Texts: Isaiah 40:21-31; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39
There seems to be something addictive about work. When I first joined the New Zealand workforce at the end of 1967 no one used the term workaholic, but even then many men worked long hours in their place of employment. I say ‘men" because in those days, certainly in the public sector, those who worked long hours tended to be the senior staff and they were almost exclusively men... And they were admired for their hard work.
Among farmers, and labourers, and housewives, no on used the term "workaholic" either. Long hours of hard, hard work were just the way life was. You had no choice. Whether you enjoyed it or not, you just had to knuckle down and get on with it. And any who didn’t would soon receive the scorn of their neighbours. Lazy, good-for-nothing layabout, that one is!
The idea, the dream, was to work hard and make something of yourself, to make a better life, if not for yourselves, then for your children and their children – give them the chance in life you never had. And the often unspoken idea behind that was to escape a life of drudgery and backbreaking labour. Miners hoped their boys wouldn’t have to follow them down the mines; mothers wanted something better for their daughters than copper boilers, scrubbing boards and mangles. The way ahead was to work hard now so that life would be easier in the future.
Tied in with all this were three other factors. First there was the desire for security. The generation who had come through the Great Depression were understandably scarred by the experience. A job, any job, and especially any job that offered security, was to be sought after and kept at all costs. I lost count of the homes I visited as a law clerk in the Public Trust Office where people of that generation still had a picture of Michael Joseph Savage on their wall. The Holyoake years of full employment and prosperity in the country were not enough to erase the memories of those terrible years of the early thirties, and Mickey Savage was their hero. He had brought them security and they would never forget him.
Secondly, there was the desire for education. The better the education, the better the job at the end of it. That was the belief, and parents tried their very best to get it through the heads of their teenage children. As a country New Zealand has a proud history of universal, relatively free education. Today, nothing stirs the pot quicker than a stoush over education.
And thirdly, we put our faith more and more in technology. We didn’t call it technology originally – we called it labour-saving devices. That’s an interesting expression, isn’t it? Although we have always admired hard-working people, we hoped for more and more devices and machines that would reduce the need for hard- work. And so sure were we at one stage that this new labour-free society was just around the corner that people started
worrying about how we would manage with so much leisure-time on our hands. What would we do?
Well, we now know the answer to that question, don’t we? We work. We may not work so hard physically as previous generations, but I suspect that we work just as many hours as they did. We use our labour-saving devices to enable us to labour at something else. Computers are the best example of that. Who believes that we spend less time on a computer than we once did on our typewriters, or with our pens?
We do not want to stop working. We might grumble about it, or about our boss, our workmates, or our customers; we might go on about how tired and pressured we are. And then, almost in the same breath, we dismiss "retirement" as a dirty word. And as for compulsory retirement…! How could we ever have been so cruel?
There is something addictive about work. Of course, if we are fortunate enough to have a job we enjoy doing, it’s not quite so hard to understand; but how do you explain an old friend of mine in Otaki who was still doing her weekly wash in the copper boiler well into her seventies when she had a serious fall, and broke her pelvis. While she was being treated for that her husband took advice from someone and bought her the best, most convenient washing machine money could buy. When she recovered, she waited until he was out on the farm one day, then donated the machine to the local Children’s Health Camp and last I heard was still using the copper boiler!
What is it that we get from our work that is so valuable to us? Social networks play a part if we are working with others. A sense of achieving something worth doing, perhaps. Prestige? The admiration of others? No doubt there are a number of elements in the mix, and they are different for different people. The danger, which we are just beginning to recognise today, is that we become so attached to our work and what it gives us that we get our lives out of balance. And the signs are that a shift is under way. When we have an All Black or a Blackcap missing a game or two to be home with their wives for the birth of their child you suspect that New Zealand is changing! When a senior politician resigns from Cabinet to spend more time with his family we can be sure it is!
None of this should surprise us if we know our Scriptures. On the seventh day, we are told at the very beginning of our faith story, God rested from his labours. Why? Because he was exhausted? Hardly. Isaiah tells us today "He will not grow tired and weary". God stood back from his labours on the seventh day to enjoy them, to appreciate them. God looked at them and saw that everything he had made was good. There is no point in our labours if we will not take the time to enjoy their fruit.
All three of today’s readings tell us something about work, and guide us in seeking a proper work-life balance. They give us a godly approach to labour. First of all, our work is to be undertaken in cooperation with God. God is working his purposes out through us; our labour, well directed and well done,
helps to bring about the kingdom of God. And I’m not talking primarily about church work; I ‘m talking about the everyday work carried out in the everyday world.
When a builder builds a house he is helping to provide shelter; farmers and gardeners and cooks provide food; tailors and dressmakers and machinists produce clothes; doctors and nurses and other health professionals, and plumbers and drain layers, bring healing and care to the sick. Are not all these things examples of God’s purposes being worked out in the world? Is it not the Divine will that people have shelter, and food and drink, and healing when they are sick? Any labour that produces benefit to others is godly labour. It is God’s labour worked through us. And, says Isaiah, God provides the energy we need to perform this work. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak….those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. That’s Isaiah’s take on work-life balance.
St Paul’s is similar. In many ways he might rank as one of the great Christian workaholics of all time. Yet he, too, never makes the mistake of working for the sake of working, or for his own sake alone. He is clear that he is answering God’s call: I am compelled to preach. He is clear that his ministry is about offering his services to others, not insisting on his own rights. And his strategy is to become one with the people to whom he is ministering. To become completely other-orientated. His aim is always to build them up, not himself.
But, as usual, it is in the gospel passage that we find the most helpful teaching. Here we are given a day in the life of Jesus. It happens to start on the Sabbath, a day of rest and worship. Jesus and his disciples are in Capernaum, and join the congregation at the local synagogue. After the service they go to Peter’s and Andrew’s house, and there they find Peter’s mother-in-law sick with fever. Jesus heals her. Then, it seems, they rest until the Sabbath is over at sunset.
In the evening the crowds come and Jesus ministers to them. When they have gone he gets some sleep to meet his physical need for rest, but he does not have a lie-in. Nor does he throw himself back into his work, as Peter obviously thinks he should. He goes to a lonely place to pray – to wait upon God and have his strength renewed.
And there we see that perfect work-life balance. There is time for worship; there is time for socialising with his friends, perhaps around the table; there is time for work; there is time for sleep; and there is time for prayer. His critics accused Jesus of many things, but no one ever accused him of being a workaholic, even though his entire life was dedicated to carrying out the will of God.
When we are too busy to worship, or to pray, or to rest, or to spend time with family and friends, we can be pretty sure that our work has become our god. And that’s not just a form of addiction in our modern language. It’s idolatry in any language. Work-life balance is the will of God our Creator, who knows what is best for us. Amen.
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