September 29th, 2913
Jeremiah 17:21-22 — Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
Sometimes it seems to me that just as with prophecies, so with the Bible’s promise and commands – they have both a “near” meaning and a “further” meaning.
We are to carry no burdens on the Sabbath day – nor are we to bring burdens “by the gates of Jerusalem”. The Sabbath is to be hallowed, set aside.
For the Jews of Jeremiah’s time the message was clear. So far had they fallen from the standards God had laid upon them that they were routinely breaking the commandment, working and trading on the Sabbath. And, as Calvin comments:
“The gates of Jerusalem” was emphatically added; for it was not lawful even in the fields or in desert places to do anything on the Sabbath; but it was extremely shameful to carry a burden through the gates of Jerusalem; it was as though they wished publicly to reproach and despise God. Thus the Jews were not only reproachful towards God, but also dared to shew their impiety in his own renowned city.”
What “further” might this passage have to say to us? It says to me that on the Sabbath we should not only cease from our labors, but that we should take especial care to lay our “burdens” down. Difficult though it may be we should seek to cease, for one day in the week, from our daily worries and concerns and turn our attention wholly to Him who bids us set the Sabbath aside as holy. Dare we do this? As I thought about the idea, it became clear to me that I might as well. I know that no amount of fretting on a Sunday will change what happens on a Monday! And besides this (common sense, I think) point, there are the many promises and instructions to cast my burdens on The Lord … which surely apply as much, if not more so, to the Sabbath as to any other day.
The text told me another thing too. Above all, on a Sunday as I head for church, perhaps I should make a special effort to turn my eyes outwards and upwards. Instead of carrying my burden to God’s house, I should leave it in my house and focus on the cares of others and on the thanks I surely owe Him for all He has done for me.
There are many other observations that be made based on this passage, and the whole text from verses 19-27, but I will make just one more: “As I commanded your Fathers” says The Lord through the prophet. This neglect of the Sabbath was nothing new in Jeremiah’s day, and it is nothing new in ours. There has been a long decline, and we have become accustomed to carrying our Monday thru Saturday concerns into Sunday. Matthew Henry points out, “Where sabbaths are neglected all religion sensibly goes to decay.” It’s not just a “corporate” concern. If I don’t make the things of God my Sunday focus, when will they be the center of my day?