While I’ve never really done physical labor unless you count the month I worked at a restaurant lifting heavy boxes in the storeroom from shelf to shelf, I have certainly been plagued with the weariness of work. When I taught sixth grade Language Arts my first year out of grad school, I spent hours each week planning lessons for students at all levels of reading and writing. Often, those lesson plans were dashed to the chalkboard by student’s more immediate emotional needs, of which I was sorely unprepared for. Poetry, stories, and grammar rules meant little in the raging hormones of pubescent teens and their real and imagined dramas. There were many evenings I went home feeling exhausted and utterly defeated.
But, work is not only tiresome. It can also be a painful burden: physically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually.
If you ever had a baby or watched “Call the Midwife,” you may have an idea of the pain of childbirth and the potential tragedies for the mother and the baby if something goes wrong.
If you work in agriculture or own livestock, you know the physical work it takes to make any kind of profit to support your family. You also know the devastating losses that can come from bad weather and disease.
Even if you’ve never done manual labor, there is still great exertion in the business world. If you’ve ever had to work 80 hour weeks or sacrificed family time to get a new business off the ground, you too have felt the pain of work.
It seems as if the things our bodies are made for-- childbirth and work-- are some of the hardest things to do. Our fragile bodies are burdened by the work we are called to do.
"What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest." -Ecclesiastes 2:22-23
But, painful labor (in both senses of the word) was never supposed to be a burdensome mark on our bodies.
Using the creation story in Genesis 1 and 2 as a lens to view our bodies in relation to our work, we get a striking vision of unburdened bodies doing restful work. In the beginning, Adam was formed from dust on the ground into bone and flesh and then filled with the breath of God. So too, Eve was formed from the rib of Adam who called her bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.
Then in Genesis 1:28, God says to Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.” As flesh born images of God, they inhabited a physical, uncultivated world that was theirs to subdue. Unlike the Spirit, who could create the physical world as a disembodied being, their bodies were essential to their relationship with each other, the world, and their Creator. I imagine they worked and lived in the Garden unencumbered by pain, weariness, and tragedy. I imagine that Adam and Eve didn’t even have to think about their bodies in the way that we do, except to delight in the work set before them and in each other.
Isn’t that a beautiful picture?
That is until sin entered the world and the bodies of both Adam and Eve, man and woman, were marked by painful labor. In Genesis 3 God says to the woman, “I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children with painful effort” (Genesis 3:16). To the man, God says, “you will eat from it [the ground] by means of painful labor...You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow” (Genesis 3:17, 19). The ground is cursed, and the body bears the burden.
The effects of this curse on our work and our bodies are a daily reality whether you are a homemaker, a rancher, or a business person. The pressure to work non-stop, make a liveable income, and to avoid the unexpected outcomes of the current global pandemic only heightens the burden on our bodies. We just can’t keep up.
Though I know that upon Jesus’ return, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4). This begs me to question how Jesus’ death and resurrection transforms my work burdened body right now. Here are two ways that the Risen Jesus lifts the burden from our bodies in this in-between time:
1. Jesus invites us into a new way of life.
“So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.” - Acts 2:41-42
Though we experience inevitable suffering and toil in our work, we often add to the burden by our selfishness, greed, and lack of self-control. But, God gives us His Word, His Spirit, the Church to help us reorient our lives to His will. In His Word and by His Spirit, Jesus opens our eyes to the sinful ways we overwork. Then, we are invited to work out these sinful inclinations with other burdened bodies in a church community. In a church tethered to His Word and Communion, He patiently reforms our hearts and lives to be secure in Him rather than our bank account and resume.
2. Jesus gives us rest.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” - Matthew 11:28
For all of us overworked, underpaid, underemployed, and even unemployed stressed out people, Jesus promises to give us rest. By His death and resurrection, he has reclaimed His world and people under His rule and reign. He is the firstfruits of new creation giving us hope for unburdened bodies upon His return and a reason for reordered priorities now.
Because Jesus is King, I can trust that He will sustain me even when I rest from my work.
Because Jesus is King, I do not have to be anxious when my job isn’t fulfilling.
Because Jesus is King, my worth isn't found in my salary or rank.
Because Jesus is King, I can seek His wisdom and provision in times of unemployment.
If you do not feel the rest that Jesus promises, consider implementing a weekly Sabbath, boundaries on your workday, or prayerful pauses throughout the day. These simple pauses from your work can powerfully remind you that Jesus is the King and Savior of your life, not your toil.
How has your body felt burdened by your work this season? How have you pressed into Jesus for rest and new life?
Thank you for reading my blog! This is the first blog post on a series about "Burdensome Bodies." If this post moved you, please comment below and share it with a friend!
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