1 00:00:02,710 --> 00:00:08,360 Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello friends, I'm Alan Fadling and you're listening 2 00:00:08,420 --> 00:00:11,700 Speaker 1: to the Unhurried Living Podcast, where we inspire you to 3 00:00:11,780 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: rest deeper, live fuller, and lead better. Most of us 4 00:00:16,300 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: know what it feels like to live in a world 5 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:23,970 Speaker 1: that keeps asking for more. More work, more output, more availability, 6 00:00:24,650 --> 00:00:28,610 Speaker 1: more productivity, and sometimes we can begin to imagine that 7 00:00:28,790 --> 00:00:32,500 Speaker 1: God is asking the very same thing of us. In 8 00:00:32,580 --> 00:00:36,180 Speaker 1: this episode, I want to explore a surprising question I 9 00:00:36,220 --> 00:00:39,740 Speaker 1: recently brought to the Old Testament. How much time did 10 00:00:39,780 --> 00:00:45,019 Speaker 1: God actually set aside for worship, rest, and celebration in 11 00:00:45,060 --> 00:00:48,160 Speaker 1: the life of Israel? We'll look at the weekly Sabbath, 12 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:53,129 Speaker 1: the sabbatical year, and Jubilee and consider what these rhythms 13 00:00:53,229 --> 00:00:56,910 Speaker 1: might reveal about the spacious life God intended for his 14 00:00:56,950 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: people and perhaps still intends for us today. After a 15 00:01:01,700 --> 00:01:16,860 Speaker 1: brief word from our sponsor, we'll continue the episode. For years, 16 00:01:16,980 --> 00:01:22,270 Speaker 1: I've occasionally heard people describe the Old Testament law as burdensome, restrictive, 17 00:01:22,410 --> 00:01:27,300 Speaker 1: or demanding. Certainly, there were many commands. But I believe 18 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: those commands were meant as protective boundaries around the good 19 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:35,340 Speaker 1: life rather than a barrier to it. Recently, I found 20 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:40,030 Speaker 1: myself wondering about a different question about those Old Testament laws. 21 00:01:40,850 --> 00:01:44,290 Speaker 1: How much time did the law of Moses actually set 22 00:01:44,350 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: aside for worship, rest, and celebration? You could begin with 23 00:01:49,940 --> 00:01:54,170 Speaker 1: the weekly Sabbath. One day in every seven was devoted 24 00:01:54,250 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 1: to ceasing from ordinary work. That alone amounts to roughly 25 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:03,780 Speaker 1: 52 days each year. If you've ever visited Israel and 26 00:02:03,820 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: been in Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, you know it's 27 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:12,260 Speaker 1: much more than a go-to-church day. It's a day free 28 00:02:12,300 --> 00:02:18,340 Speaker 1: of every sort of productive endeavor. And then I remembered 29 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:22,930 Speaker 1: the annual festivals and the holy days. There was Passover, 30 00:02:23,430 --> 00:02:29,060 Speaker 1: unleavened bread, weeks, trumpets, the Day of Atonement, tabernacles. You 31 00:02:29,090 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: can read about these in Leviticus chapter 23. These were 32 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:38,260 Speaker 1: not minor observances tucked into the margins of life. They 33 00:02:38,300 --> 00:02:45,470 Speaker 1: were recurring interruptions that called the nation to stop, gather, worship, feast, remember, 34 00:02:46,250 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: and give thanks. Together, they added roughly another week of 35 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:56,460 Speaker 1: sacred days to Israel's year. Then came the new moon celebrations. 