6. Whether We Have the Right to Break
Sabbath Observance
The external Sabbath has been instituted for the benefit of those
who work, that they might renew or restore their strength and that people and
livestock—and not only they but the housefather—might be refreshed, as we
said earlier. However, God does not care much for external behavior and
customs, but merely that no one disadvantage or harm another. Therefore, the
external celebration has not been commanded so rashly and seriously that work
which might benefit another could not be done on the Sabbath, or that we
should suffer loss or disaster rather than do an external work and so forfeit
celebration. For God does not look to external things and sacrifices, but to
the internal ones. When these are upright, what follows externally is right,
too, and everything a person does or leaves undone is right as well.
Similarly, God prefers a broken heart—where that is found it matters little
whether we fast or eat, drink or suffer thirst, sacrifice or not, celebrate
or work, as long as we do not come to God while we are empty within [Ps
51:17]. Although we might come empty-handed externally, it does not endanger
us before God.
Thus, I may kindle a fire, cook, and eat in God's name, as long as
I am in God's rest uprightly. For God has no need of my external leisure which
does not add to, or take anything away from God. But my internal leisure God
can praise or scold, despise or magnify. He can consider me merciful or cruel
and call me truthful or deceitful. Therefore, God gives attention to the inner
rest and leisure…Thus Christ defended
his disciples for gathering and eating grain on the Sabbath [Mt 12:3ff.] when
the Pharisees complained about it.
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7. The Son of Man Is Lord of the Sabbath
In response to this Christ said, "The Son of man is lord of the
Sabbath and the Sabbath has been commanded on account of people," [Mt 12:8]
i.e., we have the freedom to [34] work on the Sabbath …[when] …welfare calls
for it. This the disciples did when on the Sabbath they plucked and ate the
grain because they were hungry…
Moses and Christ concur. Moses says, "You shall not do any
external works so that your servants and maid servants, your children and you
might rest and restore your strength." And Christ says, "The Sabbath was
instituted for humankind" [Deut 14; Ex 20; Mt 12].
For your need or benefit, you may work on the Sabbath and do a good
deed for yourself as much as you might do one for someone else—kindle a fire,
cook, eat, drink. But see to it that you do not forget God in all of that.
Know that God loves mercy more than a burnt offering [Hos 6:6]. Celebrate and
enjoy your leisure, but in such a way that you do not neglect a better or
greater thing.
If hunger prevents you from experiencing God's grace, then pluck
ears of corn on the Sabbath and eat them in God's name [Lk 6:1-5]. The Sabbath
has been instituted for your benefit and betterment. …[Christ is Lord]... of
the Sabbath, and the Sabbath exists for you and not you for the Sabbath [Mk 2:23-28]. Hence, you may give herbs to another and prepare them for
medicine on the Sabbath, and you must help the neighbor and show mercy, which
is more and better than to sabbatize and celebrate externally. In this way
servants should help meet the immediate need of their master and prevent
future damage by foregoing their freedom and ignoring the Sabbath. One owes it
to another out of Christian brotherly love to help up livestock that has
fallen down [Ex 23:5].
When I said that one may do on the Sabbath on account of need what
apart from need ought not to be done—in other words, that in an emergency we
may ignore and break the Sabbath—I did not endorse the breaking of the Sabbath
with works of mercy and brotherly love which I call works of necessity. For I
spoke of breaking the Sabbath in the sense which Christ used against the
Pharisees who [35] thought it unseemly and detrimental to the Sabbath to have
a sick person made well on the Sabbath. Christ countered them, saying, "Look,
if it is not fitting for me to do good, why then do your priests kill the
sacrificial [animals] on the Sabbath and break the Sabbath with their killing
and butchering?" Likewise I respond to those who think that a person might
defile Sunday through a work of brotherly love: It is right to break the
Sabbath to help another person in his need, even though such works of mercy
might break the Sabbath. However, it is impossible for a work of love to
break the Sabbath, for God has put an order in his commandments. Some command
great and highly valued things; some command lesser things. Those that command
works of love, faith, mercy, and the like enjoin the very best and highest
works. Those that speak of sacrifices and Sabbaths and similar ceremonies,
enjoin what is of lesser value.
…Thus we know that servants must not allow their landlord's hay to
spoil because of the Sabbath, for the donkey and other animals would perish
without hay, and human beings—who are more important than animals—would die
without grain; and God's commandment would be for nought.
