Search this blog

Pages

Showing posts with label Pascal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pascal. Show all posts

Friday, April 24, 2020

Bring No Burdens... A Meditation on the Sabbath

“Bring no burdens out of your houses on the Sabbath…”
–Jeremiah 17:22

This verse comes in the midst of a discussion of the importance of keeping the Sabbath (Jer. 17:19-27).  And, interestingly enough, the emphasis is placed on the rewards that will arise from keeping the Sabbath: security and safety and peace for Judah and Jerusalem, a line of Davidic kings, the promise that Jerusalem and the Temple will be known as a place of pilgrimage and sacred offerings.  All of this simply by keeping the Sabbath.  “Bring no burdens out of your houses on the Sabbath…” “Bring no burdens through the gates…”  The prophet, speaking for God, promises Israel that if they will simply keep the Sabbath, their kings and their people will continue to live in God’s Holy City forever. 

According to Rabi Jacob Neusner[1] the Jews emphasis on the Sabbath wasn’t necessarily so much a negative rule (forbidding activity) as it was a positive teaching. He says that the real emphasis was on being like God, following God’s example from Genesis of resting on the 7th day.  This wasn’t just about behavior, it was really about identity.  The Jews were a people who kept the Sabbath, they were a people who followed God, and keeping the Sabbath was a very important way of living that identity. It reminded them (as individuals) to put their trust not in their own efforts, but in the Lord. And as a community, it gave them the opportunity to renew relationships, rebuild connections, relearn their interdependence.  By keeping the Sabbath (all, together), families, households the community became stronger. They had this shared experience, a day of rest that helped build cohesion among them. It wasn’t just about the rules, it was also about the renewing.

So, I look again at this verse and hear God demanding not a “day,” so much as a way of life.  And, enlightened by Jesus in the Gospels, I hear the affirmation that this way of life isn’t just a rule against work because certain kinds of work, are clearly allowed. Jesus heals on the Sabbath, Jesus lets His disciples gather grain to eat on the Sabbath, and Jesus reminds the Pharisees that doing good on the Sabbath was never completely forbidden (ex. rescuing a sheep or caring for the sick).  So, what is this “burden” we are not to bring out of our houses? What does God mean by this? 

Clearly it is about more than a wheelbarrow full of dirt, or a basket of dirty laundry. I keep hearing something more complex, perhaps something to do with another kind of burden... our fears, our longings, our anxieties…  And I keep hearing the Lord saying –Lay that burden down. Here I have something else for you…  Come to me, abide with me, and I will give you rest (Mt. 11: 28-30).

The promise of God that if we will simply keep the Sabbath, we will endure in peace and security, seems like so little to ask. Is that what frightens us about it?  All God is asking is that we rest. Do no work. Just take a day off! One day a week… And yet, it seems almost impossible for so many of us. 
I am reminded of what Pascal wrote:

All of the world’s evil comes from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room...

...for even 15 minutes, one might add!

And there is your key.  Bring no burdens out of your house on the Sabbath… not much to ask, but oh so hard to do.



[1] As quoted in Jesus of Nazareth (vol. 1) by Pope Benedict XVI (p.108)