36 00:02:57,220 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: Twelve times each year, the beginning of a new month 37 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:05,300 Speaker 1: was marked by special worship and offerings, creating another recurring 38 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: rhythm of remembrance in the life of God's people. By 39 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,459 Speaker 1: this point, I was already approaching 70 days each year 40 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:18,750 Speaker 1: devoted to worship, rest, or sacred remembrance. the law was 41 00:03:18,810 --> 00:03:24,370 Speaker 1: not finished. Every seventh year, the land itself was to rest. 42 00:03:25,050 --> 00:03:29,110 Speaker 1: Fields were to be left unsewn. Vineyards were to be 43 00:03:29,169 --> 00:03:33,800 Speaker 1: left unpruned. The people were invited to trust that God 44 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:39,760 Speaker 1: would provide enough. Averaged over the seven-year cycle, that would 45 00:03:39,940 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: add the equivalent of roughly another 52 days of ceasing 46 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:48,510 Speaker 1: from regular work each year. And then there was the Jubilee. 47 00:03:49,390 --> 00:03:55,410 Speaker 1: Every 50th year was to bring an additional season of release, restoration, 48 00:03:55,450 --> 00:03:59,660 Speaker 1: and return. So depending on how you count these observances, 49 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:05,660 Speaker 1: it appears that something approaching one-third of Israel's calendar, maybe 50 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: 120-some days, was intentionally protected from ordinary productivity. One-third. That 51 00:04:14,490 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 1: surprised me. Now, the more I explored Israel's calendar, the 52 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:22,979 Speaker 1: more I found myself wondering whether these rhythms of rest 53 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:28,130 Speaker 1: were ever actually practiced. After all, it's one thing to 54 00:04:28,170 --> 00:04:32,850 Speaker 1: command a Sabbath day. It's another thing entirely to leave 55 00:04:32,870 --> 00:04:38,490 Speaker 1: a field unplanted for an entire year. This raises another 56 00:04:38,550 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: question for me. When God commanded Israel to give the 57 00:04:42,300 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: land rest every seventh year, What did the people actually 58 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: do with that year? They certainly weren't being told to 59 00:04:50,260 --> 00:04:55,159 Speaker 1: sit around for 12 months doing nothing. The command specifically 60 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:59,700 Speaker 1: focused on their ordinary agricultural work. They were not to 61 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:03,140 Speaker 1: sow their fields or prune their vineyards or harvest the 62 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:07,570 Speaker 1: land in the usual way. Presumably, there was still plenty 63 00:05:07,589 --> 00:05:10,810 Speaker 1: of work to do, but the work that dominated their 64 00:05:10,850 --> 00:05:17,020 Speaker 1: lives was interrupted. The land was simply to rest. Now, 65 00:05:17,140 --> 00:05:20,599 Speaker 1: whatever it produced on its own could be received as food, 66 00:05:20,700 --> 00:05:24,120 Speaker 1: but it was not to be cultivated and harvested in 67 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: the ordinary annual way. And for people whose lives depended 68 00:05:29,820 --> 00:05:33,820 Speaker 1: on agriculture, that would have created an enormous amount of 69 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:40,370 Speaker 1: newly available time. And perhaps that newly available time would 70 00:05:40,410 --> 00:05:44,940 Speaker 1: have made something else possible. Scripture doesn't describe the sabbatical 71 00:05:44,980 --> 00:05:47,940 Speaker 1: year as one long worship service, so I don't want 72 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,910 Speaker 1: to claim more than the text does, but it is 73 00:05:50,990 --> 00:05:56,390 Speaker 1: intriguing that Deuteronomy instructed Israel to gather during that year 74 00:05:56,450 --> 00:05:59,570 Speaker 1: to hear the law read aloud so that they and 75 00:05:59,630 --> 00:06:04,200 Speaker 1: their children might listen, learn, and remember God. You can 76 00:06:04,300 --> 00:06:08,900 Speaker 1: see this in Deuteronomy chapter 31. The land was resting 77 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,600 Speaker 1: and But perhaps the people would be reformed in their 78 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:19,180 Speaker 1: relationship with work, provision, and trust. Now, sadly, the biblical 79 00:06:19,260 --> 00:06:25,470 Speaker 1: record offers surprisingly little evidence that Israel consistently observed either 80 00:06:25,510 --> 00:06:29,429 Speaker 1: the sabbatical year for the land or the Jubilee. In fact, 81 00:06:29,990 --> 00:06:34,130 Speaker 1: one of the clearest references to their non-observance appears near 82 00:06:34,190 --> 00:06:38,390 Speaker 1: the end of the Old Testament story. Reflecting on the 83 00:06:38,430 --> 00:06:43,310 Speaker 1: Babylonian exile, the Chronicler explains that the land finally enjoyed 84 00:06:43,370 --> 00:06:47,210 Speaker 1: the Sabbaths it had long been denied. That's in 2 85 00:06:47,210 --> 00:06:53,240 Speaker 1: Chronicles 36. Now, that detail catches my attention. We often 86 00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:57,160 Speaker 1: think of sin, perhaps mostly in terms of breaking commandments. 