February 18, 2024

Mark 6:30-32

Broadway Christian Church

            “The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.”  The word is all. All they’d done. I can hear ‘em now. They were dawn ‘till dusk busy and proud of it. Jesus, we did this and that, then skipped lunch so we could do more. All afternoon we did and did and did.  They were lobbying the Lord for the Busy Beaver Awards! Whereupon Jesus put a stop to it, said, “Come away to a deserted place and rest a while.”  My translation, the RSV (Revised Shirey Version) reads, “Don’t just do something, sit there.  Rest.” The Season of Lent has begun.  Our theme is Rest & Resilience.  One word precedes the other.  Rest then resilience.  No rest, no resilience. Says Jesus to his disciples then and now, “Rest a while.”

            So, how are you with resting? I ask because we live in a culture that values being busy over rest. James Thurber, the great humorist of the mid-1900s summed up our predicament best of all when he said,

“[Human beings] are flying far too fast for a world that is round.  Soon we’ll catch up with ourselves in a great rear end collision and we’ll never know that what hit us from behind is ourselves.”[1]

            John Ortberg, a favorite author of mine and keen observer of modern culture, tells of speaking with a spiritual director. He described to him his weekly schedule, his responsibilities, and the general pace of his life and asked, “What do I need to do to be spiritually healthy?”

            After a pause, the man said, “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”             Ortberg responded, “Okay, I’ve written that one down.  That’s a good one. What else?” 

            Whereupon the man said, “There is nothing else. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life”

            Ortberg then introduces the concept of “hurry sickness,” what he defines as “a continuous struggle and unremitting attempt to accomplish more and more things or participate in more and more events in less and less time.” He lists some of the symptoms:

• “If you suffer from hurry sickness you’ll find yourself chafing whenever you have to wait. At a stoplight, if there are two lanes and each contains one car, you may find yourself guessing, based on the year, make, model, and driver—which one will pull away the fastest and maneuver to get behind it. When choosing a grocery store check-out lane, you will count how many people are in each line, factor in the number of items per cart, and even after making a choice you will keep track of the person who would have been you in the other line and if you beat that person out, you’re elated, but if you don’t, you’re depressed.” 

• “If you have hurry sickness multitasking has become a way of life, including doing more than one thing while driving, eating, watching television, and even while having a conversation.”   

• “Folks with hurry sickness set up mock races. ‘Okay, kids, let’s see who can get ready for bed the fastest.’” [2] 

• A sure sign that you’re afflicted with hurry sickness is if the appearance of the little hourglass symbol on your computer screen gives you conniptions. 

            Here’s the thing: it isn’t called hurry sickness for nothing.  It takes its toll on a body.  We’ll get to that in a moment. But it sickens the soul, too.  Ortberg writes, “Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry can destroy our souls ... For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it.  We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.”[3]

            Jesus lived life differently. Jesus wasn’t plagued by the disease of busyness. Mark tells us at the outset of his gospel, “In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35). Note that Jesus began his day not at work, but at rest. Jesus’ day was structured by being before doing.

            Mike Breen, an Anglican pastor Jennie and I met years ago, pointed out that we human beings were created on the sixth day. Meaning our first full day was the seventh day – a day of rest. What that suggested to Mike is that God ordained the rhythm of life to be such that first comes rest and renewal.  Everything else, including our work, follows.  Or as he put it, "We are created to work from our rest rather than to rest from our work."  In our society, we’ve reversed God’s created order.  Nowadays, work comes first and then (if time permits) comes rest.  But time rarely permits. Or if we’re more honest, we rarely permit ourselves Sabbath rest because something within us tells us the lie that our worth is tied to our busyness. The more I do, the more important I am.  Theologically, that’s called “works righteousness.” I am righteous –  right in the eyes of God and others – because of my works: what I do. The more I do, the more busy I am, the more I am. And it follows that if you think your self-worth is tied into your full schedule, you’ll do, do, do, until you’re done, done in.   

            Jesus knew otherwise and lived otherwise. God told him at his baptism, “You are my Beloved.” Secure in that knowledge, Jesus didn’t have to busy himself to death. Rather, he rested himself to life.  Jesus began his day being – resting in God, not doing – busying himself. Jesus knew God created us human beings, not human doings. 

