Keeping the Ox Mired

As for keeping the Sabbath, many of us keep our oxen conveniently in the mire. It would appear that it is easy to rationalize Sabbath closet-cleanings, drawer-straightenings, garage-sweepings, just once-a-year huntings and fishings, oh-so-necessary yard-rakings and car-washings, and so on and so on. We shift our Sabbath from a day of rest into a day of change, and we say blindly, “Lest it be a waste—after all, I just can’t sit around and do nothing.” And we switch on the TV.

But we aren’t supposed to sit around and do nothing. The Sabbath is not negative; it can only be positive. One either has a Sabbath or one does not; one can hardly break an observance one never honors. Jesus never implied that pulling one’s oxen from the mire was acceptable Sabbath performance—he merely admitted necessity. When he stated that the Sabbath was made for man, he meant that in a positive way.

A Sabbath contributes. It pertains. It does not restrict or annoy, detract or make idle. The Lord’s day is to lead us in the Lord’s work, and the Lord’s work is to bring to pass our salvation and eternal life. Sabbath thoughts and activities should be so oriented.

The Sabbath is for our sakes. Therefore, on that day we attend our priesthood meetings and study and discuss the gospel in our Sunday Schools; we attend sacrament services, renew our eternal promises, and recognize our obligations. We ought not only to wash our bodies and cleanse our clothes for the Sabbath, we ought to wash our minds and cleanse our very souls, striving to awaken ourselves to what we truly are and may become.

The Sabbath is a day of rest from the ways of the world. It is a day of reevaluation and restoration. On that day we should orient ourselves toward being more fully as our Father is—doing his work, serving others, visiting the sick, encouraging the lonely, loving our mothers and fathers, wives, husbands, and children. We should be seeking forgiveness, searching the word of the Lord, fasting and praying, and seeking with all our power to bring ourselves and our brothers and sisters closer to him and his Holy Spirit.

Whatever we do less than this is waste, and it is not our oxen we keep in the mire, but ourselves.

Richard G. Ellsworth
Professor of English
Brigham Young University