This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news:

BENEFIT CLAIMANTS CHEATED BY STAFF

Jeremiah 17:19-25

19 Thus said the Lord to me: Go and stand in the People’s Gate, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem, 20and say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. 21Thus says the Lord: For the sake of your lives, take care that you do not bear a burden on the sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. 22And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the sabbath or do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. 23Yet they did not listen or incline their ear; they stiffened their necks and would not hear or receive instruction.

24 But if you listen to me, says the Lord, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but keep the sabbath day holy and do no work on it, 25then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall be inhabited for ever.

Granted a complex industrial society like ours would have problems keeping a very strict sort of Sabbath, there is also a complete incomprehension about what on earth such a day would be for. Why does Jeremiah link the survival and flourishing of the city to the keeping of the Sabbath? The reason is that in keeping the day holy, all sections of society recognise the existence of something beyond their own power and convenience. By contrast a society which has no such observance recognises nothing beyond its own power and convenience. I guess that’s one of the aspects of secular society. The battle being fought out in the remote Hebrides over Sunday golf and public transport, while always easy to ridicule, raises this fundamental issue.

Jeremiah linked Sabbath observance with a concern for justice because both were, as he believed, commanded by God. Of course trying to reconstitute Christendom is no business of Christian believers who must simply get on with their own observance, but I think a fairly robust observance is appropriate, especially for the witness it makes to society in general and to our own children. It is one of the ways in which we can maintain our faith in divine justice and believe that someone remembers how the poor are treated.

John 6:16-27

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17got into a boat, and started across the lake to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18The lake became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. 20But he said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’ 21Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land towards which they were going.

22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the lake saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ 26Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’

The beyond in the midst

John reports Jesus as continually challenging his disciples to see that God is with him. “It is I” teases them with the kind of language used by God, the I AM. John is setting out clearly the paradox of Jesus: he is completely human and completely God’s Son. That is why he gives “signs” –healings and other mighty works-which should be interpreted as revealing God’s presence in him rather than as spectacular miracles. For John the only point of the feeding of the 5000 is to reveal “the food that endures for eternal life”, that is Jesus’ teaching. John is sometimes accused of a dualistic view of life: light/darkness, good/evil, truth/ lies, life/death, God/ the Devil, but his story of Jesus makes clear that these are all possibilities of the one world in which God through Jesus asks people to trust in his love. God’s life is not somewhere else, but here and now in the midst of the world’s life. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called God “the Beyond in the midst.” This means that people can recognise God’s presence even in the most secular society. What kind of Sabbath would honour the “Beyond in our midst.”?