Charity.

Moses ascended to the top of Mount Sinai for 40 days and received the word of the Lord. In the Torah, God gave a total of 613 commandments to be obeyed, most of us probably couldn’t list all of them if we were asked, which could be problematic, I have a hard enough time obeying commandments I do know, how do I obey commandments I don’t know about? When I think about Moses on Mount Sinai I often pictured him coming down the mountain with two tablets under his arms with God’s “Top Ten” list. One of these commandments we are to obey is regarding Shabbat. On it, do no work. In fact, while the Israelites were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on Shabbat. They stoned him (Num 15).
Keeping Shabbat is one commandment taken very seriously today in Israel. Everything shuts down. Stores, restaurants, buses…they even sound a horn that rings throughout Jerusalem just before the sun goes down to let everyone know Shabbat has begun. One recent Friday night, with our friends Lauren and Joy visiting us, we thought it would be fun to go to the Western Wall. The horn had already sounded to announce Shabbat and while walking through the Jewish Quarter, a Jewish man came up to me and asked,

“Excuse me, are you Jewish?”

“No, I’m a Christian”

I could tell he didn’t like my response, but it was convenient for him in the end. He started apologizing, explaining, telling me some story that was not clear to me at all but…in the end I could tell he needed me to help him out with something. Sure, why not? He led me to a chained box that needed to be unlocked and moved elsewhere. His responsibility. But the Shabbat horn had already sounded. He was in a jam. In need of help from a non-Jew. So I helped this man move his box where it needed to go, and I’m simply trying to have some conversation with the guy, but he wants nothing to do with me. He told me he has met Christians before and all they want to do is talk to him about Jesus. When the box was locked up again where he wanted it, I asked him

“So what happens to me for doing this for you on Shabbat?”

“Nothing.”

“Why is that? Didn’t God command Christians to keep Shabbat too?”

“No, only the Jews.”

Just then another Jewish man came along the narrow road near the Western Wall and the two of them started talking with each other in Hebrew, trying to ignore my existence, but I’m trying to keep the conversation going. He was done talking to the Christian. My wife and friends were no longer on my tail as I tried to keep up with his hurried pace. So I stopped to wait for them. And he was gone.

No “thank you” for the help. No “Good bye.” Nothing.

Which is ok. I’m still glad I helped him out. Besides, there was a day when a man came up to Jesus and asked Him, “Teacher, (of all 613) which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied by saying “Love God with all you’ve got, and the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Stacie and I have been very intentional about keeping Shabbat. It’s been a beautiful thing we highly recommend, but we also know that “Shabbat was made for man, not man for Shabbat.” It’s the spirit of the law right?

Oh, and by the way, the box I carried was a money box with “Charity” written on the front.

Irony.