You masters of the house owe more to your servants, and you
menservants and maidservants owe more service [1 Pet 2:13-18; Eph 5:21] to
the masters of the house [37] than to anyone else. Therefore, you must protect
their cattle and goods ahead of anything else.
…I had to make this known to the dishonest servants and maids lest
this booklet cause them to yield to the freedom of the flesh or to be ensnared
by the devil by being disobedient and by breaking off their covenanted duties.
For the master has the power to force his servants to work on the Sabbath (if
necessity demands)…
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8. One Sabbath Is Another's Slave or
Servant
Truth says that the Sabbath is the rest of the Lord. It follows
from this that one Sabbath has been instituted on account of another and that
human beings are both slave and lord of the Sabbath [Gen 1]. If a person is
to rest in God and is to ask of and expect holiness from God, then the Son of
Man is a servant of the Sabbath, just as he is a servant of God. And just as
God is lord of humankind and not we lords over God, so the Sabbath is lord
over humankind and not vice versa. These words refer to the inner and
spiritual Sabbath which is celebrated to the honor, glory, and praise of God.
As the soul is greater and better than the body, so God is
immeasurably greater than the soul. Similarly, God's honor and glory are
greater than the soul and the Sabbath greater than the created spirits. As the
one who sanctifies is greater than the one who is being blessed, so also is
the sanctified Sabbath greater than the sanctified soul. Therefore, the
Sabbath is lord over us and we are servants of the Sabbath—this is true only
of the Sabbath which includes God, i.e., which contains the spirit of rest.
The external Sabbath, however, on which human beings rest from
their work and refrain from physical labor, has according to God been
commanded because of humankind. Hence, the external Sabbath is lower than the
inner and serves the inner when needed. It is merely a sign of inner leisure
and is there because of humankind. We stand between both Sabbaths under the
spiritual [39] and invisible and above the physical and perceptible—servant of
the higher and lord of the lower.
The external Sabbath (which the Pharisees imposed on Christ and his
disciples), exists on account of humankind and the spiritual Sabbath. Thus one
Sabbath is higher than and lord of the other, while the other is a servant.
Just as the inner being is master of the external, and the spirit [master]
over the flesh, so also the soul or spirit is above all lower creatures. The
external human being is perishable, relates to perishable things only, and
will pass away with them [1 Cor 3]. But the inner person can deal with and
handle eternal things, and is above all things temporal and perishable…
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9. What We Must Do on the Sabbath or Holy
Day
Someone might now ask what a person is to do on the Sabbath to pass
the long time or [overcome] boredom. Answer: We ought to be idle, do nothing,
and endure the long time. The Sabbath has been instituted for the spirit to
reach a point of boredom and learn something during the idle time.
For idleness and getting bored is a spiritual circumcision and
preparation to receive God's work, since boredom and ennui drive out human
desires.
It would be good if on a Sabbath we were to put our head in our
hands, bow down, and acknowledge our misfortune and weakness with great
sorrow; thus we should rush more quickly to the One (who alone cleanses and
sanctifies).
God forbade human beings to work on the Sabbath [Ex 20:10]. And everything we, our children, and our cattle might do, God
has canceled; everything is to be at rest on the day on which we pray God for
holiness. This undoubtedly indicates that we must remain surrendered [in
der Gelassenheyt bleyben] and that we must add nothing of our own to God's
works, [40] lest we defile God's work through our own works. God's prohibition
moreover indicates that our works impede God's work. Therefore, God demands
that we cast off all our works whenever we desire his work; the visible ennui
serves that purpose, as is said, "You shall chastise yourselves, keep
yourselves down, and humble yourselves on the Sabbath day, if you desire to be
cleansed and sanctified by God or to receive the gifts of God" [Lev 16:30f.].
The burdens that are in our house we must bear [Jer 17:21ff], but other
burdens we must not pick up or load upon ourselves. As Christ says, "Take up
your cross and follow me" [Mt 10:39]…
…To speak generally, all evil works are prohibited, for anyone who
does an evil deed defiles the Sabbath of God and does not celebrate.