            God’s time-tested antidote to busying ourselves to death is Sabbath rest. The word Sabbath (shabbat) literally means to cease, to end – to give it a rest. It’s the 4th of the Ten Commandments: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8).  But consider this: though keeping the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments, breaking it isn’t frowned upon the same way as breaking the other commandments is. If someone said, “I put other gods before God,” “I have a whole mantle of idols I bow down before every morning,” “I take God’s name in vain every other sentence.  What’s it to you?” “I have not, do not, and will not honor my mother and father,” “I have killed, been unfaithful, stolen, lied, and yes, I do covet my neighbor’s house and spouse not to mention their car, cat and dog,” such confessions would draw a much different response than their admitting they don’t always keep the Sabbath. Break some of the commandments and you go to jail. Treat Sunday as any other day, not rest in God, and … well, we’re busy people. What is it about the Sabbath that makes it of such paramount importance that throughout the Bible it is mentioned far and away more times than any of the other nine commandments? The answer is because it’s life-giving; it’s for our own good!

            Please understand the Ten Commandments (and all the Bible’s commandments) are given to us by God not to guilt us but to grace us.  Moses said, "The Lord commanded us to do all these statutes… for our good always" (Deut 6:24). I can remember exchanges with my parents when I was growing up that would follow a predictable pattern.  I’d ask to do something. They’d say, "No." I’d ask, "Why?" They’d say, "Because we said so." From which I deduced my parents only existed to make my life miserable. I do remember a footnote they’d add to my question of "Why?" As I stomped out in a huff, Mom would say "Because we love you and we know what's best for you." I didn't buy that back then because I was a child and childish.  But I’m older and wiser now and I understand.  Just as I understand that God’s commandments are for our own good – not to cramp our style, but to preserve our lives. 

             What that means is that we ignore the Sabbath – not take time for rest – at our own peril.  In Wayne Muller’s book, Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Daily Lives, he says the Chinese pictograph for ‘busy’ is composed of two characters – heart and killing – and the first cousin of busyness is stress.  Is it news to any of us that the majority of health problems in developed nations are a result of stress?[4]      

·      70-90% of all physicians’ office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.[5] 

·      The physical consequences of stress include fatigue, insomnia, indigestion, high blood pressure, ulcers, headaches, muscle spasms, and a suppressed immune system.

·      The emotional consequences include anxiety, worry, depression, irritability, confusion, and rapid mood swings.

One man observed, “If we do not allow for a rhythm of rest in our overly busy lives, illness becomes our Sabbath.” [6] We disregard the 4th commandment at our own peril.        

           Rest is a gift from God for our own good.  The story is told of a wagon train en route from St. Louis to Oregon. Its members were Christians, so they observed the habit of stopping for the Sabbath day. When winter approached, however, some began to fear they wouldn’t reach their destination before the heavy snows. Consequently, several members proposed that they should quit their practice of stopping for the Sabbath and continue driving onward seven days a week. Not all agreed, so the pioneers split into two groups: those who wanted to observe the Sabbath and those who preferred to press on seven days a week.  Guess who got to Oregon first?  The ones who rested one day in seven.[7] You work 24/7.  I’ll take 24 off every 7. We’ll see who gets to Oregon first. And to sanity. And to health. And to wholeness.   

            The passage Andy read concludes with, “And Jesus began to teach them many things.”  I bet one of the “many things” was the importance of rest. During Lent: worshipping each Sabbath Sunday, pausing for a devotional daily, and resting mid-week on Wednesdays from 5:30 pm – 7 pm for our Rest & Resilience Vespers.  Rest. 

            “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your lives,” says a wise friend.

            “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest awhile,” says Jesus. 

            “Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy,” says the Lord.

            And all God’s people take a deep, relaxing breath and say, AMEN! 

[1] “Further Fables for Our Time,” 1956.

[2] “The Life You’ve Always Wanted,” pp. 81-96.

[3] “The Life You’ve Always Wanted,” pp. 81-82.

 

[4] “Stress and Stress Management”, P.J. Peterson, Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling, p. 1228

[5] The Stress Solution, 1993, Lyle H. Miller, Ph.D., Alma Dell Smith, Ph.D., and Larry Rothstein, Ed.D.

[6] Sabbath, Wayne Muller, p. 20

[7] Marva Dawn, Keeping the Sabbath Holy, p. 65