Be Made New: Work
March 17, 2024Pastor Patrick Tanton presented today's message, "Be Made New: Work." A video of the message is here.
Quick side note... Today is St. Patrick's Day. I presented a talk on St. Patrick back in 2012. For more on that, click here. That page includes a link to the slides I used as well as a link to a YouTube animation about St. Patrick.
And speaking of saints... We saw the movie Cabrini on Monday following this message. Superb film about Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first U.S. citizen to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church on July 7, 1946. As Prager often says, it takes an outlier to do great good. She was definitely an outlier. She was courageous and focused on her mission like very few people ever are. The IMDB entry for the movie is here.
Now, back to our regular programming...
Let's look at the fact that issues about work are actually in the Ten Commandments. Commandment #5 (as we count them), Exodus 20:9-10, "Six days you shall labor (avad) and do all your work (melakah), but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work (melakah), neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns." I've talked about the Sabbath before (here and here).
What I think is relevant to today's message is a point often missed in reading the 5th Commandment, and that is: not only are some types of work prohibited on the 7th day, but we are also commanded TO WORK the other six days!
As I've pointed out before, there are two different words for work used in this commandment. One is "regular work" (avad, עָבַד) as you and I think of it. The other is "creative work" or "work for the mastery of nature" (melakah, מְלָאכָה). The latter is prohibited because it smacks of Creation and part of the message of the Sabbath is that God created the world, not us. This is why lighting a fire, for example, is prohibited. It seems to create something from nothing.
In the section of the text where it talks about what you should do on days 1-6, both words are used (avad and melakah). So, you SHALL do regular work and creative work the first six days. However, only "creative work" (melakah) is prohibited on the 7th day. This, again, is why you can't light a fire or cook on the Sabbath but you can move a couch across the room.
And for those of us who are retired, golfing all day does not cut it (or whatever your self-indulgent activity of choice is). Another sense to the word work/avad is "to serve." One is to be productive and/or in service to someone the other six days. It would not be hard to argue, as Patrick did, that some of this should be in service to God via serving other people or simply applying some of your earned resources to something good beyond yourself and your household. So, figure out a way to be productive while you golf, such as teaching golf (or whatever). Or playing in or running a golf tournament (or whatever) that benefits a worthy cause.
Though a bit off topic, I feel obliged to also remind you that the Sabbath is also a day for enjoying family and friends, for studying Torah (and other religious texts), for reflection about self and family directions, and getting some rest. It's a time to step off the mouse wheel and simply enjoy being alive. And if you've actually been productive the other six days, including some contribution to God's Kingdom (as Patrick put it), then you can feel satisfied, too.
By the way, one of Pastor Patrick's Bible quotes today was Matthew 5:16 and it was noted TEV. I was curious about TEV, assuming it was a Bible translation I was not familiar with. However, I had a hard time finding TEV. Turns out that TEV, Today's English Version, is on old name for what is today mostly refered to as the Good News Translation (GNT). This was also formerly known as the Good News Bible. BibleGateway.com describes it as a simple modern translation faithful to the original languages.
Bonus
Why David?
The short answer is: He was good at doing something that God needed done.
He was a shepherd boy. And what do you think occupied much of the days for a shepherd boy. Throwing rocks! There were plenty of rocks around for throwing. Imagine the target practice and games a boy or two could play out in the middle of nowhere. And more to the point, now and then the ability to run off a predator with a carefully placed stone or two probably came in very handy.
And God knew who was good at throwing rocks.
So, what are you good at? And how is God calling you to use that skill?
If you want to pursue more "fun facts" about the David and Goliath story, read this. Who really slew whom, and just how many "Goliaths" were there?
Bonus2
What's in a Name? (Noah's Sons)
Thanks to Leon Kass for pointing out all of the following in his book, The Beginning of Wisdom, starting on page 197.
The Noahide Laws have just been established so the next step in human development is perpetuating these laws down through the generations. Noah will be the first Bible story told with that in mind. If you're into word play, this has much to do with tradition, from tradere, "to hand over."
Noah had three sons and their names in birth order are: Japheth, Ham, and Shem.
Each has a different story. Each, as it were, plays out this next step in the development of communities/nations differently.
Japheth means "expansion," the root meaning "open." Ham means hot or warm, from a root meaning to make warm or hot. And Shem's name means "name." It's more than just a name as it includes the notion of having made a name for himself; some level of importance. Shem is also one name given to God in the Torah, ha-Shem, which means "the Name."
Above I gave the names in birth order, eldest first. Interestingly, the Bible generally lists them in a different order: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. This is the first hint the Bible provides that birth order is not important.
Noah will eventually link Shem's name with God, and via that linkage Shem will in fact earn his reputation and renown - his name.
Speaking of names... Note that we never learn the name of Noah's wife. Once Adam and Eve and their sons' wives are named earlier in Genesis, no wife's name is offered until Sarah, Abraham's wife. It is Abraham who later learns from God the finer points of family life, including the equal (or arguable greater) importance of the wife. It is equally interesting to note that most of the key names mentioned up to this point are never again mentioned (maybe tangentially, perhaps) in the remining Old Testament. As Kass suggests, maybe they are to be relatively forgotten.
The Biblical text offers nothing about what Noah was thinking when he named his three sons. Nonetheless, the names turned out to be somewhat prophetic. Ham is the "bad actor" in the scene where Noah is discovered drunk and uncovered. Ham goes on to be "the father of Canaan" (definitely not a good thing). Shem's descendants become the Hebrews/Israelites. And Japheth, by tradition, his descendants are the Philistines (of Goliath fame) and eventually populated Europe. In any case, Noah blesses Japheth as well (as Shem) saying God is to "enlarge" (remember the meaning of his name) him and "may Canaan be his slaves." In short, Shem and Japheth do well, and Ham does not. (This is not always clear. In Genesis 10:14, Ham's descendants are identified as the Philistines.)