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10. Which Day of the Week Must Be
Celebrated
If servants have worked for six days, they are to have the seventh
day off. God says without distinction, "Remember to celebrate the seventh
day."…But this is clear that you must celebrate on the seventh day and allow
your servants to celebrate whenever they have worked for six days…
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11.
On the Diversity of the Sabbath
The Sabbath means nothing other than a time of rest, and the
Sabbath of God is to rest in God. Although in our mortal body we do not rest
in God with all our strength—nor are we able to—yet we ought to rest in God
with all our heart and might. Then perfection is bound to follow on
imperfection and the whole to come after the parts and that which impedes the
whole will perish. The soul will be emptied and the vine, provided it has been
well tended, will bring forth a perfect work. The spirit of fear will be
replaced by the spirit of rest [Jn 15]. The small and low spirit will become
so big as to be able to enter the kingdom of God in order to
experience a perfect Sabbath [Heb 8:11; 9:11-14] with all the angels. Everything we do on the tabernacle of
God, we must gauge and do by the highest [42] model and example. Therefore,
there must be a variety of Sabbaths, as God's mouth indicates when he calls
the Sabbath under heaven a day of reconciliation and purification, tribulation
and discipline [Lev 16; 23]. The spirit of fear works all this and this is
signified by the external appearance of the Sabbath. Our Sabbath contains fear
and work. Since we must be careful and guard against clinging to or becoming
attached to anything which may hinder our readiness for salvation, but instead
flee all that could work against holiness—but fleeing evil involves its own
work—therefore, we must know fear and bitter resignation [Gelassenheyt] of all
that clings to us temporally. We then do not mistake creatures for God, by
seeking comfort, joy, help, or counsel in creatures and so rob God of his
honor [Jn 12]…
Now this temporal work must pass away, and anguish and fear must
cease; resignation [Gelassenheyt] must enter our unresigned state and we must
become unconcerned about anything that might prevent us from receiving
sanctification from God. Future rest, therefore, will be a bright and
meaningful day of rest without work—like light without darkness. For the
higher Sabbath has its roots in the period of greatest rejoicing when there
will be total love, complete rest, and nothing but inexpressible, heavenly,
eternal joy and freedom. Then we shall forever recall all the pain and evil we
suffered (in this life), namely, all that prevented us from experiencing God's
grace; and we will be assured, henceforth, that during the highest Sabbath no
obstacle shall hinder or bother us. We know this through the spirit which
fills us with peace; for the spirit of fear which taxed and stretched the
created spirit to the limit has been brought to an end [Isa 11].
Here we experience the first interval and beginning of the Sabbath
and we are servants. There we experience—everyone according to his measure—a
wholly joyous perfection of the Sabbath [Ex 35]. [43]
Not in vain does God say that the seventh day is the Sabbath of
Sabbaths, according to the tenor of the Hebrew language. If ever there should
be a Sabbath of Sabbaths, it is one which is higher, more noble, purer,
holier, and better than all other Sabbaths. By it we are cleansed and
sanctified so that we can no longer approve of and persist in what is unholy,
for we have been placed beyond occasional temptations. For that reason I
suppose that God used two different words when he commanded the Sabbath [Deut
5]. For he says, "You shall keep the Sabbath," or "preserve" and "take heed to
keep it." This is indicated by the word schama which includes notions
of worry, anxiety, and labor. This indicates that our Sabbath here is kept
and celebrated with labor and anxiety.
[mar: Labor and anxiety on the Sabbath] The other word is
"Remember and be mindful of the Sabbath to keep it." In Hebrew this is
zachar, which does not imply pain and labor to the same degree as the
previous word. It is merely the remembrance of former troubles, but not that
which can actually happen. At that point we experience eternal rest, and we
labor no longer as we did earlier. We merely recall our labors and the
struggle between spirit and flesh and all carnal experiences [Jer 23]. We
have entered God's high Sabbath and enjoy the inheritance of Jacob which is
secure. In our Sabbath [here below] this was merely promised and indicated
from a distance. [Above] the small spark of the Sabbath has become a major
fire. There is then only one bright shining day and an eternal Sabbath. May
God help us to attain it. Amen.
