Toil, monotony, and change

From GraceDC, full blog here

Sin wears things down until they die. Recently my mother discovered some pictures from my 20th high school reunion. As we flipped through the photos, I was startled by the appearance of my aging friends. “Look at him,” I said. “He looks, well, older.” 

“What do you think you look like?” my mother replied.

Sin also produces “toil,” that continual labor against thorns and thistles. In Genesis 3 the Lord tells Adam, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” With those words he pronounces both the struggle (sweat) and monotony of life (till you return).

Struggle plus monotony equals toil, and “Monday Morning” has come to denote much of this feeling of toil. Words like “drudgery” and “daily grind” come to mind—“same ole’, same ole’”: We sit in the same traffic, drink from the same mug, pass the same scenery, listen to same the songs. We glance at the people beside us and see it in their faces, too. All of us have felt something of the experience Bill Murray so well depicts in Groundhog Day and Lost in Translation. There is little new... 

 

The Bible teaches that the final renovation of all things will be the completion of a work that is already in progress, a work that was initiated by Jesus’ resurrection. As one theologian put it, Jesus’ resurrection sent a “shockwave” of new life into the world. Sunday morning has extended its daylight into Monday morning, and beyond. Although we are not immune from toil, the resurrection of Jesus causes us to toil differently. We now toil with expectation, because the same power which exploded death is living in you.