87 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 1: We think of idolatry, maybe, or injustice, or rebellions. Yet 88 00:07:02,630 --> 00:07:07,600 Speaker 1: embedded in Israel's story is another form of unfaithfulness, the 89 00:07:07,940 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: inability to stop. The people struggled to trust God enough 90 00:07:13,940 --> 00:07:18,140 Speaker 1: to rest. Apparently, they struggled to trust him enough to 91 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: let the land rest as well. Now, we probably shouldn't 92 00:07:23,340 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: be surprised by this. Sabbath asks us to surrender the 93 00:07:28,220 --> 00:07:32,620 Speaker 1: illusion that everything depends on us. The sabbatical year for 94 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,140 Speaker 1: the land asked Israel to surrender that illusion for an 95 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:42,010 Speaker 1: entire growing season. Jubilee went even further. It invited the 96 00:07:42,050 --> 00:07:47,210 Speaker 1: nation to loosen its grip on wealth, property, and accumulation itself. 97 00:07:48,230 --> 00:07:55,060 Speaker 1: These commands were never merely agricultural or economic. They were spiritual. 98 00:07:55,560 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 1: They asked a simple but unsettling question. Do you trust 99 00:08:00,380 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: God more than you trust your own ability to produce? Now, 100 00:08:05,940 --> 00:08:08,820 Speaker 1: the silence surrounding Jubilee may be one of the most 101 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:13,300 Speaker 1: revealing silences in Scripture. I mean, the command about Jubilee 102 00:08:13,380 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: is given in remarkable detail in Leviticus chapter 25. And 103 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:22,560 Speaker 1: yet again, we search the biblical story in vain for 104 00:08:22,740 --> 00:08:28,730 Speaker 1: evidence that it was ever fully embraced. Now, some imagine 105 00:08:28,770 --> 00:08:32,830 Speaker 1: a God whose chief concern is imposing obligations on his people. 106 00:08:33,570 --> 00:08:36,890 Speaker 1: But when I pause to consider these rhythms built into 107 00:08:37,010 --> 00:08:41,929 Speaker 1: Israel's calendar, I see something very different. What if these 108 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:47,380 Speaker 1: commands were not mainly restrictions, but gifts? What if God's 109 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:51,559 Speaker 1: intention was to create a people who regularly stopped working 110 00:08:51,580 --> 00:08:57,620 Speaker 1: and gathered for worship, celebrated together, released debts, restored relationships, 111 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 1: and remembered that their lives depended not on their own effort, 112 00:09:03,630 --> 00:09:09,410 Speaker 1: but on God's faithfulness. Far from creating a joyless society 113 00:09:09,490 --> 00:09:13,710 Speaker 1: burdened by religious requirements, these rhythms had the potential to 114 00:09:13,790 --> 00:09:20,900 Speaker 1: form a remarkably free people. Imagine an Israel that actually 115 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:26,460 Speaker 1: embraced all of it. Every week, a Sabbath. Every year, 116 00:09:27,100 --> 00:09:31,800 Speaker 1: seasons of feasting and celebration. Every seventh year, a shared 117 00:09:32,100 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 1: act of trust as the land rested. And every generation, 118 00:09:35,900 --> 00:09:41,030 Speaker 1: a jubilee that interrupted the endless accumulation of wealth and 119 00:09:41,090 --> 00:09:45,849 Speaker 1: reminded everyone that the land belonged to God. Such a 120 00:09:45,910 --> 00:09:50,070 Speaker 1: society would not have been organized around relentless production, expansion, 121 00:09:50,250 --> 00:09:55,390 Speaker 1: and acquisition. It would have been organized around worship, trust, gratitude, 122 00:09:55,610 --> 00:09:59,969 Speaker 1: and enoughness. The tragedy may not be that God actually 123 00:10:00,100 --> 00:10:03,780 Speaker 1: asked too much of Israel. The tragedy may be that 124 00:10:03,940 --> 00:10:08,020 Speaker 1: Israel found it difficult to receive the spacious life God 125 00:10:08,220 --> 00:10:12,790 Speaker 1: was offering. I can understand that. You probably can too. 126 00:10:13,330 --> 00:10:17,290 Speaker 1: The longer I live, the more I discover that receiving 127 00:10:17,350 --> 00:10:21,260 Speaker 1: God's gifts is often harder than than obeying his commands. 