Hello Old Friend, part 2.

next in a series of [somewhat edited] letters sent to a friend, giving him an update on how life with the Hazys has changed 

Hey brother!  I hope this letter finds you doing well.  We just got back from a long family walk - something that (thanks to our 6yr old) we might make a regular part of our Sabbath thing.

,,,Which brings a “follow up” thought to mind regarding Sabbath - a thought that will bridge a gap between “the beginning of our new journey” and a foundational principle for how we do this thing.

One of my main concerns as I considered how life would change with Sabbath-keeping was, “How am I going to get it all done?”  I would mow the lawn and do home repairs and make Wal-Mart runs and meet friends for coffee and go on dates with Shannon and pay bills and gas up the vehicles and…and… there’s no end to the things that I would/could not do if I just…what? sat around and prayed and read my Bible?  

Come to think of it, what am I supposed to do on Sabbath, and when do I do all that other stuff? The answers for these questions:

• don’t work.  That is, don’t produce.  Don’t draw a check, don’t work on my car, don’t mow the grass or till the garden or bathe the dog, etc. [well, I think there can be some discussion over that last one for sure]  Don’t do things that increase my bottom line or build up my brand. “Cease from your labor.”

• don’t cause others to work.  Don’t hire a lawn service or get a babysitter for date night or shop at Wal-Mart or go out to eat, etc.

• rest.  Yep, rest.  Rest my body - sleep in!  Take naps!  Slow my pace.  De-stress.  Rest my mind - don’t create lists or make plans to finally be productive when Sabbath ends.  Do mental tasks that renew or refresh or encourage me.  Rest my heart - do fun things, comforting things, inspiring things.

• rest in Him.  I’ve been listening to some really good teaching on Matthew 22 recently that sheds some light on this.  We all know that the “first command” Jesus summarizes Torah with is, essentially, “love God first & most.”  He then said the second command is like it, which is almost always translated “love your neighbor as yourself.”  Only the term neighbor probably isn’t the best translation of the Hebrew concept being taught.  It would seem the better word to use is friend.  This brings more clarity to Luke’s telling of the story, where we read the follow-up question: “and who is my…”

There’s a specific Hebrew word used for “person who dwells beside me.”  Certainly that guy didn’t need help understanding who that was.  But if Yeshua told him, “the second command is meant to echo the first, and it informs us on how to love our friend” then it makes a certain kind of sense for him to ask, “Which kind of friends do you have in mind?” …and Jesus’ response is the story of the Good Samaritan, which he concludes with the implied summary: “Everyone is your friend.”

…coming back to Yeshua giving that second command: It’s better represented by love “to” your friend, indicating a directed action, not just an emotional connection. Yeshua is instructing us to act out love to our friends, and this is to be an echo of being single-minded in our devotion and commitment and service to the Most High.  Yeshua then tells us those two commands sum up the whole Torah, the whole Scriptures, which in turn is an expansion and outworking of these two concepts.

OK, but how does this related to resting in Him on the Sabbath?

My Sabbath resting is not supposed to be “me” focused.  Sleeping in, taking the day off from work - these are technical parts of the thing, but the heart of Sabbath is to “cease from my labor” and thus follow the Most High’s example from Genesis 2, but to also direct my rest Godward (Sabbath rest hangs on the 1^st command) and also direct my rest friendward. (Sabbath rest hangs on the 2^nd command) I’m oriented to Elohim and to others as I’m resting: I’m building them up, blessing them, supporting and strengthening those relationships in a restful setting.

This concept is familiar to Americans, because this is the thing we aim for on our vacations and holidays. Fun fact: did you realize that holidays are “holy” days - that is, special, set-apart days? Wanna guess where that concept came from?  The appointed/designated times (moedim) were around a long time before Easter, Thanksgiving, and the rest, and the Sabbath was the first one established - that one came about on day seven in the history of the world. It has been “in effect” ever since, even though most of the world - including billions who profess to follow the God of the Bible - choose not to follow His instructions on this one.

