I follow the account of a Rabbi and his wife on TikTok. Their names are Moses and Zipporah and they discuss the intricacies of living life as an observant orthodox Jewish family. ( https://www.tiktok.com/@mosesandzippora ) They walk through rules that they have for eating kosher and observing Sabbath and all sorts of fun stuff. As I’ve played around with TikTok myself, I’ve wondered how I would explain Sabbath keeping for Lutherans.
Thankfully Lutherans don’t have dietary laws. I’m mostly thankful for that because if we did, it would probably be a steady diet of bratwurst, sauerkraut, potatoes, beer, wine, and the occasional pfeffernuese cookie. That may not sound bad until you realize that you might have to give up tacos, pizza, and sushi.
But I think we COULD talk about how to do “Sabbath keeping for Lutherans.” We wouldn’t need to set our home appliances on “Sabbath mode” (so that the light in the appliance doesn’t turn on, which is doing ‘work’). We wouldn’t have to wear pedometers to make sure we didn’t walk over our allotted distance from home. None of that.
Luther says that Sabbath for a Lutheran should be “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it.” (3rd Commandment, Explanation, Small Catechism) Therefore, if I was making a Sabbathing video for Lutherans – it would be mostly a selfie of getting ready to go to church and reading the Bible on my own.
That may not sound as exotic as trying to figure out how to set your fridge to Sabbath mode or figuring out which candles you need to set out the day before. But it is more important. Because God’s Word is important. Because reading it and hearing it explained is important. Because it centers us and our lives in important ways.
And most of all, because this kind of Sabbathing points us to the most important thing of all – Jesus came to die so that your righteousness would be found in something other than your rule keeping. He came to die so that your righteousness is found in Him.