Work and The Sabbath

I was just considering the concept of work. Many have heard the phrase "Do what you love and you'll never work another day in your life." It could be that there is wisdom in this phrase, as the definition of what "work" is seems not only subjective but hard to pinpoint. In addition to not working, there is at least one Bible verse that adds an additional stipulation to the Sabbath that seems related to work but would not be classified exactly as work.

Jeremiah 17:21-22

"This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors."

This verse contains a separate commandment regarding carrying loads- not to carry one out of your house, or through the gates of Jerusalem, indicating either way. While I just noticed that "bringing a load into your house" as long as you do not "carry" it may be one of those interesting loopholes intentionally left as a clue that I reference from time to time, my post today is in regards to careful and earnest examination of these Sabbath commandments, and how that examination has led me to greater joy. 

This commandment regarding carrying loads is clearly separate from the commandment regarding doing work, as bringing a load out of your house and work are both prohibited as separate items in the same verse. I have been following this commandment to the best of my ability and I have realized it does make the day feel different. My mind is on God on Sundays (the day I have separated out as The Sabbath) more than other days, or at least differently, because there is a certain double-checking of actions for me on this day. The Sabbath contains rules I would not normally think to abide by, even with a heart generally after God, which is part of what makes it feel special. While the prevalence of weekends in the world now presents a situation for most of essentially having two restful days, I have noticed that in observing Sunday as my Sabbath, it is distinctly different in feel than my other weekend day. Today, while playing a video game, I found myself frustrated unduly, like it was a chore to play that game at that time, and it made me consider the deeper nature of work subjectively.

One might consider writing in the way that I write work, but I do not. For me, writing, even these structured essay type posts, is enjoyable, and so I do not consider it work, but I could certainly see a college student in a writing class disagreeing from their perspective, because they are required to do it and may not want to, so for them, it would be work. In this way, work must be a subjective concept. I have heard the perspective that Christians do not feel obligated to observe The Sabbath, feeling Jesus' actions removed such stipulations. Jesus says in Matthew 5:17 “'Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.'" As I examine these fundamental Sabbath laws more, I feel as though it makes sense that The Sabbath was made for mankind, specifically, as a blessing, even if the primary function of the blessing at this point is to gain an appearance of rest, so that in this appearance one might consider the nature of true rest. 

This concept of work being subjective feels as though it is at the core of how The Sabbath was not only upheld by Jesus, but fulfilled (perhaps was "made clear" or "set into place"). Luke 14:5 "Then he asked them, 'If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?'" Jesus seems to be supporting here the idea that work is not some direct measurement of physical exertion, but is instead tied to perhaps relative stress. Let's say one waited to pull their child out of a well until The Sabbath was complete, that person would almost certainly be worrying and stressed the entire day, which would ultimately be more "work" than pulling them out immediately. In this way there is a comparison behind the scenes of "relative work" presented in this scenario, if one were to weigh each course of action in the balance, and it is a comparison that requires one to examine not just the physical work involved, but mental/spiritual "work" as well. It seems one must take into account, on some level, this relative comparison of work. I could see someone tending to their garden on The Sabbath, for example, if it is something they enjoy doing, rather than something they need to do. It feels as though one's leisure activities can take many forms, and so even going for a hike or kayaking, while strenuous, could still be classified as "not work" if one truly enjoys it. It feels like at the heart of this command is "do what you enjoy, without consideration of obligations, as long as it it not outside The Law."

To further examine the counterpoint to this position, that strenuous things must be classified as work, consider that technically even moving requires the body to expend energy. If we want to get extremely technical, breathing requires work of the body, in a biological sense. It is obvious that God did not intend living humans to stop breathing on The Sabbath, and generally accepted that The Law does not demand that we lay in bed all day on The Sabbath, even though this would require the least amount of physical work. The only technical reason laying in bed all day would not be the "most restful" or "least work" scenario is if non-physical factors were taken into account in some way. Most days it feels like it would be stressful to lay in bed all day, in the sense that the boredom and confinement of it spikes stress in the brain. Stress is a measurement of the mind's "work," and so minimizing this stress must be factored into the overall work equation, if laying in bed all day is not the interpretation one takes from Sabbath law. As doing "literally nothing" on The Sabbath is not a possibility while still breathing, then the intended definition of "work" must be examined closely, and with a heart after God's own. This is why Jesus could freely heal on The Sabbath, as it seems not to be "work" by his estimation. While there are likely few measurements where healing can be considered "work" at all, given the nature of how the holy seems to essentially be "transmissible" to the unclean, I imagine that even from those remaining perspectives Jesus considered that the work of leaving one unhealed on The Sabbath was greater than the work of healing them (much like leaving one's child in a well), and so healing became not just the path of least resistance, but perhaps the path of greatest joy for Jesus as well. 

