gone home and thrown myself on the couch, I'm potentially a doctor in that state because I not only have medical knowledge and the authority to act as a doctor, but I choose not to. It is in this state I exist passively as a doctor. It is right then to say that God does not rest. If God is existence and existence in its pure form is an activity, then God does not need to rest nor has rest in him. In fact, Jesus himself reminds us in scripture that God our Father is always working. We read this in John’s Gospel, “ My Father is still working, and I am working,” and as a result Jesus on the day of the Sabbath cures the sick, feeds the hungry and forgives sinners.

Turning now to today's Gospel - and this is the main piece of text I want to focus my attention - Jesus along with his follower disciples are accused of breaking the Sabbath. They are caught, according to Jewish custom, working, eating off a fruit tree, a scandal in the eyes of Jesus's contemporary. Now Jesus being the man-made God that he is, is able to put into perspective the true interpretation of this Law. Indeed, as I have tried to outline, The Sabbath is a day where no servile work should be performed.  However we must be mindful that the Sabbath was instituted for people's sake and not people for the sake of the Sabbath. In other words, the Sabbath is there for our good so that something spiritually, mentally, and physically might be gained. However, what Jesus is saying here is this: the body and mind requires rest although if work is necessary to provide the basic needs which preserves your human dignity, one is not culpable of breaking the Sabbath if he or she works on that sacred day. Everything must be interpreted in light of the dignity of the human person when it comes to reflecting on work and the Sabbath.

If a person circumstance does not prevent him from participating fully in the spirit of the Sabbath, grocery shopping, window shopping, purchasing coffee and other delicacy at a cafe, playing competitive sport, mowing the lawn, academic study, and refueling at the service station are just some contemporary activities which we would consider as unnecessary labour on the Sabbath. These things do little in order to give our mind and body rest. We have six other days in the week to fit these chores in our weekly schedule and to accomplish that we need to be better organised. I think we can and we as Christian’s ought to try and rethink our priorities when we leave some of these tasks for Sunday. God must come first and everything else follows. If we are organised enough then we can have a day off.

In a world that is highly commercialised, household’s dependent on dual incomes and demand for work on Sundays it then becomes more difficult to dedicate Sunday to rest as people’s job security depends upon it, and I would not dare doubt that God understands. A way forward from here for us whose employment and its future depends on it can ask their employers to provide them opportunities to not work on that day. Asking our employers for a day off so that we might observe this day would be courageous and highly commended; it is also a sign that you have tried put God first. But if we haven't even bothered to try then what value does it say where you put your commitment? It's a tricky one but a lot of people don't try, and if they are given the weekend off, the majority of those being Catholic fail to fulfil their other obligation and surrendering themselves in worship to the Lord at Mass.

The duties of doctors, nurses, police and defense personnel are necessary in preserving the sovereignty of human life, their obligation to rest from servile work on the Sabbath if rostered on do not apply. However, and this applies to all Catholic men and women, whose work duties falls under the category of necessary or not: we are required to worship God on Sunday. Our Sunday obligation is fulfilled by attending the Vigil Mass on a Saturday evening or any Mass on a Sunday. If we happen to be working on a Sunday and cannot get to Mass then, we have the opportunity to give God our full attention at a Vigil Mass which fulfils our obligation. The question is whether we are bothered to make time for it.

Obviously if you are sick in hospital as a patient, the obligation to attend Mass is not required.  However, if your commitment to Jesus is strong and He truly is no 1 priority in your life, then you need to ask that Holy Communion be offered to you, find out the times of the Mass on the television above your bed or if you are able, ask one of the nurses ahead of time to take you to the chapel for Mass.  If you have no success with these options, there is also Mass online at various churches. St Benedict’s in Burwood Australia is one such opportunity or St James the Great in Pettswood in UK is another opportunity. Remember Mass online if you are not able to go to Mass due to illness or recuperating is suitable, but it is not suitable to fulfil your obligation this way if you see it as more convenient and you are able to physically attend Mass.

In summary, the Sabbath is a day dedicated for rest and for worship of God - Jesus by his own example reminds us of this sacred duty. However, according to Jesus, our circumstances might require us to perform some duty of labour on this day, because the dignity of the other or self requires it. From this day forward let's remember to reserve the Sabbath for rest and for worship, and only work if circumstances deem it vital for the sake of dignity.

Let's keep praying for each other.