Who Gets to Rest from Working?

Scripture — Exodus 20:8-11 (NRSV)

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

Devotion

If you haven’t read the sabbath law in the Ten Commandments recently, you may well be surprised to discover that it explicitly requires six days of work in addition to one day of rest (Exodus 20:9). But that’s not the only surprise in the sabbath regulations. What follows is even more unexpected: on the sabbath, “you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns” (20:10).

It’s not hard to imagine a society in which the privilege of regular rest is reserved only for people of prominence, influence, and wealth. In fact, many of us live in such a society, where time off is given in abundance to people in authority but denied to those who work for low, hourly wages. The sabbath commandment in Exodus 20 goes in an entirely different direction. Slaves are entitled to weekly rest, as are livestock and non-Jewish immigrants. Rest is for all beings, not just the privileged few.

The inclusiveness of the sabbath commandment is quite stunning. It’s also quite convicting for us in a variety of ways. If we are working too much and resting too little, this commandment challenges us to reshape our lives. If we are in authority over others at work, the sabbath commandment compels us to make sure that the people who work for us are being given the time they need to rest.

Consider this negative example. A friend of mine served in a high-level position in a thriving technology company. It was not uncommon for him to get emails from his boss in the middle of the night. And it was not uncommon for the boss to call my friend on the phone and complain, “Why haven’t you responded to my email yet?” “It’s three o’clock in the morning,” didn’t satisfy this boss as an acceptable excuse. He wanted my friend to be on call at every moment of the day and night, every day of the year. This is an extreme case, of course. But it does encourage us to look closely at our practices and expectations for the people we manage.

Consider this positive example. In 1946, Truett Cathy opened a restaurant in Hapeville, Georgia called The Dwarf Grill (because it was so small). From the very beginning, he made what seemed like a risky decision: his restaurant would be closed on Sundays. Why did Cathy establish this policy? He explained, “Closing our business on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, is our way of honoring God and showing our loyalty to Him.” But Cathy was also motivated by a desire to care for his employees: “Some of Cathy’s most significant business decisions were made with employees in mind. For example, his decision to close on Sundays, a practice started to give restaurant employees (and himself) a day to rest.” Twenty-one years later, Cathy opened a new restaurant called Chick-fil-A, which also closed on Sunday. Today, Chick-fil-A is the third-largest restaurant chain in the U.S. behind Starbucks and McDonalds. Its employees still don’t have to work on Sundays, unlike those at the other major chains.

Now, I don’t mean to suggest that every business must be closed on Sundays (or Saturdays, for Jews and Seventh-Day Adventists). I’m glad that markets, hospitals, and some restaurants are open on Sundays. But I do believe that every manager of people should take seriously the implications of Exodus 20. Sabbath isn’t just for the owner, the boss, and the managers. God intends for all people to live with a pattern of work and rest. Our care for those who report to us will include making sure they are given the opportunity to rest on a regular basis. We can’t control what they do on their own time. But we can make sure we encourage them to rest and give them what they need to do so.

Banner image by Marcel Heil on Unsplash.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Chick-Fil-A: More Than Just a Chicken Sandwich (Video).

Subscribe to Life for Leaders

Sign up to receive a Life for Leaders devotional each day in your inbox. It’s free to subscribe and you can unsubscribe at any time.