Proper 17, 2014
Well friends, if ever you find
yourself in a conversation with someone who wants to quibble with you about certain
prohibitions in the Bible; I have a pretty good way to end it. Simply pick up a
nearby rock, and ask the person what they did on Saturday. If they did anything
other than walk the appropriate distance to synagogue, you get to stone them!
At least, you get to according to the Old Testament rules regarding Sabbath…
Now, while this might seem
absurd—even though it does work for ending certain conversations—there is
something to be said about how important Sabbath is—especially in the religious
context. We have to remember that for all of the many things that we make into
big issues in the Church today—most of them don’t get a lot of attention in
Scripture, if at all.
Yet, keeping Sabbath time holy is
one of the Ten Commandments. Really…it’s number 4, and fits right between not
taking the Lord’s Name in vain, and honoring parents.
So, why is it that we never seem to
make a big deal out of the Sabbath? I suppose it’s just because we really have
no idea how it fits into our lives, or why it’s all that important.
Just to be clear, though, I think
it’s important to clarify a few things. First, when we read about Sabbath in
Scripture, or even in the context of Judaism, we’re talking about Saturday—not
Sunday.
In fact, one of the reasons
Christians meet on Sunday (besides being the day of Christ’s resurrection, and
it being the first day of the week) is that the Earliest Christians were
Jewish. Christianity was understood to be a reform in Judaism. So, like all
observant Jewish people, the first Christians went to synagogue or Temple on
Saturday, and met as a Christian community on Sundays. So, again, the Sabbath
day is Saturday, and it is supposed to be a day of rest.
Secondly, even though Saturday is
technically the day for Sabbath, we
also see that later on in the New Testament that there was less emphasis placed
on which day was kept as Sabbath for individuals. However, this is to say, that
even though the day itself became negotiable, whether one kept the Sabbath was
not…
So, with all of this in mind, what
does it mean for us—Christians, and most all of us Non-Jewish, besides? Well,
to answer that, we should consider where the Sabbath Law originated. We’re told
in Genesis, in the Creation narrative, that after God had created all things
over 6 days, on the 7th, God rested.
While I’m certain that creating all
things seen and unseen is probably an undertaking which requires unimaginable
effort—and is therefore quite tiring…it is my humble opinion that the writers
of this narrative had no illusions that God might actually require rest.
However, what is apparent is that this understanding that rest could be taken as
a holy action is important. So,
whether God actually needs rest or not isn’t the point. The point is that rest
is a necessary thing, and is a holy thing…
For many of us this idea that
taking our rest—especially for an entire day—sounds incredible. In fact,
dreaming about such a concept might even make us believe we could watch
football with a unicorn, or even purchase magic beans from a street vendor.
What I’m getting at is, because the
entirety of our lives, and even our whole human culture has this stigma about
rest, and are literally addicted to being busy and over-scheduled; we believe
that rest is either an impossible dream, or a waste of time. The result, then,
is that we have people who are emotionally and physically stretched; families
and relationships strained; and spiritual lives which can’t help but become
anemic. This is because we believe that either rest is a non-essential, or we
believe that we can’t possibly make room in our lives for it.
But, this is why keeping the
Sabbath holy is a commandment—and that means rest is a holy imperative. So,
whatever belief about taking our rest that we buy into—the reality is that
humanity, and our insistence upon being “productive,” as well as all of our
many excuses about why we cannot rest are all nothing new. People have always
been busy, and we have always needed to be reminded to rest.
Depending on which era we choose to
look at from the Bible, the daily lives of the average person could be quite
different. However, what wouldn’t change a whole lot was the fact that most
people earned very little money, and the many necessities that we take for
granted would have been difficult to come by. What’s more, if a person worked
for wages, they would have been paid on a day-to-day basis (this was because of
the Jewish law that a worker’s wages couldn’t be kept overnight). Anyway,
someone who would have been considered well-paid would have been a person who
earned enough to buy a full day’s worth of food.
Anyway, because most work would
have been physically labor intensive; we could probably assume that most jobs
were pretty taxing, as well.
So, between working physically
demanding jobs and working, literally, each day to pay for tomorrow’s food—I
think it’s fair to say that most people in the ancient world were “busy” in a
real sense. For them, to take a day of rest would mean that there might not be
food for the next day…
All the same, like us, these people
needed rest. They needed the assurance that they wouldn’t always be slaves to
their economic system and livelihood needs. They needed to be rejuvenated so
that they could not only be more effective when they returned to work, but they
also needed the time to be able to refocus and reconnect with God, who is the
center of all of our lives.
Of course, because this idea of
Sabbath rest was a holy commandment, Israel built a society which could
facilitate such a way of life. Unfortunately for us, we happen to live in a
culture which doesn’t facilitate such a way of life. And while we’re not busy
and working to support our livelihood in quite the same way as they did in the
ancient world; we’re still dangerously busy people.
We’re dangerously busy people who
need to make Sabbath rest a holy imperative…
For some of you, I’m sure that
hearing you need to add just one more component (even if it is rest) to an
already over-programmed, over-committed lifestyle just causes more anxiety. But
before anyone breaks out into hives, I want to make clear that there is no set
way to find rest. In other words, some people may swear by mindfulness
practices, exercise, or some form of hobby to recharge. However, this doesn’t
mean that these are the only acceptable options for finding rest.
I know therapists who tell their
clients to go home and clean and reorganize a closet. Some people, are big into
yard work and love planting flowers, and doing landscaping. The point is, that
even though these could be considered a kind of work, they allow the people who
love doing them to refocus, and reorder their thoughts and emotions so that
they are able to come to some sense of rest. I suppose, technically, such
people could still have stones thrown at them according to Sabbath Law—but,
again, we have to consider how to best live into this idea of holy rest in the
context of our own time and culture.
Now, to be completely honest, I really don’t
have any kind of particular practice that would fit for everyone. What I think is a way to find rest may not be
for others—and besides, I think if we don’t try to organically find the things
that recharge us; we’re just adding another task to try to juggle with
everything else we need to do…
However, what I do think holy
Sabbath might look like is time spent intentionally. This doesn’t mean that it
will always be an entire day, or even a specific day. It is, however, time
spent refocusing, and specifically allowing God—even asking God—to help us to
be whole. When we do this, whatever it looks like on the surface, we allow
ourselves to be more fully present—and we also allow all of the noise and
distraction to settle out, so that somehow the voice and Presence of God can be
more fully discerned.
What this cultivates, then,
especially when we re-enter the busy-ness of our lives, is a sense that who we
are is not wholly validated by what we do, or how much we do. Instead, who we
are is who we are, and what we do is simply what we we’re doing. In other
words, our identity is not enmeshed with all of the ‘stuff’ that we have going
on…
Of course, parents who have kids
around probably think that I’m insane. But, I’m also a parent—of three
wonderful, unstoppable boys, in fact. Yet, even in this arrangement (although
we’re not always great at it) Charity and I work to keep some holy Sabbath
time.
Sometimes, it might mean hiding in
a closet, and hoping the kids won’t find you for 15 whole minutes. It may even
mean allowing the kitchen to remain messy for one night in favor of taking some
quiet time after the kids have gone to bed. Better still, it sometimes means
intentionally playing with the kids—being part of whatever it is they’re doing.
Even if it’s messy, or feels a little silly—I think we adults learn a lot from
the experience, and even find our spirits rejuvenated. The point is, it’s
always experimental; but it’s always necessary. And I think it makes us better
parents, spouses/partners and even better people in general; because we’re not
trying to run on fumes constantly.
The point is that all of us need
Sabbath—however it can take shape for each of us. We need it so badly, in fact,
that many people are paying for therapists; and getting medicated—not because
of any actual psychological or physical illness—but because they don’t rest.
In the Gospels we read that Jesus
would often slip away from the crowds to be alone. He could have been praying,
meditating or even crocheting—who knows?
We’re told that God rested on the 7th
day of Creation, and that when Moses was given the Law, one of the Laws was
that the Sabbath Day (the day of rest) should be kept holy.
The point is, when I think about these
things—especially as we get ready for Labor day, a national day of rest—I’m
reminded that rest is something that we’re so terrible at, that we need the
example of Jesus, a national day of rest—even God to teach us that we need
rest…
Holy rest is more than just a
chance for us to be better prepared for our return to work; it should be a
chance for us to reclaim who we are apart from what we do. It should be a way
for us to step back and get a handle on our priorities, as well as reconnect
with the essentials of our lives. Most importantly, our Sabbath time should
allow us to put away the distractions of life, so that we can better discern
God’s Presence in our lives. And then, having claimed for ourselves holy time
for holy rest; we’ll still need to return to our daily lives—however, by God’s
grace, we’ll return with the strength and presence of mind to even reclaim the
busy parts of our lives for ourselves, as well.
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