Sabbath Time
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
2018
Mark 1:29-39
After Jesus and his disciples left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
For the last few months, on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month, at lunchtime we have been holding a Bible Study in Eva’s Room. We decided that we would start by studying Mark’s Gospel. We have found that each week we only get through about half a chapter because there are so many interesting details to talk about.
Take for example the word “hunting” – in verse 35 of our gospel reading this morning – “Simon and his companions hunted for [Jesus]”. That is a peculiar word to use there. Why didn’t they just look for him, or search for him? The word “hunted” is rarely used in the New Testament. And what are we to think of it? Does it imply desperation? Or even hostility? What did the person who wrote this gospel down want us to think about when we hear or read that word hunted?
One of the other noticeable details in Mark’s gospel is that Jesus does his work, and then he retreats, he prays, he rests. In our passage for this morning Jesus gets up early in the morning and goes to a deserted place, and there he prays. Jesus’ life and work pattern is to do the work he was called to do – to heal, to proclaim and to teach – and then rest and pray. And this happens over and over in the gospel.
This pattern established by the Jews of resting on the Sabbath, and exemplified by Jesus, is still of course relevant today – except it is counter-cultural. It seemed easier to have a Sabbath rest when I was growing up in the 70s. Not much was going on. I played with my neighborhood friends, watched cartoons on Saturday morning, Creature Double Feature on channel 56 in the afternoons, watched Davy and Goliath on Sunday morning, and then went to church, and then in the afternoon had a roast dinner in the afternoon, a nap, and complained about being bored.
As a parent I know how hard it is to have any kind of Sabbath these days. It started off for my family with the birthday parties when my children were about 4 years old, when for some reason, at least at my children’s schools, it was the custom to invite all 24 children from your child’s class to your child’s birthday party which meant there was a birthday party almost every weekend during the school year. And then quickly piled on top of birthday parties was soccer, so much soccer. And then one particularly stressful fall my daughter ran cross country and played travel soccer, and my son played school soccer and travel soccer.
I am not sure what the answer is to finding a Sabbath as a parent except to know that that part of life is a season, maybe try to say no to something once and a while, and you do the best you can.
But regardless, the Sabbath is clearly something that is at the heart of a spiritual life. It is a time to rest, a time to pay attention to the things that hold the most value for us – our families, our friends and our faith. It is a time to gain perspective. It is a time to put to rest the week just past and to garner strength and resiliency for the week ahead. It is time to feed our souls. And ironically, in the Sabbath’s apparent inactivity is where the potential for the greatest transformation happens.
I would like to share with you a story about an English politician named William Wilberforce. He is near and dear to my heart because I was ordained in the church he attended in South London. The church, Holy Trinity Clapham Common, was an abolitionist church –and its congregation was filled with a number of notable religious and civic leaders who became known as the Clapham Sect. The Clapham Sect was formed around the end of the 18th century, and they were predominately wealthy evangelical Anglicans who shared the common political views concerning the liberation of slaves, the abolition of the slave trade and reform of the penal system (see Wikipedia, “Clapham Sect” for this reference and more information) As historian Michael Tomkins described the Clapham Sect, he said they were “a network of friends and families in England, with William Wilberforce as its centre of gravity, who were powerfully bound together by their shared moral and spiritual values, by their religious mission and social activism, by their love for each other, and by marriage”.
But had it not been for the transformative power of the Sabbath this might not have been so. And here’s why: William Wilberforce was a member of the British parliament and it was rumored that he was being considered for a cabinet position under the new Prime Minister, Lord Addington. Wilberforce was said to have struggled with whether he would accept the political appointment should it be offered to him. If he were to receive such an appointment he would have risen to the top of political power in England. However, if he were to accept such a position, he would no longer be able throw all his energy into his effort of ending slavery.
According to the book, Ordering your Private World (Gordon MacDonald, p. 193) it is said that “some days into this personal battle, Wilberforce awakened to a day of choice-making; a Sabbath day. At some point during that day while in a solitary place, [Wilberforce] wrote in his journal: “Blessed be God for this day of rest and religious occupation, wherein earthly things assume their true size and comparative insignificance, ambition is stunted, and I hope my affections in some degree rise to things above”.
What we know is after this point, Wilberforce did not join the cabinet, and instead went on “to lead England into one of its greatest political and economic decisions: to get out of the slavery business” (ibid.)
What is ironic in all this of course, is that on the surface it seemed that Wilberforce was throwing away a chance of privilege, prestige and power. However, today, with the test of time, Lord Addington is a relatively unknown figure, while William Wilberforce is one of the best known abolitionists in history, and his church, Holy Trinity Clapham Common, is now one of the best known in London, if not England.
What our gospel lesson this morning invites us to think about, and what the example of William Wilberforce reinforces, is the importance of rest, the importance of taking our time. I know from my own experience if I am forced to make a decision when I feel harried and rushed, it is most likely not going to be a good one, and is will be quite likely one that I will later regret.
This Lent see if there is a way that you can pause and experience, as Wilberforce expressed it, that “rest that reaffirms truth”. If you have ever had a surgical procedure that requires sedation, or have driven someone home who has, you will know the nurse or the doctor will tell the patient not to drive, not to operate any machinery, sign any important papers or make any life altering decisions during the day ahead. Might it be possible for you to find some time during Lent, which starts on February 14th, to find that kind of time – maybe just for one hour, two hours, or hopefully 24 hours to take a break? Could you find time to just rest for the sake of the Lord and for your own sake.
And be warned, just as Jesus was hunted down by his closest companions to break the Sabbath and to hurry to get back to work, you too will be hunted by the various demands and to do lists that circulate endlessly in our minds when you try to take time off. But remember the Sabbath you take, will better equip you to handle all of that when you return to all of your regularly scheduled programming. The work and demands of life will never cease, it is up to us, as far as we are able to say “enough” and get on with the important task of Sabbath rest.
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