5 September 2015 - for the rest of us

 “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”

On the sixth day God rests from his work of creation. He does not rest because he is tired. He rests because there are some things which are more important than work. The work which he does in creation he does for the sake of relationship. This rest is now taken so that he might enjoy that relationship with us.

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God (cf. Heb. 4:9).

We are now called to spend that rest in relationship. Normally we prepare well and set food aside for this day. But sometimes, because we're following Jesus, we need to pick grain in the fields. We need to do something which is technically work to minimize distraction and optimize relationship. The rules must not be exulted for their own sake over and against that relationship.

“Have you not read what David did
when he and those who were with him were hungry?
How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering,
which only the priests could lawfully eat, 
ate of it, and shared it with his companions?”

Much more than eating grain or not it our main concern is the bread of life, Jesus himself. No work we can possibly do earns this bread, this intimacy. We are not worthy of a gift of this magnitude and yet he offers it to us without reserve. He is our helper who sustains our life. When we receive this gift it becomes true of us:

God has now reconciled you 
in the fleshly Body of Christ through his death,
to present you holy, without blemish,
and irreprochable before him.

The rest of God is to provide space for this relationship. It is the place where we who were once alienated and hostile in mind come to find peace and joy. "Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience" (cf. Heb. 4:11). We leave the works of darkness behind us. We leave any work by which we might hope to earn our place at the table. The tyranny of work must not distract us. Here we find the "hope of the Gospel". Nothing could be more important. Nothing could have more value. We can't earn this rest. But we are invited to enter in nonetheless.