Let them be oppressed with works, and let them fulfil them; that they may not regard lying words." (Exodus 5:8-9)
Thus speaketh the Pharaoh after learning that the Hebrews want to be set free. In these chapters of Exodus (3-5) the central event is obviously God speaking to Moses via the burning bush. But I just want to quickly focus on a parallel I noticed between our society today and the Pharaoh's words above. For when Moses (through Aaron) requests that the Hebrew people be released so that they may properly sacrifice to their God, the Pharaoh decides that the Hebrews obviously are too idle, that they don't have enough work to do, since they're sitting around thinking of crazy things like leaving Egypt so they may sacrifice to their God. In a much more conniving way, our culture today doesn't take kindly to idle-ness. We are a culture of work work work. And surprisingly enough, by working ourselves to death we've left little to no time for properly sacrificing to God. In fact, we work so much we've left no time to even think about Godly matters: the meaning of things, the broad questions, the ponderings of life. There's a reason the Church prescribes
holy days: we need time to dwell on spiritual things. Holy days are a chance to put aside everyday work and focus on God. But today even secular "holy days" (i.e., vacations) are limited to practically nothing (Americans take the fewest amount of vacation days compared to every other country in the world; in one study, Americans took on average 13 days of vacation per year, compared to 42 taken by Italians!). The point? If we are only ever working, when do we have a chance to think? And if we're never thinking, how are we contemplating God? The Pharaoh knew exactly what he was doing -- shut them up by making them work more! Well, I'd say today we are effectively shut up, for I don't see anyone complaining that we don't have enough time to give to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment