It's a sabbath...like it or not

Gen. 2:2-3"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made."

Here in April of the year 2020, a great portion of the planet is under some type of quarantine due to the outbreak of what has been called the coronavirus. While it is not as deadly as some other pestilences that have occurred throughout human history, it is certainly very contagious and, hence, some otherwise extreme precautions have been called for and, indeed, sensibly mandated.

Among the great hallmarks of contemporary economic theory and practice in the developed world is the two-fold principle of 'produce and consume at all costs'. Some of the progeny of this relentless system include targeted advertising to our personal communication devices that we keep powered on most of the time in order to keep up to date with information (God forbid that we 'miss out on something' - thus feeding into the narrative that we have an overriding imperative to consume, be it information or durable goods and investments), an increasing lack of well-defined boundaries between work and personal life, and few reliable social security structures to fall back on in case of illness, injury, or economic downturn that prevents being able to work. The system thus forces those, especially among the poor and not-well-connected, to continue to eek out a subsistence living while sick themselves and potentially contaminating a large swath of other people with whatever ailment they are carrying. Such a situation is not ultimately sustainable and, whether by virtue of concerted public action or uncontrollable compulsion, will be interrupted.

And now it has been. So it seems that we have, for a time, a situation that requires of us the impetus to stop and take stock of what it is we have been living like/for. And that is no bad thing. And it is not my purpose here to dive into economic or political theory. Rather, I am interested in how we as individuals and as Christian believers can respond to this circumstance that we find ourselves in, and that not by choice.

Our society, in many of its younger constituent members (and, yes, this is a generalisation, but anectodal evidence is strong in its favour) has become completely enthralled to the fast pace of technology and that has affected not only how they see themselves, but in the works and reactions they produce. In other words, our consumption has a profound impact on who we are, how we see ourselves, and how we relate to our fellows. Indeed, it has 'consumed' us. Movies and television shows have become much more 'intense' (and loud), there is a great impatience for the 'next big thing' to be developed and to discard that which it replaces, there is a serious increase in attention deficit disorders in young students and twenty somethings to the point that sitting still and being alone with one's thoughts is an almost unthinkable exercise. Our culture has become obnoxious, rude, loud, overstimulated, and ill-considered. The present virus has taken some of the teeth out of this monster that has been self-generating for some decades now. And that is a good thing.

For a significant minority among us have a hard time interacting with, let alone understanding or desiring to participate in, the frenetic pace that has arisen. We would prefer a nice cup of coffee or tea, a good book, a long walk, a meaningful conversation with a close friend, and/or some time to recover after having been to work/school/running errands that exhaust us. We may be used to feeling closed off from the great crush of humanity, able to fend for ourselves, not mind being alone with the thoughts that rumble through our own head-space, become resilient enough by the training of our nature/mental condition to not panic when something serious occurs that requires our adaptation to circumstance beyond our immediate control. That has been our whole life. It is a blessing, especially now, that may not have felt like one during the many long years of our trying to come to terms with ourselves.

It is now up to the majority to try and cope without some of the innate tools that we might possess. Thus, they will need patience and compassion as they struggle with the discomfort of being not-themselves. A sabbath is here, at the end of our man-made works, whether we like it or not.

Ex. 20:8-11 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

There are at least a couple of significant things to notice here in this passage from Exodus. The first is that we, who are made in the image and likeness of God, are called to imitate Him in the conclusion of His creative acts. After the six days of creation, He stops to bless what He has done. And we can do the same thing by being more mindful of what we do and how we do it. Whether it is our work, our prayer, our interactions with family/friends/strangers (especially on the internet!), a certain casual unawareness has crept into our social discourse that allows us to keep people at a distance, comment on (read "disapprove of") some aspect of theirs and feel justified in doing so. Rather are we called to bless and to be a blessing to others. And it can be done, even if we disagree, even if the other party is objectively "wrong", and in those times when the wisdom of the Spirit calls us to say nothing at all. Then will we be able to stop and and to see the blessing in what we have done or avoided, which becomes another barometer for reading the condition of our own hearts and to understand more clearly what sort of conversion we are being called to at this particular time.

The other thing, which ties into the first point, is that "the stranger that is within thy gates" is also specified as being included in this sabbath keeping. It is a call to be both kind and generous to those in our midst, especially if they are hard to be kind to. You may be the agent of change God has called to help them become whole through your example and prayer. It is a fearful thing to obstruct the good purpose of the good God and try to replace it with our own sins and failures. A sabbath is here, at the end of our man-made works, whether we like it or not.

Mark 2:27 "And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath."

In like manner after the Scribes and Pharisees who have, up to this point in St. Mark's Gospel, accused Jesus of forgiving someone's sins, not fasting, and breaking the sabbath, so their modern analogues in the secular world seek to shame people into altering their behaviour by criticising those who leave their homes (without knowledge or consideration of the circumstances involved) and those who have no homes (for not being in one! and for which all sorts of things are blamed but one of the  principle causes, the vagaries of the unrestrained free market which capitalises & commodifies everything in its wake and leaves those behind who cannot afford to invest in its "liberties".) It seems that the "professionally irritated" are among us in force as they were in the 1^st century. We can, however, be thankful that the modern day Reddit warrior has not, for the most part, set his sights on religious practice. Back then, someone was healed of a physical disability, a group of people - as likely as not alienated from the religious establishment of the day - have found someone who will accept them and lead them, hungry folks found a legitimate source of food. Today, people put themselves at risk to care for the needy. Are those really such bad things? Are they worthy of complaint?

It's a matter of priorities. If even the great David himself knows that the Torah is meant for his benefit, not to constrain him, how much ought we to be encouraged by his example and to take after it. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." (Matt. 5:17) In light of this, there is no good reason for the Scribes and Pharisees to be unsettled by Jesus or for us to be unsettled by the Coronavirus.

Jesus here shows us how to read and interpret the Scriptures properly. He, as the Incarnate Word, is the definitive reference point for all that has been written and that which is to come. The heart of the Gospels is the account of the passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus. Everything else about the narratives flows out from that. The same is true for the whole of the Biblical narrative. The Gospels themselves are the heart. The Epistles, Wisdom literature, Prophets, and Law are concentric circles surrounding the Gospels. The two outermost rings, Genesis and Revelation, the 'book ends' if you will, describe for us the relevant beginning and end of salvation history. And if these latter two seem confusing, filled with bizarre imagery and things that cannot be taken literally, well...think about what they are attempting to communicate: the life and creative power of the Omnipotent God and the response of His beloved creation to His own greatness. No small task, that.

And so, as we continue to live out our days and contemplate our existence and perhaps what sort of changes to our own lives we need to continue after the pandemic runs its course, it is critical that we keep in the forefront of our minds what our Christian profession entails. It is not the keeping of a specific liturgy, the right to assemble together in a public place, or reminding other people of their faults and shortcomings (chances are as likely as not they're already aware of those without your intervention). Rather it is believing in the Lord Jesus, holding the right faith according to the Creeds, allowing the Word of God to constantly take deeper root within our hearts, a consciousness that we are a communion of believers (even in the midst of separation) which both embraces and transcends the physical reality, and a living faith in the reality of the Resurrection, during busy seasons and during times of rest, whether chosen or enforced. A sabbath is here, at the end of our man-made works, whether we like it or not.