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Chapter 10:

WORK AND VOCATION

HUMAN CONTEXT

Over the centuries the nature and scope, content and character of work has undergone radical and revolutionary changes. As work changed from nomadic to settled life, it also went through another level of change from the rural to the urban, from the agricultural to the industrial-commercial life. The former was a day-to-day affair: slow, steady, sustained and very personal. Fundamentally, there was no dichotomy or opposition between work and play, labour and leisure. Very often it was a family affair where every one could freely participate in the productive processes. Such a work ambience created its own joys and sorrows, possibilities and perils. There was a distinctive shift both mental and physical with the urbanized, industrialized society. Production was higher, the work was efficient and the dividends enormous. But it produced its own set of problems - alienation from work itself. It became mechanical, impersonal and very often dehumanizing, losing the dignity of labour. Thus it produced its own slave or bonded labour. People lost their fundamental freedom.

At the dawn of the third millennium, we are experiencing a further change in the workplace tantamount to a revolution. Computers and supercomputers have come to stay. The digital revolution is redefining the nature and quality of work. It has its own attractions and temptations. From this perspective, work and labour have become easier and efficient but we do not know whether that makes it more effective. Today it is possible again to sit at home and be earning an enormous amount of money. In this modern milieu of work, we have to ask the basic question of the right to work for every one - job opportunities for the millions in Asia, Africa and Latin America. What are we doing for the unemployed or the underemployed? Today the capital-intensive, labour-saving devices have been discovered or invented to boost the economy of developed as well as developing countries. Information technology and knowledge-based industries are proliferating in Asia. But how far are they conducive towards producing and sustaining work for the poor and the underprivileged?

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What kind of values are being practiced and promoted through the modern workplace? One must find meaning and purpose in their work. Otherwise it becomes drudgery, monotony, and a meaningless exercise. What kind of attitudes do we have in modern work ethos? Attitudes are shaped by the kind of work that we are doing. Precisely, for the problems of modern day work context, we need to look at the Bible and learn the lessons from it.

OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND

At the outset we encounter an active worker - God. God is the creator of heaven and earth. It is recorded,

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind (spirit) of God swept over the race of the water.³⁰¹

This was only the beginning of God’s creation-creative work. It is ongoing, continuous work. From this point of view, creation and the creativity of God is not a once and for all event in the past. It is a continuous process that reflects God’s character and quality. There is a purpose and meaning in God’s initial work of creation. The Bible faithfully documents God’s slow, steady and sustained work of creating various things and species, the light, the sky, the waters, the dry land, the vegetation, the plants, the fruits, the creatures, the birds and animals. It is a work that is done with care and compassion. It expresses systematic work, which means order, rhythm and harmony

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301 Genesis 1:1-2

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Only after creating the natural environment, then it is recorded in the first chapter of the Bible,

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all wild animals of the earth, arid over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.³⁰²

Such a text is indicative of the idea that God did not monopolize but shared his/her essence and eagerly desires that human beings will actively participate in this process of work. God has created humanity to be a partner or co-worker. Unfortunately, the word, dominion, in the text, has been over-emphasized and misinterpreted. God wanted humankind to be a deputy, steward, trustee. Work was to be a divine-human collaboration and enterprise. In such a work there is joy, peace and satisfaction because it is meaningful and purposive.

One of the most important points in the first chapter of the Bible is noted carefully,

And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation³⁰³.

The same as a worker God takes time off. It shows that work and rest originates from the same divine source. It becomes a time of recovery and restoration being reinforced and strengthened for further work. It also shows that God’s work of creation is not some frenetic, anxious activity. It is significant that this REST principle is enunciated and adopted right from the beginning in the context of work. The two support and reinforce each other.

The Old Testament also documents aberration of work and alienation from it. It anticipates well in advance such a state of affairs,

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302 Genesis 1:26b-27, 2:15

303 Genesis 2: 2-3

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...cursed is the ground because of you(Adam) in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground. . .³⁰⁴

Human sin and selfishness, stubbornness and greed result in alienation of and in work. It becomes sweat, pain producing thorns and thistles. Work loses its joy and beauty, meaning and purpose. It is dull, wearisome and does not benefit the worker.

