Longing For Rest

Whoever searches for respite in the modern workplace will probably not find anything but a string of assignments and expectations that never relent until one quits working altogether.  In addition to the pressure to work as endlessly as one can for the often disproportionate enrichment of someone else, there are all the inconveniences and struggles of general life, such as sickness, relational strife, physical deterioration, and even the recurring efforts to cook or clean in one's living area that can so easily sap time and energy from people over time.  Rest means forfeiting or postponing whatever else could have been done at the time, but it is necessary to best ensure short and long-term health--of a physical and mental kind.

It is not mere pragmatism that is the basis of the Sabbath obligation.  The sanctity of human flourishing is at the heart of it (Mark 2:27).  While every exact personal reaction to steady, invasive work and trials is subjective, the Sabbath is no minor thing.  Not only is intentional violation of it a capital sin (Exodus 35:2), but the Sabbath is also needed so very much by people who otherwise are consumed with labor or striving of one kind of another left to themselves.  While it does not eliminate the need to labor outside of the Sabbath day, this day of rest provides a chance for healing, freedom, and peace that is otherwise easy for some to continually exclude themselves from.  Only one such day of rest is required, and even then, it is helpful for those who can financially afford it to perhaps take an additional day or two out of every week to recuperate or simply celebrate how labor of professional kinds especially is nowhere near the pinnacle of human existence.

Laboring professionally or otherwise through drudgery, disappoinment, and exhaustion in hopes that the next day(s) off will be the hypothetical time of rejuvenation, people can find just enough motivation to continue the draining cycle of addressing work and trials.  It might be the case that someone who initially expected to never lose their energy or focus in the workplace or amidst the sometimes unrelenting challenges of life finds themself desperately longing for rest.  In such circumstances, it is far more than a single day of avoiding unnecessary physical activity or professional concerns altogether that might be sought, but a longer period that, through leisure, can restore their legitimate enjoyment of life.

The Sabbath does not erase all of life's difficulties, not even the ones that have to do with toil and exhaustion.  Still, it is far more than a potential option for hopeful psychological and physical health.  The core idea of the Sabbath, of having at least one day out of every seven to devote to personal rest and direct reflection on the nature of reality (anyone could engage in this even during strenuous labor, but this makes it easier), is absolutely vital to sustained flourishing as a human.  The longing to rest is not necessarily born out of laziness.  Inside and outside of the Christian worldview, relaxation is a deep, needed, life-giving thing, something that is Biblically important enough to kill people who forsake it.