128 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: We know how to work. We know how to strive. 129 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:29,780 Speaker 1: We know how to manage outcomes. Rest, though, requires a 130 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:35,600 Speaker 1: different kind of faith. The struggle has not disappeared. If anything, 131 00:10:35,940 --> 00:10:41,660 Speaker 1: our own moment makes that clear. Recently, a friend sent 132 00:10:41,700 --> 00:10:45,970 Speaker 1: me an article describing what some observers are calling the 133 00:10:46,070 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 1: burnout economy. People are paying thousands of dollars for sleep-focused vacations. 134 00:10:53,620 --> 00:10:58,380 Speaker 1: Burnt-out professionals are hiring coaches to help them recover capacities 135 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:06,120 Speaker 1: for focus, planning, and attention that prolonged stress has eroded. Rest, recovery, 136 00:11:06,220 --> 00:11:12,170 Speaker 1: and longevity have become luxury commodities purchased at significant expense. 137 00:11:13,370 --> 00:11:20,510 Speaker 1: We are increasingly paying specialists. to help us regain the rest, attention, margin, 138 00:11:20,610 --> 00:11:25,670 Speaker 1: and resilience that relentless productivity has taken from us. The 139 00:11:25,750 --> 00:11:30,489 Speaker 1: market has found a way to profit from our exhaustion. 140 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:35,840 Speaker 1: And maybe that's why the sabbatical rhythms of Scripture feel 141 00:11:35,900 --> 00:11:42,700 Speaker 1: so surprisingly relevant today. Long before sleep retreats or executive 142 00:11:42,740 --> 00:11:48,500 Speaker 1: function coaches or wellness industries, God was teaching his people 143 00:11:48,610 --> 00:11:52,989 Speaker 1: to build rest, worship, and celebration into the structure of 144 00:11:53,070 --> 00:11:57,670 Speaker 1: ordinary life. His answer to exhaustion was not recovery after 145 00:11:57,710 --> 00:12:01,530 Speaker 1: the damage was done. His answer was a way of 146 00:12:01,710 --> 00:12:07,210 Speaker 1: life designed to keep the damage from becoming normal. The 147 00:12:07,270 --> 00:12:11,130 Speaker 1: God revealed in scripture is not opposed to work. He 148 00:12:11,210 --> 00:12:16,390 Speaker 1: created human beings to cultivate, create, build, serve, and steward, 149 00:12:16,490 --> 00:12:21,330 Speaker 1: but neither is God interested only in creating a people 150 00:12:21,390 --> 00:12:28,370 Speaker 1: defined by productivity. Israel's calendar was designed to tell a story. 151 00:12:29,270 --> 00:12:33,990 Speaker 1: That story was that God is the provider. The story 152 00:12:34,100 --> 00:12:38,580 Speaker 1: was that the land ultimately belongs to him. The story 153 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:43,850 Speaker 1: was that human beings are more than workers. The story 154 00:12:43,910 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 1: was that abundance is received before it is achieved. Now, 155 00:12:50,660 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: as I've been reflecting on all this, I found myself 156 00:12:53,860 --> 00:12:57,600 Speaker 1: thinking about a principle I've often used when leading retreats 157 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:01,679 Speaker 1: and training leaders. In an unhurried life, I called it 158 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:06,140 Speaker 1: the one-third rule. Over the years, I've discovered that people 159 00:13:06,260 --> 00:13:11,260 Speaker 1: are transformed less by information and more by creating sufficient 160 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: space to actually practice what they are learning. If all 161 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:19,670 Speaker 1: we do is fill every available moment with content, we 162 00:13:19,750 --> 00:13:24,890 Speaker 1: may increase knowledge while leaving habits unchanged. And so this 163 00:13:24,990 --> 00:13:28,410 Speaker 1: is why in Christian leadership team meetings, we need more 164 00:13:28,490 --> 00:13:32,460 Speaker 1: than a mere opening