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Working on the Sabbath used to merit death. But for most college students, Sunday afternoon is the perfect time to catch up on homework.

Last Sunday afternoon, I worked on a few homework assignments. Later that week, I listened to the book of Exodus and heard this passage: “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death” (Ex 35:2). 

Something wasn’t matching up. Most Sunday afternoons, I visit the same coffee shop, where I see many students catching up on their reading. When I was an undergraduate at a Christian college in Tennessee, the library opened at noon and closed at midnight. In this 12-hour window, college students crowded three floors to get their homework done. How did we get from Exodus 35 to a culture of Christian college students spending their Sundays on schoolwork?

Admittedly, I have been and still am chief among these sinners. I’ve used a number of excuses: “Well, I enjoy it, so it’s not work,” or “Well, I’m a student, and just have too much to do right now,” or “Everyone else is doing it.” Then there are the biblical warrants: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27), or “Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day?” (Lk 14:5). 

From one perspective, homework during undergraduate or graduate studies becomes an ox in the pit. It’s not the ideal way to spend your Sabbath, but there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the week to get everything done. I wonder, however, how many weeks per year the average Hebrew really needed to pull an ox from the pit. I wonder, also, whether students aren’t in fact pushing the proverbial ox into the pit every week by their management of time. 

I coasted through the first year of college. The difficulty and volume of homework, on top of part-time jobs, increased through my sophomore and junior years until I fell into a rhythm of working all the time. A lot of the work was unfocused, stretching over seven days each week. I felt perpetually busy and that I was accomplishing less than I should. By senior year, I felt like I was missing a lot of opportunities that college afforded, thinking I didn’t have time to do them all. 

I shifted my mindset, and that changed my approach to work. I committed to parties, meetings, or hangouts in advance and forced myself to do the work in the remaining time. Sure enough, the work got done. The quality might have decreased some, but I experienced all the things I used to miss out of the fear I wouldn’t be able to complete my work. 

In fact, taking breaks to enjoy extracurriculars made the times of work more effective and enjoyable. I discovered that I could actually block off significant amounts of time to not do homework. It wasn’t a problem of too much work, but of effective use of my time. 

I should have taken this approach to Sundays: block off the day, refuse to do homework, and enjoy a day of rest. I didn’t learn this until I started teaching. The church I attended emphasized Sunday as a feast day. There was always at least one invite for lunch which often extended into the evening. Sunday became a day of rest, feasting, and fellowship. 

It was here that I experienced the significance of the Sabbath: God did not establish a day of rest as a burden; He established it as a gift to gladden the heart and refresh the soul. I don’t propose the death penalty for catching up on reading during a Sunday afternoon. But examine yourself to see whether you aren’t pushing an ox into the pit each week. 

If I may offer a bold suggestion to students, simply refuse to do homework on Sundays for a few weeks. Shuffle your weekday schedule around if necessary. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel offers this advice: “If you work with your hands, Sabbath with your mind; if you work with your mind, Sabbath with your hands.” 

Find something to do with your hands, and do it with friends. Host a Sabbath feast. Christian students have the opportunity to make the Sabbath a cultural reality. 

Put aside the work, and rest in God’s goodness. 

Samuel Sadler is an M.A. student in the Diana Davis Spencer Graduate School of Classical Education.