On The Sabbath, Can It Wait?

A short thought, and quickly to the point.

Luke 23:56a
Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes...

This is from the end of the book of Luke. The "They" in this verse is the women who had just seen Jesus crucified. Now it was time to prepare the body.

In many areas of life we find that there is the fast way of getting things done and there is the more elaborate method. And often the results reflect the effort. There are fast-food meals and then there are Thanksgiving feasts, which can take a whole day to prepare. The former are forgettable, and the latter can be quite memorable. But the more delightful meals come at a cost of time and effort. That's a reality my wife can wearily attest to, and even now she has put in some serious shopping time in for our upcoming Thanksgiving feast on Thursday.

So it was with these women preparing for the burial of the dead. There were things to be done. For Jesus. There were no doubt some shortcuts that could be taken, but these women would have wanted to go the extra mile for Jesus just as my wife is going the extra mile to make a wonderful meal this coming Thursday.

But of course it makes little sense to compare a Thanksgiving meal with Jesus' burial. The importance of the latter is infinitely greater. How could we possibly do justice to all that these women were feeling? To how much effort they'd be willing to put forth in order to give Jesus a good burial? The evidence from Luke's account is clear enough. These women were fanatical about Jesus. That there's just about nothing that they would not have done to make his burial the best burial they could possibly give.

And yet Luke ends this verse with a very pointed statement:

Luke 23:56b
...But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

Now I said I would keep this short, and I will. Not much really needs to be said. I simply have three questions. Questions we should all be asking ourselves.

#1 Do I honor the Sabbath as carefully as these women did?

No.

#2 When I don't, am I working on something more important than giving Jesus a good burial?

No.

#3 When I don't, are my circumstances more urgent than the need to perfume Jesus before his body began to stink?

No.

I guess I have room to grow, here. How about you?