prayer. We need to begin our 165 00:13:32,500 --> 00:13:36,260 Speaker 1: time working for or planning for God by being together 166 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:41,040 Speaker 1: with God. We need more than a brief acknowledgement of 167 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:44,740 Speaker 1: his presence before moving on to the, quote, real work. 168 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 1: We need sufficient space to listen, worship, pray, and attend 169 00:13:50,380 --> 00:13:53,970 Speaker 1: to him together. And this is really at the heart 170 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:58,050 Speaker 1: of why Jim and I developed our PACE cohorts. We 171 00:13:58,150 --> 00:14:01,730 Speaker 1: wanted to create more than another training program filled with 172 00:14:01,830 --> 00:14:07,700 Speaker 1: good information. PACE creates extended space for leaders... to actually 173 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:11,260 Speaker 1: practice an unhurried life with God in the company of 174 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:14,870 Speaker 1: others who are seeking the same thing. If you find 175 00:14:14,910 --> 00:14:18,430 Speaker 1: yourself longing for a more spacious way of living and leading, 176 00:14:19,090 --> 00:14:21,890 Speaker 1: you might consider whether PACE could be a next step 177 00:14:21,910 --> 00:14:24,090 Speaker 1: for you. And you can learn more about it at 178 00:14:24,230 --> 00:14:31,160 Speaker 1: unhurriedliving.com slash PACE. Again, I'm noticing the remarkable proportion of 179 00:14:31,220 --> 00:14:36,930 Speaker 1: time set aside throughout Israel's year. That spaciousness created recurring 180 00:14:36,990 --> 00:14:41,690 Speaker 1: opportunities for activities that reminded his people who he was 181 00:14:42,410 --> 00:14:46,170 Speaker 1: and who they were. In a sense, Israel was being 182 00:14:46,250 --> 00:14:51,680 Speaker 1: trained not merely through commandments, but through rhythms. The calendar 183 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 1: became a sort of apprenticeship, week after week, season after season. 184 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:04,060 Speaker 1: Even generation after generation, God's people were invited to practice dependence, 185 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:09,060 Speaker 1: rather than merely affirm it, to practice gratitude rather than 186 00:15:09,100 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 1: merely talk about it, and to practice trust rather than 187 00:15:13,340 --> 00:15:17,450 Speaker 1: merely believing about it in theory. When you look at 188 00:15:17,490 --> 00:15:21,350 Speaker 1: these things in this light, the sabbatical rhythms of Israel 189 00:15:21,430 --> 00:15:25,590 Speaker 1: begin to look less like interruptions to life and more 190 00:15:25,650 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 1: like the very means by which God intended life to flourish. 191 00:15:30,820 --> 00:15:35,100 Speaker 1: The pauses were not distractions from what mattered. They were 192 00:15:35,300 --> 00:15:40,910 Speaker 1: actually essential to what mattered. Now, I am not suggesting 193 00:15:40,950 --> 00:15:43,750 Speaker 1: that we start campaigning for two or three months off 194 00:15:43,790 --> 00:15:47,890 Speaker 1: from work every year. Nor am I suggesting that followers 195 00:15:47,950 --> 00:15:53,220 Speaker 1: of Jesus are somehow obligated to reproduce Israel's calendar. But 196 00:15:53,260 --> 00:15:57,660 Speaker 1: I do wonder whether what God provided for Israel just 197 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 1: might offer us a clue to about the kind of 198 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:05,940 Speaker 1: spaciousness he desires for human life. After all, Israel had 199 00:16:06,020 --> 00:16:09,140 Speaker 1: already experienced a world in which their value was measured 200 00:16:09,210 --> 00:16:15,930 Speaker 1: by what they produced. Egypt demanded bricks. Pharaoh increased the 201 00:16:15,970 --> 00:16:19,550 Speaker 1: quotas and eventually took away the straw. Israel knew what 202 00:16:19,570 --> 00:16:22,430 Speaker 1: it was like to live under a system that always 203 00:16:22,830 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: demanded more. But then God delivered them from that system 204 00:16:28,290 --> 00:16:30,230 Speaker 1: And when Moses later repeats the Sabbath command, he explicitly 205 00:16:30,250 --> 00:16:33,030 Speaker 1: connects it to their deliverance from Egypt. He says, Remember 206 00:16:33,050 --> 00:16:39,560 Speaker 1: that you were slaves in Egypt. That's in Deuteronomy chapter 5. 