In the Gospels, Jesus often finds himself in conflict with the Pharisees over healing on the Sabbath. He was trying to show them that something matters more than the Sabbath itself: the human person. 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,' he tells them (Mark 2:27). But in defending the person over the rule, did Jesus abolish the Sabbath , or was he restoring its true meaning? And have we, all these centuries later, forgotten what that meaning was?

To find it, we have to travel back more than three thousand years, to a time when the Jewish people were slaves in Egypt. Tradition holds that they were enslaved for some four hundred years. They cried out and waited for a saviour to set them free, and God sent Moses to lead them out. But Pharaoh was stubborn. He did not want to let his slaves go. Slavery meant the work got done cheaply, without paying a single worker. Life was too comfortable, and Pharaoh refused to change.

In the end the people were freed, and at Sinai God gave them the commandments. Among them, like a hinge holding the whole law together, he placed this one: 'Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.'

It is worth noticing where that commandment sits. The first commandments draw us toward God; the later ones draw us toward our neighbour. The Sabbath stands between them , the bridge between love of God and love of one another. And the reason God gives for it is striking. 'Remember that you were slaves in Egypt,' Moses tells the people, 'and the Lord your God brought you out … therefore he commanded you to keep the Sabbath' (Deuteronomy 5:15). The Sabbath is the memory of freedom. It is the very thing Pharaoh would never give , rest. To keep the Sabbath is to declare that we are slaves no longer.

So all these years later, do we honour the Sabbath and keep it holy? For Orthodox Jews it is far more than pausing from work. It also means refraining from electronic devices. And when we do that , when we stop working, put down the phone, close the laptop , something quietly shifts. Our attention moves from what we do to something beyond ourselves. We turn toward our families. We turn toward the people we love. We turn toward God.

For the Jewish people the Sabbath is the most important moment of the week. It is the day when time seems to stop, when we step more fully into the present, when we make room to invite God into our lives.

As Christians, should we begin to practise the Sabbath again? Not as a burden, but as a gift , being intentional about keeping a day of rest, at least while the sun is up. Spending unhurried time with our families. Spending time with God.

Perhaps then we might rediscover that life is not only about work. Life is about a deeper purpose , one we so easily miss because we have let ourselves be enslaved all over again, this time by our work and our entertainment. The Sabbath was God's answer to slavery once. It may still be the answer today.

Journal and reflect on the following
  1. The Sabbath was given to the Jewish people right after they were freed from being slaves in Egypt. Why do you think a day of rest would feel like a sign that you're free?
  2. Jesus said, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.' In your own words, what do you think he meant by that?
  3. Orthodox Jews put away their phones and screens on the Sabbath. If you had one whole day without any devices, what do you think would be hard about it, and what might be good about it?
  4. Should we stop working and switch off, our attention moves toward our family, the people we love, and God? Who or what do you think you'd pay more attention to if you had a real rest day?
  5. The writer says we can become 'enslaved' by our work and our entertainment without even noticing. What's one thing in your week that takes up so much time it's hard to stop? What could a 'Sabbath' from it look like for you?
Discuss

Pause and Listen to the song “No Longer Slaves”



Please pray the following prayer

Lord of the seventh day, you who led your people out of slavery and gave them rest as the sign that they were free, teach us once more to honour the Sabbath and keep it holy. In a world that never stops, give us the courage to stop — to set down our work, to switch off our screens, and to be still long enough to remember that we belong to you. As Jesus reminded us that the Sabbath was made for us and not we for it, help us to receive rest not as a duty but as a gift, so that our attention may turn from what we do to those we love, to our families, and above all to you. Free us from the quiet slaveries of busyness and distraction, and draw us into the living moment where you are always waiting. Then, in the peace of your presence, may we rediscover that life is not only about work but about a deeper purpose found in you. Amen.
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