I did a Bible quiz at a Vicarage Garden party last year, and
then, like they do in the local pub, I gave the answers, so
everyone could mark each other’s papers, and then got the
“will this answer do instead?” routine from a few
people. One question in particular caused a lot of
discussion. The question was “How many days of Creation”;
let’s see if you know at St. Faiths? I said seven
others said six. Even long serving Readers got this one
wrong.
The seventh day is an important day of Creation, it may seem
like nothing happened that day to the work-obsessed British,
so maybe its value is suspect. But God gave it as the
pinnacle of creation to his people. They had known
slavery in Egypt, they had known the 24/7 week, they had
known the dehumanising and devaluing effect of being
Pharaoh’s property, they had known the whip of the task
master.
And God gave them a whole day every week, a day without
labour, a day to reflect on God’s generosity, a day for
families to flourish. But with it came a responsibility, the
animals, the foreign labourers and the land were all to
have sabbath too. They had to learn to depend on
the Creator for everything that day. No ifs, no buts
everyone and everything was equal in God’s eyes.
There are many other rules in parts of the Jewish religion
that ensure the sabbath is kept to the letter of the
law. These were the things Jesus encountered as he
went around from place to place healing and teaching.
There were respected Jewish leaders following him around and
trying to trip him up; just imagine if they had had Twitter
or Facebook. His reputation and credibility would have been
destroyed over and over again. But he was clear the
sabbath was meant for man not man for the sabbath, there
should be no legal bar to doing good things for others in
need on the sabbath day. It was never part of God’s
intention for humanity.
History has shown attempts to reduce human existence to a
series of rules or a check list to be slavishly followed are
doomed to failure; humanity does not fit neatly into tick
boxes. And the human cost of recent attempts to do
this are reported in the news: disastrous treatment of human
beings, ask the disabled people, asylum seekers, benefit
users or the Caribbean migrants.
True humanity is very much a theme in Paul’s
second letter to the Corinthians. He is defending
himself against some “Super Apostles” who have a strong
following in the Corinthian church. People are
comparing apostles, and no doubt choosing the ones that are
perhaps less demanding, or more exciting. Paul
disavows deceit and duplicity, and is realistic about what
sort of Apostle he intends to be, warts and all. Paul
is quite clear that the only person who needs promoting is
the only perfect human person, Jesus Christ. Apostles
have treasure to share, but in themselves are like common
clay jars. Beware of the apostles that do not promote
Jesus and seek to promote themselves. The Gospel of
celebrity and success has no part in Paul’s experience of
sharing his faith in Jesus with the fledgling church in the
first century Roman world.
In our Facebook, Twitter, publicity-conscious world it is a
salutary warning that calls us back from the madness this
world counts as success. We need like Paul to be realistic
about the humanity God has given us and value it for what it
is, especially when it is broken humanity. Clay jars may be
common, but they are incredibly useful. God in the act of
creation takes common clay from the ground, and breathes his
spirit into it to make Adam. And it is God’s radical
life-giving Spirit that accepts and transforms broken
humanity, and reaches beyond it to others in need of God’s
love. We too have a part to play in this. But we
need to listen to the Spirit within. We seek to help
those in need of the bread of life, not as aid workers
dropped in from somewhere else with full stomachs, but as
fellow human beings who too have found the true bread
and are just beginning to understand what it can do for
others.
From the wonderful gift of the sabbath day, with its
provision for all of creation, to Paul’s clay jars, we must
learn to value what Jesus was prepared to die for and seek
true humanity, that will flourish if given space to, in the
way God intended it too.