As in any household, there is a difference of opinion among me and the four other people who live with me as to what good music is. I tend to be an opera/classical kind of guy with a bunch of other stuff thrown in. My wife is a little bit country and a little bit rock 'n' roll. My kids listen to Christian hip hop and some alt rock. The one thing we can all agree on and enjoy listening to together is Swedish power metal. We all particularly like Sabaton, which is a band that tends to focus on military history in their songs. So it was interesting to see the word sabbaton used in today's reading and be reminded of a (slightly ridiculous) band and to see that the band is focused on war, when the sabbath is all about peace.
I realize that the story about Jesus being Lord of the sabbath (sabbaton) comes right after he says that his yoke is easy. I wonder if Matthew has included it here to be an example of what was meant by the easy yoke. The pharisees have all these rules, but Jesus simply says that the rules are all about Him, and the ways we are able to approach Him. To my mind, the sabbath is all about a day where you get to take a break from earning your place in the world and just get to exist, to be in the world. It's a chance to stop striving and pushing ahead. If Jesus is Lord of the sabbath, it means that in Him, I have a chance to enter into that sabbath, both literally and spiritually.
I think I will always struggle with a balance here. What does it mean to participate in the kingdom of God, and what does it mean to work to help bring that about while at the same time not attaching my personal significance and my spiritual meaning to the work that I do. I want to rest in God's love for me, but I also know that working is important, eeven if it's not all-important.