God sees the suffering and exploitation of the Hebrew slave workers. They had been reduced to nobody with no identity. God saves them from this forced labour and gives them freedom in work. Instructions are issued, by Yahweh, that forbids any such forced, slave labour. Obviously the ancient despots and monarchs did not obey this. King Solomon is a good example. His grand empire broke down on the issue of forced work.³⁰⁵ King Rehoboam refused to listen and was, stoned to death and King Solomon had to run away. In the past such a state of affairs were quite obvious and visible. But today the nature and content of work has become more complex, sophisticated and subtle. But a lot of it is basically the same in essence. Exploitative power relations persist in the modern market place and in the work context. It has assumed vicious and deadly forms in such situations.

Sabbatical and Jubilee principles of rest were enunciated in this context of forced, slave labour or work in the Deuteronomic and Levitical laws. It gave freedom and mental space for them to do their own things - a time of leisure and relaxation and a time of justice and joy. I have already discussed this concept in another chapter. I have also looked at the prophetic proclamation about justice and injustice, oppression and exploitation of the workers even in that pre-industrial, rural-urban society. They sharply condemned those rulers and managers who lacked honesty and integrity in their dealings with the workers. The problem has become more acute in the context of the market economy and monetization of modern economics and economic development. Prophet Amos and others had anticipated it in their denunciations.

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304 Genesis. 3:17b -19a

305 I Kings: 12

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They were concerned about the work of the poor who were not paid properly. On the contrary, they were cheated and deprived of their due share of wealth.

In concluding this section, it is important to remind ourselves that the ancient Jewish teachers did not make a sharp distinction between religious (spiritual) work and secular (social) work. In their theocratic set-up, the two belonged together, or the former sanctified the latter. As a result vocation or calling was conceived in a holistic manner. All kinds of work were a calling of God. They are all stipulated in detail in the ancient laws.

APOSTOLIC WITNESS

Peter and Paul, James and John and other ancient apostles had inherited the religious traditions of the Jews and of course of Jesus in particular. In their understanding vocation applied to several spheres of life. Paul had put it well by stating that they were called to be apostles, to be saints, to freedom and to various avenues of service.³⁰⁶ He had prefaced it by asserting,

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.³⁰⁷

But we must also note that they had a static, submissive notion about vocation. In one context Paul advises,

Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called. Where you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever. For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters³⁰⁸.

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306 Ephesians 4:11

307 Ephesians 4:1- 3; II Timothy 1:9; I Corinthians 1:2, 24 and 26

308 I Corinthians 7:20-23

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On the one hand it seems that Paul is instructing the followers to be conformists, submitting willingly to the yoke of slavery. But on the other hand, we must understand the text in the wider context of the apostolic mission and the messianic kingdom of God. In the text itself, Paul expresses his explicit preference for freedom but requesting the slaves to be patient for a little more time until the kingdom of God comes when such inequitable and iniquitous relationships will be completely destroyed.³⁰⁹ Sometimes people have to suffer for the sake of fellow-sufferers until all are liberated. Indeed the gospel of God in Jesus is demanding and challenging.

I have already mentioned that in the early Church, the ancient apostles took serious note of injustice and inequality and openly spoke against it and passed a unanimous resolution to abolish such discriminations. They were not naive or simplistic, as I have mentioned. James in particular is emphatic on the issue of poverty and slave labour. He states categorically,

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. . . Listen the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.³¹⁰

The apostles were aware of the indebtedness of the poor and the fact that the rich were exploiting the situation to their own advantage.

The apostles testified powerfully to the new life in Christ. This new life was not spiritual apart from the physical - social aspects. This new life must inevitably embody concrete, visible work for the benefit of the whole society. So they talked and advocated freedom and justice, love and responsibility towards the needy and the oppressed workers. They were definitively not interested in building a hierarchical, stratified society in which many will labour and work hard while the few will benefit from their labour and eat their produce. That is not the character of the kingdom of God.³¹¹ As I have mentioned before, I repeat that Paul and other apostles did not affirm uncritical submission and obedience³¹².