I will say that the nuances of relative work did not start to become clear to me until I started following the commandment of not carrying loads on the Sabbath. It was by the light of this commandment, this seemingly smaller requirement, that I was able to first sense the validity of the examination of technicalities in The Law, and I felt like I was hashing out how these greyer areas were meant to manifest with The Holy Spirit. Essentially the definition of "a load" seemed obviously unfinished enough for me to be bold enough to first open a dialogue about what was actually meant, and it was the first time I felt firsthand the proof that the commandment was not meant in a way that I would consider "the strictest interpretation." Upon first deciding to follow this commandment, I considered that even my cell phone might be considered "a load." But then I realized my pockets were generally full of items when I went out- keys, wallet, tobacco. My mind landed on tobacco as well, and while it felt like a cheat initially, even then I reasoned that, given the circumstances of addiction, I would be under more stress without it. So I considered that the things I carried in my pockets were not "a load" and this seemed acceptable with The Holy Spirit- I had no additional inner wrestling on the matter. That being said, I could sense that simply putting something in my pocket did not make it "not a load" and so, with one notable failure, I did not lean on technicality to suit my desires in regards to the commandment, rather I went out of my house "as is" which is to say I went out with no more or less than I normally would; in regards to compliance with the commandment, I did not allow myself to carry and extra items, but I also felt no need to carry fewer items. Then came the day I realized, in my contrarian way, that even one's clothes could be considered "a load." While I personally never honestly considered that God called us all to walk around naked on the Sabbath, it did provide a certainty that it was not the strictest human definition that was ever meant to be observed. I also felt, however, that a strict definition was meant to be observed, it was just strict in a sense that I could only see vaguely. From my own perspective the interpretation felt non-descript and in part one that I had made up myself, but I had done so in earnest. That was when I realized that, given this life is at its core one's walk with God, this was precisely what God was looking for: a rational, personal examination of The Law that God put forth as it related to me, and from that law and subsequent interpretation of it, we were meant to come to an accord that fit both of us.

Essentially what I realized is that The Law is an expression of language, and that the better one understands it, the closer one can communicate with and walk with God. While the tenants of The Law are set and firm and many, from one's own perspective their interpretation is personal and singular. I believe The Holy Spirit is here in part to ensure one does not fall into truly false interpretation, allowing paradoxes to arise in their own belief system that focus on one commandment while contradicting another. I also feel that, through his journey, Jesus really focused and narrowed down the field of non-paradoxical interpretations that were possible with words like "Do not judge" and "Love your neighbor" and "Love your enemy." but the fact remains that one must interpret what has been given, and the nuance of these earnest interpretations is as varied as those interpreting it, for we are each unique, even in love. 

So my examination of the fundamental definitions of "work" and "rest" and even "load" led me to a realization that the whole purpose of The Sabbath was to illuminate joy by having one closely examine a day that represents a "shifting of gears" in a sense. The restrictions were ultimately designed to get one into a position of being unencumbered on this day, and forcing the adherence to rest in order to illuminate false rest, and ultimately maximize one's rest. In considering how to do these things to their fullest, with a heart after God, the hope was that one would see that, in this state, one can be in joy. I can imagine that another point of The Sabbath may have been that once these threads were carefully sewn and reinforced, one would be able to carry much of this rest with them into their non-Sabbath days, feeling generally unencumbered and finding joy even in work. It feels, however, that man (at least this man) must be wrangled into a position of true rest, as historically even when lying on the couch I have possessed a deep unrest in my mind. Perhaps this is an important element of the forging process of a human, a delicate forging of a joy that underpins all else one does, a joy in rest. In joy we can find love more easily, and in joy and love I would imagine that the remaining Gifts of The Holy Spirit bloom naturally from that point. 

By this point I am imagining that these Gifts of The Holy Spirit will grow as quickly as the weeds in my backyard did when I was 5 and accidentally planted them; it feels as if these promises have been deferred for some time, now realized to be politely refraining from developing so that I might find joy in rest, rather than being shrewdly withheld for some unknown purpose, as I personally generally require some threshold sense of understanding before I can truly accept an outcome, even the outcome of eep.