Sabbath Elevator

While we were staying in Jerusalem the hotel we stayed at had what is called a "Sabbath Elevator". This is very common, they are all over the country. What you might ask is a Sabbath elevator. On the sabbath the elevator goes to all the even floors and the other one goes to all the odd floors. This allows a person to go up the elevator without pushing any buttons which is considered work. The other elevators work normally. It is a pain to have to wait...

On the Sabbath my Dad got in a non sabbath elevator but some Jews got in thinking that it was a Sabbath Elevator. When Dad went to push the button they told him not to and then they realized they were in the wrong elevator. Instead of pushing the button they asked Dad to do it. Interesting that he could violate the sabbath but not them. It seems selfish to let someone else sin for you..They didn't want to make themselves impure so the let Dad make himself impure. Since we don't follow the sabbath laws it was fine to love your neighbor and help them.

Their reaction is fairly human, we want someone else to sin for us. As Christians we don't follow the Sabbath the same way but we also want someone to sin for us. That is we want Christ to take all our sins and atone for them on the cross. Since Jesus who knew no sin became sin for us we are free from sin, death and the power of the devil. This gives us the freedom to no longer have to worry about Sabbath Elevators and to love our neighbors and get our hands dirty in the process. Thanks be to God for our freedom.