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309 I Corinthians 5:24-25

310 James 5:1.4

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All work is a vocation. God has called us to serve in and through whatever work we are engaged in. So we must do our work honestly and sincerely. The early apostles entertained the belief that the world will end very soon, Jesus will come again, Parousia, and he will establish a new world order. Such preaching was widely prevalent in those days. As a result some Christians decided not to work. Paul intervened, revised the time-table of Jesus’ Second Coming and reprimanded the people,

Stay away from any Christian who spends his days in laziness and does not follow the ideal of hard work we set for you . . . you never saw us loafing . . . we worked hard day and night for the money we needed to live on . . . we gave you this rule: ‘He who does not work shall not eat.” Yet, we hear that some of you are living in laziness, refusing to work and wasting your time in gossiping... we command them to quieten down, get to work, and earn their own living. And to the rest of you I say, dear brothers (sisters), never be tired of honest work (tired of doing right or not be weary of well-doing).³¹³

Thus there is a clear instruction to work and work hard even within the apocalyptic-eschatological expectation. And in our work we should be in pursuit of the well-being or welfare of all. In another context, the Pauline proclamation is clear,

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learnt...³¹⁴

In our work we should not indulge in a dualism between our profession and our vocation; between our professional expertise and efficiency and our calling to be committed and compassionate. One should not be sacrificed for the sake of the other. We must maintain the polarity or the tension between the two.

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311 I Corinthians 11:20ff

312 Colossians 3:18ff; Ephesians 5:2lff; I Peter 2:l3ff

313 II Thessalonians 3:6-13; Galatians 6:9; Romans 2:7

314 Philippians 4: 8-9; II Timothy 2:15; Galatians 6:4

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GOSPEL TRUTH

Jesus was one of the greatest communicators in the history of humanity. He had made it abundantly clear that as God is working so he was working.³¹⁵ For him work, in terms of ministry or service, is the essence of the gospel. Thus we find him always in the midst of people, teaching, healing and feeding them. There is a perfect harmony or unity between his words and deeds; between his person and precepts; between his life and work. That makes his gospel so powerful and effective.

This worker - Jesus did not reject either the sabbatical or the jubilee principle of rest, recovery and restoration. But he definitively and decisively challenged their misuse or aberrations. Such a principle is not advocated for the purpose of aggressively asserting self - righteousness or being moralistic. It must be an occasion or an opportunity to reinforce one’s energy to do better and greater work. Obviously, the scribes and the Pharisees completely misunderstood or deliberately distorted Jesus confrontation with them about the Sabbath.

Jesus mentions slaves, wageworkers and tenants working for big absentee landlords in his many parables and illustrations. This does not mean that Jesus endorsed such unjust working conditions of the day. On the contrary, he viewed them basically from the kingdom perspective. He is quite explicit about the priority of the kingdom, which for Jesus stands for equality and justice, love and forgiveness. So it is necessary to evaluate our work in the world or our calling in terms of the kingdom. How far does our work, our attitude to work, the working conditions and the fruits of our work point to or approximate the kingdom as conceived by Jesus? We need to be critical about any work from this vantage point.

Jesus’ most powerful teaching is about mammon. As he had said, ‘human beings shall not live by bread alone’, so also he had warned,

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. . . No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other. You cannot serve God and wealth (mammon).³¹⁶

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315 John 5:17

316 Matthew 6:19, 21,24; Luke 16:9,11 and 13

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In and for our work, we must be concerned about our salaries or wages. Jesus was not opposing that. But he did not want us to become solely preoccupied or obsessed with moneymaking, profit producing exercises or enterprise. Our greed and selfishness lead to such obsession, which sometimes becomes paranoia. That is the disease of the decade particularly in India with its so - called New Economic Policy (NEP). As much as we should not obsess about moneymaking or wealth, nor should we absolutise the work that we are doing.

