Can We Solve the Sunday Dilemma?
By John Warren Steen
[Dr. Steen was the founding editor of Mature Living magazine, has been assistant editor of International Christian Digest, and is the author of four books. He has served a hospital chaplaincy and pastorates in three states. He lives with his wife, Dorothy, in Nashville, Tennessee.]
- Keep the Lord`s Day a Day of Happiness.
- Focus on the Lord`s Day as a Day of Worship and Learning.
- Continue to Use the Lord`s Day as a Day for Good Works.
Sporting events, like a greedy child wanting the biggest part of the family`s pie, have taken over the focus of Sunday. The day has exploded into a celebration of sports. During the 1999 Super Bowl XXXIII, officials boasted 74,803 fans who were present in the stadium, 83.7 million TV viewers who watched the entire game, and an additional 43.8 million viewers who watched part of the game. Incidentally, Sunday night services were canceled in unnumbered churches, and the one I attended had only six members in the congregation. "0 Day of Rest and Gladness" has become a day of rush and madness. All these road signs point to how much customs have changed in the last 60 years.
I recall from 1936 that my Junior Department Sunday School class had a lesson on keeping the Sabbath day. My teacher said, "Boys, do you think it is permissible to play softball on Sunday?" We thought it might not be sinful since the ball game was recreational for us, not work-related.
Then the teacher asked, "What about going to see the Jackson Senators play on a Sunday afternoon?" We decided that the so-called "game" was work for the minor league players and we should not encourage them to break the Sabbath by attending.
The setting was Jackson, Mississippi, a church-going town that did not allow movie theaters to open on that special day. It was not until the Army Air Corps established a base in Jackson that the town fathers permitted theaters to open for the boys in the army to have something to do on a Sunday afternoon.
People from Chicago and New York laughed at our rigid stand on Sabbath observance and snickered that we were living in the Victorian Age. Like good Pharisees, we felt we were protecting God`s interests.
Later I found people in biblical lands holding on to similar hair-splitting customs. When I went on an archeological dig in Israel 30 years later, I discovered the biggest theological and ethical problem in that unique society to be the observance of the Sabbath. A meeting of rabbis met to discuss whether it was lawful to open the door of a refrigerator on the Sabbath and thus "kindle a flame" by causing the interior light to come on. The decision was that such an act was in opposition to the law. People might open their refrigerators before sundown on Friday but must close them and keep them closed all day Saturday.
Some Jewish leaders even denounced the custom of Israelis` driving to the beach for sunbathing or swimming on a summer Sabbath afternoon. They recruited followers to lie down in the streets that led to the beautiful beaches of the Mediterranean and defy the motorists until the protesters were dragged away.
The influence of these experiences has colored my thinking today. I doubt that God could find anything sinful in a Sunday afternoon ball game or a relaxing trip to the beach. At the same time old thoughts flood back and swamp my brain with questions about loving God with devoted obedience that might somehow include Sabbath observance.
To solve this dilemma, I would suggest returning to the spirit of our Teacher and Shepherd for some principles to build on. I invite you to join me in examining the following ideas:
1. Keep the Lord`s Day a Day of Happiness.
When I was in Israel and had made a purchase on a weekday, I enjoyed hearing a store owner say as I was leaving the shop, "Shalom." That blessed word of peace echoed in my soul for a long time afterwards. There was another expression that was even more blessed. When I went late on a Friday afternoon (the eve of the Sabbath) to make a purchase, the store owner would say, "Shabbat Shalom," literally "Sabbath Peace." When I heard those words, they meant to me, "Have a joyful, healthy, and peaceful Sabbath." I discovered many native people who luxuriated in the Sabbath and its preparation.
I have read that there were rabbis who used to go out to the eastern edge of their village late on a Friday afternoon. They wanted to greet Queen Sabbath when she arrived, announced by the appearance of the first stars of the approaching night.
Jesus became disappointed with the scrupulous legalists of his day who turned the Sabbath into a dreaded time of burden. Instead the Master said, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). In that statement, he indicated that the day was to be enjoyed and not burdened down with legalistic minutiae.
2. Focus on the Lord`s Day as a Day of Worship and Learning
Most Bible scholars point out that the Sabbath and the Lord`s Day are entirely different. The Sabbath was given in honor of God`s completion of his creative work. Honoring this one day meant acknowledging that all seven days had come as a gift from the Creator.
The Lord`s Day was the day on which Jesus Christ rose triumphant from the dead. The early church celebrated this day with joy. They met regularly to encourage one another and to learn from the apostles what Jesus had taught and accomplished in his messianic mission.
