Rested the Sabbath Day

This morning I read Luke 23 – the crucifixion of Christ.

It struck me this morning that after a very dramatic scene, a very emotional and difficult story, of Christ’s crucifixion on the cross – the trials before Pilate and Herod, the condemnation to death, the carrying of the heavy cross, the mocking of the Lord by some, and the desperate following and sadness by others, and even the drama of the darkness and the rending of the temple veil –

and then Christ’s body is retrieved. And the women see after his burial along side Joseph of Arimithea (and perhaps others) –

and these women have followed Christ – from Gallilea to the Cross. They haven’t turned away in the face of mocking or adversity, but watched and witnessed as their hearts were broken.

And then, after all this, they attend to Christ’s burial in hurry because of the approach of the Sabbath day —

and then after all of this, the last line of Luke Chapter 23–

 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.

I wondered that they “rested” on the Sabbath —

I mean, can you imagine how antsy they must have felt, knowing Christ lay in the tomb with only a hurried burial – how they must have ached to be there to see to a proper and full fleged service? How could they put aside that desire and hope and ache to stay home and observe the Sabbath? Why would they do that?

To me this tells me something of many things.

1. These womens’ devotion to doing what is right to the best that they knew. Meaning, they had been taught to observe the Sabbath, and they did so because they were devoted to their FAITH (meaning their religion in time and space). They wanted to be the people who did what they said they would do.
2. These womens’ devotion to the Savior. Maybe they felt like it was counter to devotion. Maybe someone looking in with less understanding would think it reflected less devotion to leave the Savior in a tomb with only the most basic burial, while they left to observe the Sabbath at home. But really, it reflected the greatest devotion and testimony to Christ – that they knew he was more than his mortal life, and that in following his commandments in every turn, they were following him.
3. These womens’ devotion to Heavenly Father. All that Christ did, he taught repeatedly, was to glorify His Father. In this act the women show their devotion to Christ’s teachings, and their deeper understanding of the God of Abraham – in that they saw there was one will and purpose echad in what they had been taught. They observed the Sabbath, they rested on the Sabbath, because that was what they had been commanded to do. In doing so, they were glorifying Christ’s father, and their father, and being reconciled to God thru the act.

Dennis Prager said (and I think he was quoting someone else):

The Sabbath preserved the Jews.

He elaborated: if you want to preserve something (faith) you have to have an ammount of time devoted to it, to teach it and hand it down to the next generation. And thus the strict observance of the Sabbath maintained that coventant between the generations.

How can I improve the observance of the Sabbath in my own heart and in my own home?

More thoughts on this later.