Guest Post: The Sabbath Life

Jon Ladd

In his acclaimed work In the Name of Jesus, Henri Nouwen lays out a bold claim: the Christian should, as Jesus Christ did, reject all relevancy, popularity, and power. Nouwen argues that the temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness after His baptism (Matthew 4) were temptations to these three things, and as He rejects them, so should we. But he also argues that we have not, by and large, done so.

“The long painful history of the church is the history of people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led. Those who resisted this temptation to the end and thereby give us hope are the true saints,” Nouwen writes.

In a culture of relevance-as-currency, where most if not all relationships are built on quid pro quo, Nouwen’s claim can seem hyperbolic. Surely power, if used to proclaim the Gospel, is good. If relevancy can make Christ more attractive to a fallen world, who loses? But this is to fall into the fighting, scratching trap of the world, and to deny the life and words of Christ Jesus.

Job falls into this same trap. Having gone from complete power and self-reliance to the pit of vulnerability and weakness, he says, “What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze? Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?” (Job 6:11-13)

This lament should be very familiar to anyone who has suffered with anxiety, or gone through seasons of stress and need. It is to say, “If only I had the power to prevent my, and others’, suffering. If only I had the resources to meet these needs.” And this is what the adversary says to the starving Jesus in the wilderness - to seize His power and provide food for Himself. But “Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’ (Matthew 4:4)

Later on in His ministry, Jesus will teach this same principle to His disciples. In Luke 12 He tells them to look closely at how the ravens are provided for, and at the careless beauty of the wildflowers. Christ says that the birds do not “sow or reap,” and that the wildflowers do not “labor or spin.” The Eastern Orthodox poet Graham Pardun notes that all of these works the natural creatures abstain from, in Jesus’ own words, are among those forbidden on the Sabbath. These beautiful, cherished things live all of their short lives on Sabbath, Jesus says, trusting, provided for, and cared for by the Father. Christ is saying you can live your whole life on the Sabbath, too - free of striving, made beautiful and full by God. Christ is, Himself, our Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9-10).

The image of the Sabbath life that takes shape is of hope without strength, of riches without wealth, of life in death. The reality is not that you need nothing in this life, but that all that you do need, well and truly, is abundant and freely given in the person of Christ Jesus. And in turn when you live your life the way He did, dependent each day on God for your needs and hope and love, you will have the endurance and ability to show others His love; the only thing that has true Power anyway.