Since the days are different, some Bible teachers say we are not bound by the old covenant. Yet I think that we would make a big mistake if we should ignore the fourth commandment, especially one that is given in a positive mood and is longer than any other nine. Christians generally agree that we can transfer to Sunday some of the rationale behind that command to remember a day and keep it holy. We can be proactive in dealing with our stressed-out, pleasure-seeking culture.
As we begin a new millennium when we are short on moral heroes and ethical giants, we can turn to the example of Jesus. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, "as his custom was“ (Luke 4:16. What an example! He didn`t wait until the most noted rabbi of the nation led the service. He didn`t consult the weather forecaster to see if it would be a pleasant day. He simply went. He was a disciplined person, in the best sense of the word. He was consistent. He was dependable.
His synagogue, as well as others in the land, had developed from the difficult days of captivity and exile. When the Jews had been defeated and humiliated by mighty Babylon, don`t you imagine they suffered a terrible melancholy? Their glorious temple had been destroyed, and their God had been made to appear puny. They hung their harps on foreign willow trees for awhile. Eventually the displaced persons began to realize, however, that a group of people could gather to discuss God`s eternal covenant and his law. Such groups formed the first synagogues. They brought this small-group idea back from the exile.
The services in a synagogue were informal. The presiding elders could invite any competent member or visitor to read from the sacred writings and to give a commentary. That exegete stood up to read the scriptures and sat down to comment on them. The service Jesus attended was similar to our adult Sunday School classes. The master Teacher entered fully into the services, and he set a worthy example for his followers. He attended every week.
Every dedicated Christian knows that we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves "as the manner of some is" (Heb. 10:25). A part of our happy celebration includes singing the Lord`s praise on his special day and interceding in prayer for those in need.
3. Continue to Use the Lord`s Day as a Day for Good Works.
When I was a teenager, I told my Aunt Birdie Gray Wroten, a Methodist minister`s wife, about something I needed to do on a Sunday, seeking to prevent a problem from building up. She responded, "Go ahead. The ox is in the ditch." She was referring to Jesus` application of Deuteronomy 22:4 found in Luke 14:4.
In a similar mood, a male marriage broker in an Israeli film was meticulous about keeping the laws of the Sabbath. Yet he had not had a customer for a long time and was growing poor and hungry. A message came just at the beginning of the Sabbath for him to go to a prospective customer`s house and help two people find each other for a yearned?for lifetime of happiness. He paused only a few moments and then proceeded to break two rules, walking a forbidden distance and doing his work. His explanation was priceless, like a page from the New Testament: "I`m not doing work. I`m just doing the Lord`s will."
At a Sabbath feast in the home of a Pharisee leader, Jesus responded to people`s needs. He noticed a person with dropsy (too much fluid in the body). He asked the legalists present, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day" (Luke 14:3)? His question echoed against the walls of the building, amplified by the passive silence of the gathering. Jesus healed the man. Then he told them about the ox in a ditch that would be rescued on the holy day. Again stony silence engulfed that room, and the guests left looking as if they had eaten sour grapes for dessert.
In our time we need to follow the Master`s example. We need to look for good works to be done in the name of Christ. Taking food to a shut-in, helping an older person move to a retirement home, or even rebuilding a person`s storm-damaged house: all these could be done on the Lord`s Day in the spirit of Christ (and I would venture to say with his approval).
I find that I must continually resist the temptation to become a Pharisee. When I drive to Sunday School at 8:45 a.m. and see joggers along the way, I say to my wife, "I`m not going to criticize; those dudes have probably already been to early mass." Then when I return home and find neighbors on both sides of my home cutting their lawns, I tell myself that their hearts might be purer than mine.
I am not ready to reinstate the strict blue laws of colonial New England. Those ordinances became extremely odious because the religious views of one segment of society were imposed on all the rest of society.
President Jimmy Carter had this diverse backdrop on the stage of his thinking when he was asked about Sunday. The former director of the ord`s Day Alliance of the United States, Dr. James P. Wesberry, a father in the ministry to me, wrote a request to the President "to avoid the use of Sunday for transacting business" and to help pass laws "to protect one day in seven as a day of rest and renewal for the people of our nation."
He received this reply from the President`s assistant: "The best the President can do in this area is to set an example, which he does. As you know, the President attends church regularly and does not schedule official events on Sundays. Most Sundays are devoted to church and family."
We, too, might set an example for our children, grandchildren, and neighbors by trying to keep the Lord`s Day in the Lord`s way.
