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 1st
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.
