Tyre and Sidon - Singapore

I happened to tune in to St Helen's 6 pm service on YouTube on 14 Jan 24.

The pastor mentioned flying into Singapore (I confess I had not been paying attention as I was writing another post for this blog) and I immediately stopped to listen more closely.

Matthew 11:21 
"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes."

The context is that the sermon was about God's judgement, and how it would be tempered according to circumstances (or mitigation, if you like) e.g. how much of the gospel had been revealed to the subject in question? The pastor said that in the early days of the church, there were obviously limits to how far and how fast they could spread the word.

And so God's judgement would depend on the exposure. Tyre (an island city) and Sidon (coastal city) were prosperous cities that the pastor said reminded him of Singapore, with all the ships waiting in the harbour. And that was it. I thought there would be some interesting analogy, but it was just a passing reference.

There were two parts to the message. One was that these were cities that were trading hubs, exposed to different cultures and ideas from the ships that called at their ports, and were centres of excellence in many fields. They would have heard the gospel. They would have had no excuse though Christ is not known to have set foot there.

Chorazin and Bethsaida on the other hand were near Capernaum and witnessed Christ's ministry first hand. They were said to be less immoral than Tyre and Sidon, but because they had been blessed with Christ's ministry and yet refused to accept him, would suffer a harsher judgement. 

John 12:37 "Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him."

There is also the underlying message that God knows how we will respond individually. He knows our hearts and so Christ said even Tyre and Sidon would have repented if they had been privileged to have heard his ministry first hand.

Today the situation is reversed. First, there are very few corners of the world that have not been exposed to the gospel. But we no longer have the privilege of seeing Christ in person and listening to His ministry. We only read about his ministry and miracles and taught it is far better to believe in faith than to demand proof.

A demand for proof is rooted in disbelief and scepticism, It is not really the posture of a seeker. A seeker understands he has no answers, and humble enough to accept that someone else might have one.

random reflections on a sermon on rest

Pastor Ian Lee spoke about Rest from Work this morning at the Traditional Service.

Mentioning Daft Punk's 'Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger'  in his opening was cool, but I think the reference was rather wasted on that audience. Perhaps the P&P crowd will appreciate it more:)

The reference to Deuteronomy 5:14 really struck a chord with me. "But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work - you, or your son or your daughter or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you."

It reminded me of my previous work in MOM, where one of my main tasks was to ensure the welfare of foreign workers, and domestic workers ('maid' was a un-PC term) in particular presented a challenge. It was not a problem mandating a rest day for other foreign workers, since locals would be resting as well. But many domestic workers looked after children or old folks, and employers were often reluctant to give them a day off as it meant someone else had to take over. 

There would be two main perspectives when it came to the debate on rest days. The first, as already mentioned above was that employers felt that they deserved to have their day of rest too, and thus should not have to take over those duties/chores. The second common perspective was for employers to tell themselves that the workers wanted to earn more money, and would be grateful for the extra income by working on their day of rest. I won't go into details but let's just say that the imbalance in the power dynamics between employers and the workers makes the second argument a little dubious and disingenuous. As is the argument that not having a day off meant they would be less likely to get into trouble, which meant employers were in no danger of losing their bond of $5K.

It is a self-centric perspective in some respects. We feel our rest days are more important than our workers. And our money is more important than the worker having enough rest. This is also exacerbated by the injustices of an employers' market - if the worker wanted a rest day, well too bad because there are others who need the job badly enough and are willing to forego it. But it suffices to say that even in a market that can be or is allowed to be distorted, it is still down to individuals to do the right thing. I think this is the only way for us in a secular society. Not to say we can't fight for change, but we have to make peace with whatever the outcome is, even as the fight is ongoing.

And so the second point that Pastor Lee made with reference to Deuteronomy 5:15 suddenly becomes all important - I confess I was not familiar with it till he brought it up. "Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day."

God wants us to remember how Israelites/we were freed from oppression, and he asks that we have a day set aside for Him. And that applies to us as employers and supervisors. I am reminded of a previous job where one supervisor made the point that he sends out email on the weekend but does not expect people to respond immediately. 

I am not sure what the correct perspective is. Clearly telling people not to respond didn't work. In his mind, he is probably thinking that he is giving people the flexibility to organise their own work-life balance. But is it healthy if he notices a trend? Should he tell the officer privately? Maybe he did. Should the supervisor stop sending out mails on weekends? He could just draft the emails and only send them early on Mondays. I keep trying to find reasons to say why it is reasonable that people should be allowed to work on rest days but Pastor Lee's message keeps resonating with me. Modern work life culture is an oppression of sorts because it is driven relentlessly by the demand to be productive, to be fast. And indeed there will be organisations that make no bones about this, that expect you to be on call round the clock, not caring very much about your welfare and your personal circumstances. How should a Christian make peace with this?

I saw a clip where Jimmy O Yang said he wanted to do stand-up because that was what he loved, that it was his dream. His father said chasing your dreams led to homelessness:) - and that you should make good money doing work you hated, so that you could use the money to enjoy what you love in your spare time (aka your sabbath). Or something like that. It is quite a funny bit, but what spoke to me was that without God in our lives, working at something you hate sounds like a terrible fate - but if we work for His glory, and can make so much money from it that you can contribute it all to the church or doing good for others, then maybe we should? Not something I can answer easily because it is the individual involved who must make peace with it and seek God's wisdom.