207 00:16:58,100 --> 00:17:02,700 Speaker 1: Sabbath was one way Israel practiced being a free people. 208 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:10,159 Speaker 1: Slaves don't get Sabbaths. Free people do. Now, surely the 209 00:17:10,230 --> 00:17:13,470 Speaker 1: God who delivered Israel from Pharaoh is not interested in 210 00:17:13,510 --> 00:17:19,770 Speaker 1: becoming another religious version of Pharaoh. God is not a 211 00:17:19,869 --> 00:17:25,429 Speaker 1: slave driver. Perhaps some of our difficulty receiving rest comes 212 00:17:25,510 --> 00:17:29,270 Speaker 1: from imagining that God is more focused on our productivity 213 00:17:29,890 --> 00:17:34,889 Speaker 1: than he actually is. What I'm describing is something deeper. 214 00:17:35,950 --> 00:17:40,389 Speaker 1: The rhythms woven into Israel's calendar suggest a more spacious 215 00:17:40,790 --> 00:17:49,350 Speaker 1: vision of life itself. A life in which worship, celebration, gratitude, remembrance, community, trust, 216 00:17:49,410 --> 00:17:54,820 Speaker 1: and rest are are not occasional escapes from reality. They 217 00:17:54,920 --> 00:18:00,300 Speaker 1: are actually an essential engagement with reality with a capital R. 218 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:05,980 Speaker 1: They are woven into the ordinary fabric of human flourishing. 219 00:18:07,060 --> 00:18:11,480 Speaker 1: God's intention was not merely that his people take periodic 220 00:18:11,580 --> 00:18:16,330 Speaker 1: brief breaks from life. His intention was that they would 221 00:18:16,369 --> 00:18:23,790 Speaker 1: learn a Isn't that perhaps what Jesus said he came 222 00:18:23,869 --> 00:18:27,350 Speaker 1: for when he said, I've come that they might have life, 223 00:18:28,510 --> 00:18:33,340 Speaker 1: the abundant sort of life? And now the story of 224 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 1: Scripture moves toward Jesus, who stands in the synagogue of 225 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:41,560 Speaker 1: Nazareth and announces good news for the poor, freedom for 226 00:18:41,580 --> 00:18:45,140 Speaker 1: the captives, and release for the oppressed. And of course, 227 00:18:45,460 --> 00:18:51,290 Speaker 1: many scholars hear jubilee echoes in that declaration. It's almost 228 00:18:51,330 --> 00:18:54,669 Speaker 1: as though Jesus comes announcing the arrival of the rest 229 00:18:55,220 --> 00:19:00,820 Speaker 1: Israel could never quite receive. The God who commanded Sabbath 230 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:03,459 Speaker 1: was never trying to take something away from his people, 231 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:08,440 Speaker 1: and maybe he still isn't trying to do that. When 232 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,510 Speaker 1: we read the Old Testament through the lens of obligation alone, 233 00:19:12,050 --> 00:19:16,939 Speaker 1: we can miss this remarkable feature of God's design. Embedded 234 00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:20,740 Speaker 1: in the life of Israel was a recurring invitation, again, 235 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:25,700 Speaker 1: to stop, to gather, to celebrate and worship, to feast 236 00:19:25,780 --> 00:19:32,530 Speaker 1: and remember, to surrender and rest. Again and again, the 237 00:19:32,590 --> 00:19:37,190 Speaker 1: calendar interrupted the illusion that everything depended on human effort. 238 00:19:38,090 --> 00:19:42,530 Speaker 1: And perhaps that's why Sabbath remains such a gift. It 239 00:19:42,630 --> 00:19:46,719 Speaker 1: is not just a day off. It is a day-long 240 00:19:46,780 --> 00:19:53,720 Speaker 1: reminder that the world keeps turning. without our help. Every Sabbath, 241 00:19:54,500 --> 00:19:59,700 Speaker 1: every festival, every sabbatical year proclaimed the same good news. 242 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:04,730 Speaker 1: You are not what you produce, and God can be trusted. 243 00:20:05,930 --> 00:20:09,480 Speaker 1: Rest is not a reward for finishing your work It 244 00:20:09,540 --> 00:20:12,310 Speaker 1: is part of the way God teaches us how to 245 00:20:12,390 --> 00:20:20,250 Speaker 1: live and to live well. Thank you for listening to 246 00:20:20,290 --> 00:20:25,820 Speaker 1: the Unhurried Living podcast. To learn more about us, visit unhurriedliving.com. 247 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:29,640 Speaker 1: In the show notes, you'll find helpful links and information 248 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,400 Speaker 1: about our partner, Life Audio, and all of their other 249 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:35,070 Speaker 1: faith-centered podcasts.