Read the Catechism in a Year
Day 258 - The Third Commandment
The Third Commandment: Remember to Keep Holy the Lord's Day.
Why do Jews celebrate the Sabbath?
The sabbath is for the people of Israel the great sign commemorating God, the Creator and Redeemer.
The sabbath recalls in the first place the seventh day of creation, when God “rested, and was refreshed” (Ex 31:17), this, so to speak, authorizes all men to interrupt their work and replenish their energies. Even slaves were supposed to be allowed to observe the Sabbath. This recalls the second great commemorative sign, the liberation of Israel from slavery in Egypt: “You shall remember that you [yourself] were a servant in the land of Egypt … ” (Dt 5:15). The Sabbath is therefore a feast of human freedom; on the Sabbath all breathe freely; on it the division of the world into masters and slaves is abolished. In traditional Judaism this day of freedom and rest is also a sort of foretaste of the world to come.
How does Jesus deal with the Sabbath?
Jesus observes the Sabbath, but at the same time he deals with it very liberally, as one who has complete command over it: “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath” (Mk 2:27).
The fact that Jesus claims the right to heal on the Sabbath and to interpret the Sabbath laws mercifully poses a dilemma for his Jewish contemporaries: Either Jesus is the Messiah sent by God, which makes him “Lord even of the sabbath” (Mk 2:28), or else he is merely a man, in which case his actions on the Sabbath are a sin against the Law. (YOUCAT questions 362-363)
Dig Deeper: Corresponding CCC section (2168-2173) and other references here.
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