Everyone needs rest. From a physical standpoint, it is essential. The little baby who spends half her time eating, spends the other half sleeping. The spry, 20-something marathoner displays endurance that appears everlasting, but at the end of the race, rest must come before another race can be run. That elderly man in life’s mid-winter does not own the strength to entertain others, but only the ability to entertain thoughts conceived in restful posture.
From a spiritual perspective, rest is no less necessary. Actually, in order to avoid that nagging, dualistic tendency, we ought to consider rest – both physical and spiritual – together, inseparable. Our entire self must attain rest in order to maintain wholeness and health.
Yahweh knows this, being the creator of us all. The fine structure of the human person is so utterly dependent on rest, it comes as no surprise that God also created Sabbath, about which Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.” (Mk 2:27 TNIV).
Certainly, Jesus is right. We were not created for Sabbath. But, we were made for rest.
Apparently, it is not for inability that God created us for rest. Surely, he could have made bodies that could withstand any amount of relentless stress and work, without need for pause. This begs the question: Why invent such an obstacle, one that seems to impede the human apprehension of a fuller life?
I mean, just imagine a world in which no rest was needed: The work-week would be cut in half since people could work all day and through the night. Jet-lag would be a thing of the past for avid travelers. 24-hour restaurants would not be novelties. Those who spend all their waking hours working on the cure for cancer or bringing aid to those who suffer would be able to re-double their efforts toward a more whole humanity. What a world this would be!
But the no-rest world is only imaginary. No one is exempt from the need for intervallic sleep and frequent moments of rest. And for those with restless souls, the moment of need seems ever more imminent.
Rest is good, not just because God said it is. Furthermore, it is good beyond its pragmatic function as sustainer of human productivity. Rest – real rest – is good because it only derives from a good “place.” That is, the place where God in his goodness dwells. Any semblance of rest – physical, spiritual, mental, emotional – is illusory unless it ultimately derives from the Father, who is “always working” (Jn 5:17) in order that we may rest.
We are restless until we rest in God, as Augustine famously said in his Confessions. Herein lies the missionality of rest.
Despite all of our evangelistic campaigns, our hell-fire sermonizing, our attempts at making church attractive to non-church attenders, the resulting conversions are paltry. We need a new/old approach. Let us allow weariness to work for us. Those who worship now have already found rest for their weary souls within the heart of God. Perhaps for those who are yet to prostrate themselves in restful adoration before the Lord of the Sabbath, we ought not begin with a lesson about Jesus saving us from our sin. We should teach first that God provides rest for weary-wicked ones, if only they would come.
If goodness leads them not, yet weariness may toss them to God’s breast.
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