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Crossing the Sea of the Sabbath
We are officially in the middle of summer, a season for relaxing and taking a break. But we as Americans aren’t very good at taking a break or taking a vacation. Of the industrialized countries in the world, we fall to the bottom of the list in they days of vacation given to workers – US workers are given 13. Our Canadian neighbors to the north get 25. Brazil gets 34. And Italy tops the chart with 42! That’s the reason Rome shuts down for the entire month of August every year!
Even with the fewest days of vacation, we don’t take them – on average, U.S. workers give back or leave unused 4 of their 13 days. We seem to be a nation of workaholics. We know more about work and not enough about play.
Even Jesus knew how to take a break, to take some time away, and he had the most important job the world has ever known – letting everyone know that the reign and kingdom of God is here and bringing salvation to the earth. It was hard to be fully human – to be tired, to get dirty, to be hungry, to have sore feet from so much walking – and be fully divine – to always be ready to heal broken bodies, to teach hard and closed hearts, to forgive the most unforgivable, and to love the unlovable.
We meet Jesus today by the sea, like we will so many times this summer. He doesn’t have his beach towel, his sunscreen and a book to spend a lazy day lounging around. He is at the sea, holding court with his disciples, who’ve been out on their very first mission trip.
Let’s go there with them. The 12 have been following Jesus around for quite a while now, and so he’s ready to delegate a little, to see how they can do on their own. He sends them out with the very specific instructions – you don’t have to worry about checking an oversized bag when traveling by Jesus’ guide to packing.
Off they go to teach about God’s nearness in Jesus, to cast out demons, to anoint the sick with oil and to heal them. They come back so excited with all they have been able to see and do in the name of Jesus. They can’t stop talking about their adventure. They are bubbling over with joy and excitement.
In the midst of their conversation, Jesus says to them – “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and let’s rest awhile (vs. 31).
Come away by yourselves and let’s rest awhile.
When was the last time you went away with Jesus and rested? Sat around without an agenda, without a laundry list of requests, without a protracted argument or grudgingly gave your allotted 15 minutes to him? Can you hear Jesus asking you, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and let’s rest awhile?”
Rest with God – it’s the foundation of the Sabbath, that pause in rest that comes once every seven days. Rest is the backbone of all creation. In the very beginning of the Bible, in the first story of creation, God works and works and works and finally, God gets tired. God rests. God looks out at all that has been done, admires it, calls it good, and rests. And then, the next day, God gets right at it again, creating, moving, energizing, loving. Renewed and revived because of rest.
This pausing to rest, to rejuvenate, to restore is so important, that God demands it of the chosen people when passing down the 10 Commandments. God went beyond leading by example and into mandating that God’s people pause in the midst of their world to spend time with the Holy. In Exodus 20:8, God says,
Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord you God; you shall not do any work – you, your son or your daughter, your male or female salve, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therfore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.
Do you hear what God says to us – the seventh day, a day of rest, is blessed by God and is made for God. Just as we are God’s creation, made in the imago dei, the image of God, we are called to rest.
As people of God, we’ve never been very good at living into the idea of the Sabbath. Too often, we tried to legislate it, to design it with rules and obligations.
None of these have had the intended effort – to set aside a day, even a portion of a day, to come away to a deserted place and rest awhile with God. To be renewed for the journey of our lives, of our vocation of living as God’s people in the world, of being stewards of the Good News, of sharing Christ with one and all.
Many of us, out of necessity, because of our personality or because of our family situations, aren’t able to take a day aside and come away with God. For parents or caregivers, we don’t have the opportunity to physically go away to a deserted place – as much as we might like at 5 p.m., when there’s nothing in the pantry for dinner, soccer practice starts in 30 minutes, one child just announced they have a major science project due tomorrow, and the hot water heater’s out.
Like us, Jesus knew the disciples had worked hard. He knew that they had gone out and served with his authority. He knew that this was only the beginning of their ministry in his name. He knew the challenges that would face them in the future.
But he also knew that the only way they could be sustained in their work of healing and teaching and loving and caring and mending was to come away and spend time with him. And his invitation to his disciples is the same invitation he gives to us – to come away with him, to spend time alone with him, to engage in Sabbath, so we can return to the world full of his spirit and his authority.
Do you hear Jesus beckoning to you now? In our lives, we are all disciples – healing, loving, teaching, serving, spreading good news, in different ways, to different people. But we need to pause from our serving, from our business, and rest. We need to find a deserted place to go and spend time with Jesus.
I invite you to join me the rest of this summer in intentionally finding and creating a deserted place to go to with Jesus. It might be in a physical location, like a walk in the park, a hike, on a fishing boat. It could be a few moments carved out in the morning or before bed. But in order for us to be people who can go out with power and authority, we must have spent time with Jesus to get it.
Do you hear him? How will you answer his call? Come away by yourselves, and rest awhile.