Jesus had issued similar warning about food, clothing and housing and such others. He was interested in and concerned about material things of life without indulging in materialism. That would be idolatry, which the Bible condemns vehemently. The point of Jesus teaching about material things is not to be unduly anxious or worry about those things. Rather than worrying, we should join the messianic movement, the movement of the Spirit and seek for the kingdom of justice and joy.³¹⁷ Our fidelity to God in Jesus the Christ demands our full fidelity in our work in the world. It is there that we can bear an effective witness to the working of the kingdom. Thus in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus summons his followers to be ‘the salt of the earth’³¹⁸; ‘the light of the world’³¹⁹ and be ‘like a leaven in the dough’.³²⁰ Witness in work in the world is a sign of the coming kingdom.³²¹

The above discussion makes it clear that we must be willing to oppose any kind of work that promotes an unjust, exploitative system. Therefore our work has a structural/systemic dimension. We are working for and within an economic framework or ideology. We must remember that the Bible in general and Jesus in particular stand for life in its totality (not just bios but also psyche). This is the basic teaching of the Bible. From this perspective we have to pay heed to Jesus when he utters, ‘What shall it profit a person if he or she gains the whole world but lose himself/herself?’³²²

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THEOLOGICAL - ETHICAL AFFIRMATION

We fully affirm a worker-God and a worker-Jesus. We know God primarily through God’s work in the world. God creates, saves and recreates the earth, or more importantly God is always creating, redeeming and recreating. Thus the work of God is ongoing in character. But God also rests and retreats for the sake of objectivity and transcendence - for the sake of further work. God’s work is loving, forgiving and justice oriented.

Work must be considered a calling in the sense that it demands full commitment and compassion. But work and religion should not be confused or mixed up. Christian principles, goals and values should govern and guide our approach and attitude to the work we are engaged in. Lay-ministry, worker-priests and others have made a difference in terms of witness. We are called to be efficient, well trained and well equipped to do a particular kind of work. Both theoretical tools and practical skills are necessary to be successful in our workplace. Conversely we must learn to temper our tools and skills with grace and a real personal-human touch. That means that we engage in our respective secular work based on principles that are absorbed from our Christian faith. According to the lesson of the Bible, there is no dichotomy between faith and work, law and grace. We should not identify them, reduce them or separate them arbitrarily.

QUESTIONS FOR GROUP DISCUSSION

How to keep together your career and commitment to Jesus? Why there are serious gaps between the two? What can he do to bridge the gap?

Should you compromise your commitment to Jesus in the midst of your career building? Why Yes?’ Why no?

How to connect one’s professional requirements with one’s vocational commitments? What are the problems?

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FIELD EDUCATION

Select one or two of the best professions (career) in your community/society/country. Make an empirical study of the nature and content of that particular career in terms of actual work involved; salaries/wages; gender ratio; age group; the kind of temptations/problems/difficulties; relating it to your vocation as a Christian etc. Suggest ways in which young people can be groomed, recruited and trained for that profession/vocation.

QUOTATIONS FOR PERSONAL AND GROUP REFLECTION:

There have been so many moments in the past, during the dark days of apartheid’s vicious awfulness, when I had preached, ‘This is God’s world and God is in charge!’ Sometimes when evil seemed about to overwhelm goodness . . . I was tempted to whisper in God’s ear, ‘For goodness sake, why don’t you make it more obvious that you are in charge.

Idolatry, in the prophetic sense, is worshipping the work of one’s own hands and hence making humanity subservient to things, and in this process, becoming a thing itself. The idols of our day are leaders, institutions, especially the state, the nation, production, law and order, and every human-made thing. The concept of alienation is the same as Biblical concept of idolatry.

We preach the Gospel of justification by faith, of the worth of human persons in God’s eyes through his love. And yet we seem to be quite comfortable with an economic system, which values a human person according to his merits, his capital assets, his money, his labour-power. We confess God the creator who has given us lifetime to develop our human potentialities in caring for the earth, for ourselves and for each other. How can we be at peace with a system, which subordinates all human activity to the business of profit making? How can we be at ease with a

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system in which only that is valuable, which is profitable, in which other purposes of life don’t count, in which everything gets commercialised, including love, human relations, art and religion?

Without work, all life goes rotten, but when work is soulless, life stifles and dies.

REFERENCES

Anugraham, D.D., Job Horizons, Madras: The Christian Literature Society, 1970.

Cox, Harvey, The Secular City: A Celebration of its Liberties and An Invitation to its Discipline, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1965

Moses, Y. (ed.) Beyond Ourselves: Some New Perspectives for Christian Youth, Delhi: ISPCK, 1985.

Wielenga, Bastian, Labour: Serving God or Mammon, Delhi: ISPCK, 1987