麻豆社

Good morning.

I still recall with a shiver, the sound of my vicarage doorbell on a Saturday. With two young children and a car very obviously parked on the driveway, the tactic of hiding everyone behind the sofa was not likely to succeed. I鈥檇 compose my face into my best clergyman鈥檚 smile and head for the door. 鈥淢orning vicar. I know it鈥檚 your day off, but this will only take a few minutes鈥�. If only I had a fiver for every time I heard that cheery greeting. It was not the time taken, though usually the 鈥渇ew minutes鈥� would turn out to be an optimistic underestimate; it was the fact of being dragged back into work mode, just when I was trying to relax, that did the damage to my day. So I start from a point of sympathy, with senior civil servants, and even Prime Ministers and Secretaries of State, whose holiday respite is interrupted.

The Jewish scriptures take a very firm line on separating work from rest. 鈥淪ix days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do鈥�, the Ten Commandments put it. Each year, clergy in my diocese are invited to tell anonymously whether they are taking their days off and holidays, and to say, if not, why not? Where patterns of problems emerge, we try to tackle them. After all, if down time mattered enough to be there in the bible, it matters today

It was in that biblical society that Jesus himself grew up. Yet, accused of breaking the rules by healing sick people, he made the telling retort, 鈥淭he Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath鈥�. In his view, there are moral imperatives to act, and act now, that trump even the most hallowed practice or tradition. But Jesus鈥� words present us with a challenge. As many forced by Covid into working from home have found, where there is no hard and fast law, the boundaries blur. Why not read these emails over breakfast, or sort out that pressing problem from the beach? In doing so we may think we are being diligent or altruistic, when in reality we are flattering our egos, feeding a pretence that we鈥檙e indispensable and unique, purchased at the price of the rest we need.

Jesus may remove a roadblock, but he leaves in its place a high bar. His breaking the Sabbath seeks to save or restore the life of fellow human beings, those equally created in the image and likeness of God. Then, and only when neither delegation nor delay are options, he acts, and acts decisively. In that light, when the metaphorical doorbell rings or the holiday wrecking request comes in, perhaps the question his example provokes, is to ask ourselves, is this the moment when only me, acting now, and in person, might save or rebuild some precious human life? A touchstone for pastors and politicians alike.

Show less