Pentecost VII

Pentecost VII July 19
Come away and rest awhile.

There is an amazing pragmatism to the Bible. It reveals all of the elements of human nature, the good and the bad. It affirms the essential goodness of the physical creation. And, it deals with the various aspects of life in a very practical way. The Bible is in fact incredibly down to earth.
In this passage the teaching is in the invitation Jesus offers his apostles. Come away to a deserted place. Rest awhile.

The apostles had just completed their first mission. Jesus had sent them out two by two to the villages of Galilee to preach the Good News of God’s love, to teach the people in matters of worship and charitable service, and to heal. It had been an amazing experience for the apostles. They were exhilarated by their experience and wanted more. But Jesus knew they needed something different. They needed solitude. They needed rest. And they needed silence.
What Jesus was teaching the apostles was the principle underlying the Sabbath. The Sabbath is unique to God’s revelation to Moses. As we read in the prophets, it was one of two laws the people of God most frequently ignored.

By Jesus’ time most religious people in Israel understood the importance of the Sabbath. But, they missed the meaning. The Sabbath had become enmeshed in endless disputes about the proper form, the proper time and the list of dos and don’ts. It had become mired in human based legalism and a subject for lawyers and loopholes. More often than not, the question most people asked about the Sabbath was: what is the minimum requirement for me to do to avoid God’s wrath and earn God’s favor? The goal was not to find God according to God’s invitation but to fulfill the externals of the law while maintaining the power of self will.

The Sabbath is the simple and practical teaching that humans are physical beings, self aware individuals and spiritual persons. Jesus’ invitation to the apostles to come away and rest awhile proceeds from this simple and practical revelation about human nature.

As physical beings we need certain basic things to keep alive and healthy. These things include food, shelter, clothing, exercise, recreation and rest. The human body is not designed for constant activity, or for constant inactivity. Recreation is as important as work. Rest is equally important. God wove into the Creation this principle when he set aside one day in seven as a day of rest. It is such an important principle that God elevated it to the status of one of the Ten Commandments he revealed to Moses.

As a principle, rest seems self evident but it is often violated. It is violated because our sin nature, the place of separation from God, distorts our desires so that we always want something more or something different. It distorts our reason so we ignore the proper balance of work and rest our bodies need. And, it distorts our will so we make choices that ignore the basic laws of cause and effect.

Jesus reminded his apostles: you need rest. You are no good to God, to other people, or to yourselves if you allow the distortions of sin to distract you from the vital place rest has in your life.

Human beings are also self aware individuals. We not only are physical beings, we also have an emotional and psychological component. We need time to be with other people and we need time apart and alone. The balance point is different for each of us but the principle is the same. If we are too engaged in activities we lose ourselves. Some one once commented that all of the problems in the modern world can be traced to our inability to sit alone in silence for more that a few minutes.

As the physical body needs rest so, too, do the emotional and psychological components of our being. We can drown out the silence God placed at the center of our souls. If we make that choice we lose the sense of our own identity. We begin to experience the deeper distortions of sin that encourage us to see other people as objects for our pleasure rather than subjects for our love and compassion.

The emotional distortions lead to the tendency to use people and love things. The psychological distortions lead us to demand that other people make us happy and the fear that they will inevitably fail us.

Rest is the reset button for physical health. Solitude and silence are the reset buttons for our emotional and psychological health.

There is a third component to our nature. That is our personal spiritual identity.
The physical, emotional and psychological values of the Sabbath principle are all important and valid. They also derive their reality from the truth that each of us is created in the Image and Likeness of God. Each of us is a unique reflection in time and space of the Infinite and the Eternal. We were created by love, through love and for love.

As spiritual beings we have been designed for a specific set of interpersonal relationships. Those relationships are properly characterized by love and holiness. The first and primary relationship is our relationship with God. God the Father designed us to be in an eternal relationship with God the Son by the indwelling presence and power of God the Holy Spirit.

We were each designed to function within the context of a dynamic, active and transforming participation in the divine life of the blessed Trinity. That relationship just doesn’t happen. It requires a choice. It requires a choice to meet God at the place and time God invites us to meet him for no expectation of reward or entertainment. It is a choice to value God for who God is.
The tendency of the sin nature of separation is to redefine God in terms of condemnation or self indulgence. Condemnation produces law based religion. Law based religion teaches that if we obey certain rules then God must give us what we want. The invitation to rest and silence is distorted by law based religion into a set of rules and loop holes that miss the very purpose for the invitation. The goal becomes doing the minimum in order to get a reward.

Self indulgent based religion says God only exists to make me happy. If the invitation to rest and silence makes me happy and captivates my interest then I will do it. But, I will do it my way, in my time and for my purposes and at my convenience. Once again, the distortion blocks the reality.

Whether the distortion is legalism or self indulgence the result is self will. The principle is: my will be done. The demand is that God submit to my schedule, my plans, my goals so that I can accomplish my purpose. Self will negates divine will. Self will produces a soul lost in fear and pride.

The invitation to rest and silence is an invitation into a personal loving and transforming relationship with God in Jesus Christ.

If we are too tired from too many activities we miss that relationship. As with the apostles, those activities may even be the work God asks us to do on His behalf. The essence of the Christian Faith is the personal relationship we are cultivating with God in Christ and then with other people in Jesus’s name.

Jesus shows us the pattern of how this relationship can develop and grow in balance and harmony. It is the invitation Jesus gives us to come away and rest for awhile.
In the beginning, God set aside an entire day for this time of physical rest and spiritual renewal. And, right from the beginning, people have sought ways to redefine the invitation to limit the time we have to spend with God.

It has been said, every one wants to go to heaven but no one wants to spend any more time with God in worship than is absolutely necessary. Heaven is the state of a soul immersed in worship. We can experience the joy of heaven here and now as we make a real choice to follow Jesus’ invitation into rest and silence.

When we ignore Jesus’ invitation we do not value who God is and what God offers. We may value what we think God can do for us. When we do that, the rest and silence become an unbearable burden. They become a reminder of our own self indulgence and fear. It is in that self indulgence and fear that we experience the desolation of hell.

It is only as we hear the invitation and heed the invitation that Jesus brings to us that we find our true selves in the place of love and holiness that is the place of rest and silence. The Holy Spirit is encouraging each of us to hear Jesus’ invitation as though for the first time. To meet Jesus Christ as though for the first time. And, to discover the truth of our own identity in Christ all over again in a new and astonishing way.

Jesus invited his apostles and he invites us: Come with me. Come and step aside from the busy fretful life of work and distraction. Taste the sacramental wine of eternal life in a moment of silence. Discover that you are cherished in the stillness of your soul by the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier of souls. Take the time to step apart from time and immerse yourself in the eternal love of Jesus Christ who is the fulness of Heaven here on earth. It is there that you will find the faith, hope and charity that your soul longs for.

It is there that Jesus waits for you with the invitation: Come away and rest awhile.