The other big concern is how do I get it all done?  The simple, not-really-what-I-wanted-to-hear answer (at least on the front end) was: “you don’t.”  Time for a few qualifiers:

    First, let’s not move too quickly away from the concept that Yeshua was teaching when he answered that sheilah/tricky question about what’s most important.  The rabbi was giving instruction on how to hear & obey the instructions that God provided for everyone who wants to follow him and live life His way.  The first thing is to re-orient what’s a priority in my life, and then to use my resources (like my time, my money, my mental and emotional and relational and physical investments) accordingly.

    Next, I can accept and live out the thought that when God wanted to call out folks from “the world” and create a special people for himself, He didn’t give a select group of men a blueprint for a republic with democratic features, complete with a bill of rights for individual freedoms so that all of his people could chase after life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  No, when the Most High created a people for himself, they were to live a different kind of life a different kind of way…and where the rubber met the road for me on Saturdays meant putting down the TV remote or power tools and picking up a board game or going for a walk with the people that God put in my life for me to love and invest in.

    Finally, I embrace (and level up to) the fact that Elohim did not give his kingdom to individuals, but to a group.  The whole nation was there at Mount Horeb to receive the Torah, not just their founding fathers.  And when the Messiah came to show us the way, to “fill up” the instructions (Matt.5), what role did he take on?  A Jewish rabbi - a teacher of the Torah.  THE teacher of Torah.  And how do rabbis (especially this one) instruct their students?  “Follow me.” (Mark 8)  And what does he want us to do with this training? “As you go, make talmidim (students/disciples)… teaching them to obey what I have commanded you…” (Matt.28)

…which sounds an awful lot like the Sh’ma: “Hear Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one…love him…love others…put my words in your heart…teach your children…all the time.” (Deut.6)

So I’m supposed to invest my Sabbaths in my God and my friends, and focus on taking care of people/relationships instead of yard work or side jobs or even things like getting lost in a book or caught up in watching episodes/movies/videos.

In my “Sabbath transition” I gave up things that were important - like catching up on “household business” after working during the week.  This creates a bit of a dilemma: who is going to do that work that used to get done on Saturday?  Do I keep longer hours during the week to make up for it - cutting grass after work, shopping during the week, staying up late to pay the bills?  Those are all adjustments that we’ve made along the way, and you know what?  It’s more work during the week. and more weird on the Sabbath than pretty much anyone we live around.  But it’s not worse than before, or harder on me.  I actually easier, and here’s why:

• because I love the One Who told me to rest.  I’ve told you this before, but to recap: I don’t follow his instructions out of some sullen or bitter sense of duty to get a good grade at the end of all things.  Neither do I do it to avoid getting punished: I don’t see any proof that the Most High is sitting on a cloud with some supernatural sniper rifle, ready to rain down justice on disobedience.  No, I follow him because I love him, and I want to show him that I love him by living in ways that please and honor him.

• because I love the rabbi who told me to rest.  I mentioned this earlier, but I don’t think “it just happened that way” that when God walked among us he did it as a Jewish rabbi.  When a person comes “to Christ,” they come to a man who expects his people to follow him, to do what he does, say what he says, think what he thinks, be like he is.  Some might say that’s impossible, that we can’t be superhuman like Jesus was.  Well, in point of fact, his followers can, because the set-apart spirit of God (the ruach hakodesh) lives in us and supercharges us to do supernatural stuff, things that are above and beyond what we could accomplish without him.  Things like being witnesses for him among the nations (Acts 1:8) and making disciples, teaching them to do life the way he told us to - observing his commands. (Matthew 28:20)

So “Sabbath life” is easier in much the same way that all of being born-again is easier: being purposeful and successful in this world (and the next one) is defined in simpler terms.  It’s usually harder, usually more lonely - “narrow gate”, “hard road”, “few find it” (Matt.7:14) - but it’s simpler.

I have found, along the way, that I don’t miss how I used to spend my Saturdays.  Some things are still important, and I’ve learned to fit them in at other times.  Other things were given up, or delayed until the Most High provides a way to make ‘em happen.

…and I get vacation time/a holiday every week, and I do it with and for my God who is happy that I’m choosing to do things his way.

That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?