It is a better reading of the writer’s exhortation to see “God’s rest” as the process of sanctification in this life, a process that grants every believer peace from God that “passes understanding,” confidence in God, and a willingness to fully surrender to God’s will, guidance, empowerment, and word.
Gospel of John: The Ban
This is a classic case of denial, insisting something is not so, because to accept that it is so would mean admitting personal responsibility, admitting that maybe something is wrong, maybe I need to change.
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Gospel of John: Moses’ Law
The aching irony in all this was the evident sincerity of the Judeans in their defense of the Sabbath as they understood it, by their own interpretation, and their genuine passion to finally get it right after centuries of failure and loss.
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Gospel of John: Plucking Grain
The rabbinic tradition said, “God still does two works on the Sabbath: He creates and He judges.” And, the Psalm clearly said the Lord never rests but is always watching over and caring for God’s creation. Jesus was on solid theological ground, so what made the religious rulers so beyond enraged they were prepared to commit murder?
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Gospel of John: Sabbath Collision
Such splitting of hairs had lost sight of God’s purpose for the Sabbath, and had, with heavy irony, made the Sabbath an onerous burden for the people.
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Day 7, It Is Finished
The seventh day was the first thing to be made sacred by God in Scripture. Later, when Moses recorded God’s ten commandments, the fourth one about keeping the Sabbath is grounded in this passage, right here.
Grace and Peace, Joanne 