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12. On Designated Feast Days for Saints
and Angels
[mar: The pope is the devil's first begotten son] The reasons and
names for the Sabbath which I narrated above make it more than obvious how
the devil or the son of the devil invented feast days, contrary to the honor,
will, and commandments of God, and how they thoroughly deceived us to
establish sabbaths for saints and angels. Sabbaths are to serve to the honor
and praise of God alone and the external Sabbath is a simple figure to
indicate that God sanctifies and that by celebrating the feast day aright, we
shall [44] be sanctified by God. Now a figure that points to holiness when the
will to become holy is not found there must be a lie and deception. Just as
the sign pointing to wine being sold is a lie and deception when the inn
keeper has no wine or cannot serve any, so also the Sabbath is false,
deceptive, and a lie whenever it is celebrated or attributed to one who
cannot sanctify us, which happens every time we celebrate the saints.
On judgment day the saints will sit on the twelve chairs of
judgment and render the verdict of unbelief and condemnation against those who
help create celebrations for the saints. They will rightly charge them for
having slandered their God when they courted him with their customs and solemn
observances which they themselves fled and detested.
…Those who celebrate saints interfere in God's creation and pervert
the works of creation, since no saint is capable of creating a single hour.
Those who attribute a single day to a creature rob the Lord of his created
work and place it with one who did not and could not create it. This then is a
sin against God's power and works directly against God's omnipotence.
I shall not even mention the damage suffered by householders who,
because of priestly abuses [pfeffische tyranney] are robbed of
their authority and of the services which their servants are obligated to
render their masters for six days. These duties and obligations are broken by
the feast days of the priests who give masterful reasons in place of obedience
for such diverse vices as slander, drunkenness, swearing, theft, murder, and
every sort of evil, all of which could be detailed in many more words. [45]
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13. How the Commandment of the Sabbath
Leads to the Recognition of God's Mercy, Drawing and Bringing Us to Christ
We ought to note especially that God has shown us great mercy in
relieving us from the serious and strict command to work daily. For God
ordered Adam and through him all of mankind to earn their livelihood and the
bread they eat from the earth, as punishment and atonement for disobedience
[Gen 3:14-19]. This commandment also means that we must earn our daily bread
by daily work and that we must not eat our bread on any given day unless on
that day we obtained it through new work. For it is said there, "In the sweat
of your brow you shall eat your bread."
Now if we are to eat our bread in the sweat of our brow, we have to
work every day and make up for Adam's desire by our disinclination and labor
which would be rather too hard and unbearable. For not only is Adam's
disobedience atoned by us, but the constant labor also means that in the long
run we must die, for Scripture says that unbearable work ages us and leads to
our death. It would not be unreasonable for God to do away with us and kill
us through work. God is fully in the right to strangle us with work and reduce
us to ashes. But God our Lord has shown paternal love and unmerited mercy
toward us. He does not remain angry forever nor does he want to exterminate
us. Therefore, God issued the commandment of the Sabbath by which we are to
work for six days only. The seventh day he set aside for a Sabbath and a day
of leisure for our benefit, so that we might revive and strengthen ourselves
and restore our exhausted strength [Deut 26:11]. For this we cannot
sufficiently thank the merciful God. Blessed are they who experience the
spirit of mercy and rejoice in God's praise, name, and glory.
Again we must consider diligently that leisure brings forth
boredom and was commanded that we experience tedium and ennui when we rest in
God and experience leisure like God. Through leisure, among other things, God
commanded those who are tougher and stronger and well able to work (and who
greatly delight [46] in their work), to break their delight and fall into
listlessness and dread of life and on a feast day think on how evil, fragile,
foolish, weak, loveless, and without faith in God they are; how they pursue
greed and are full of anxiety and do not seek God's honor uprightly nor take
God's commandments to heart or do them when they work. Such reflection of
their evil will is caused by idle ennui or boring idleness.
Therefore, we must observe the Sabbath diligently and learn how
ennui or listlessness is useful and why God urges us to be idle. But we must
be careful not to turn leisure into pleasure for the simple reason that it is
better to enter a house of mourning than to enter a house of pleasure [Sir
7:2], for God has imposed idleness on us to make the Sabbath also a day of
renunciation, sadness, and tribulation.
Never forget that the Sabbath includes forgiveness of sins, for we
cannot be sanctified and enter into God's forgiveness before we obtain
forgiveness of sins…
May God enlighten all pastors of his poor little sheep and with
them lead all of us graciously to a true knowledge of his divine holiness,
which we so greatly need, and may he enlighten us eternally. Amen. 1524
