It was a sweltering hot day
Completely unlike the hottest day we’ve ever had here
It was 40 degrees in the shade
(That’s 105 in Fahrenheit for Imperial minded folks!)
But it’s a dry hot.
a desert hot.
an unbelievable hot.
One of those days where it’s soooo easy to get dehydrated
Where you can feel your tongue stuck to the roof of your mouth
Where even your eyes start to feel sticky… dry
And with our water bottles in hand
We walked up the hill
To the city of Capernaum
We stopped to look at the amazing architecture.
We saw Peter’s mother-in-law’s home,
We could see the olive presses that had been dug up and put on display
The mill stones
The rubble that was left of the ancient city walls
And over to our left, we saw the synagogue.
Even though it was not all in tact, you could get a feeling for the scale
For the height of the building
For the magnificence that it would have shown.
We entered the ruins
It was just after one pm and we sat in the shadow that one of the walls was starting to give
It was a Sunday.
There were all sorts of other groups there, the Roman Catholic Nuns that we often saw.
They were as recognizable with their yellow scarves as we were with our Tilley hats!
And there were two other groups.
One of them was an Italian group sitting in the shade by the Eastern wall.
The other were some Americans… you could always tell the Americans!
We were taking in the place
Wondering what it would have been like when it was built
And then it happened.
I saw it like it was happening in slow motion
She was standing on the second row of stones,
maybe 2 feet above the stone floor
when her body went limp and she crumpled to the ground
We were all the way on the other side of the courtyard,
but it was unmistakable.
Something had happened
Maybe she passed out
Maybe it was more serious
But before we knew it,
one of our fellow travellers
was off like a shot
She sprinted across the courtyard
and made it there seconds after the woman hit the ground.
She was a retired Doctor,
but you’d never have known her age by how fast she ran.
She bandaged up her cuts and scrapes
Bound up her sprained ankle
Mixed up that ghastly gastrolyte solution that is full of salts to help re-hydrate the body (even if its taste actually makes you feel worse – that’s how grosse it is!)
She healed her.
In the synagogue
On the Sabbath.
The irony was not lost on a single person there.
That would have been scandalous!
Healing was work – and no work should be done on the Sabbath!
That’s why it’s pointed out at the end of our Gospel today!
“Now that day was the Sabbath”
…. that day that Jesus healed
Sabbath comes form the Hebrew word “Shabat” meaning rest
A day set aside for the renewal of your spirit.
Of your body and your mind
Rest for the weary.
And renewing your relationship with the divine.
I remember my grandfather (a PK himself) … PK – priest’s kid
saying that Sunday’s were torture. He’d have to go to church 4 times a Sunday
and when he wasn’t at church he wasn’t allowed to play with his brothers or his friends,
but they stayed in the house and read.
Meals were very simple
He didn’t find it renewing, he found it constraining.
In fact, by the time he was 20, he figured that having gone to church 4 times a Sunday all his life, he was done till he was 80!
He didn’t find that Sabbath observance refreshing or renewing!
How many mothers are in the church today?
How many of you would like to evoke the Sabbath day rules today… you know – the no work rule – no house work, no cooking
Maybe being pampered by their kids.
How many of you think that this will be a reality today?
How many of you think this would be a reality every Sunday?
Exactly!
Do you remember the debate that happened a few years ago about Sunday shopping?
The uproar about whether or not stores should be allowed to open on Sunday afternoons – AFTER church?
I bet there are some of you who probably don’t shop on Sunday’s
And I bet there are some of you that do – and don’t even think about it anymore.
How many of you have noticed an odd trend that is happening now?
There are some stores that are cutting down on their hours and they are taking Monday’s off instead (I particularly notice this as Monday is my day off!)
Strange how some peoples Sabbath has shifted from Saturday to Sunday to Monday.
Is it Sunday or is it Saturday?
…. depends on who you ask… for me personally?
My Sabbath is Monday!
The Sabbath should be something that feeds your spirit.
That refreshes you
That reminds you of the joy of life
That renews your spirit and refreshes your relationship with the divine.
For me, a Sabbath rest is when I have some time to draw,
because it is through art that I feel most connected with God.
For others it might be music, music can touch our souls and make them sing again
For still others it might be nature, or crafts, or carving that helps centre you, that uses your creative outlet to connect with God.
Ohhh Sabbath Rest!
The day is unimportant.
The ritual, though helpful, is not the point
The refusal to do things you love for the sake of piety is also not the point.
and I would suggest, counterproductive.
The point is much deeper than this.
We need rest.
We need to take some time out from this crazy world
You might be thinking – that’s all well and good!
But I live in the real world!
I can’t just go off for a couple of days to retreat with the nuns at a convent
But you can take a Shabat… a rest, every week.
A mental break from the stresses and fears and worries that plague our minds and our hearts
Our attention is stretched in so many different directions.
From sick parents or children
To stress at work
To anything that weighs heavily on your heart.
But this is important.
We were not meant to work constantly like our computers.
We were not designed to be like an electrical outlet,
that whenever something new comes our way we have to be “ON”
Life doesn’t work that way
And if we try to, we can’t sustain it
that’s when we burn out.
When we cease to find joy in the things that once brought us such happiness.
So avoid that trap.
Take some time to be gentle with yourself
Make some time to calm your mind and listen to the stirrings of your soul.
Find a way to simply “BE” in the midst of the hassles and craziness.
You’ll be thankful you did
And your life will never be the same.
Thanks be to God.
