The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? John 11:8-9 (ESV)
Over the last several decades, the movie industry as well as Hollywood with its sitcoms have targeted men. If you were to sit down and watch any number of movies or shows, you would see that men are portrayed as incompetent bumbling fools. When men are given opportunities to make decisions in the shows, they often make the wrong decision and then are scoffed at by their wives, children, or neighbors. At this point, the men chuckle and laugh and retreat to a corner where they assume their “proper role”, which is that of a by-stander who overstepped his boundaries by engaging in making a decision in the first place.
The state of men in North America is simply not healthy. The phrase “toxic masculinity” gets thrown out with ease in conversation, and heads quickly nod as if there is an unspoken understanding of “the overly aggressive or assertive male”. This is viewed as “evil” and then questions immediately arise as to what exactly this “toxic man” is capable of.
I’m a big believer in the power of words, and the way men have been portrayed over the last several decades undoubtedly has had a negative effect. If you study current language trends, too many people now talk in extremes, swinging wildly from one side of the spectrum to the other, and their language includes their perception of what manhood is supposed to look like.
For today, I want to look at the language that Jesus uses here in John 11 about what he considers the normal work day to be for men.
Although I dislike the way much of the media portrays men, we, as men, also have to accept responsibility for the fact that the stereotyping that has occurred didn’t get there without it being in part true. Our concern though really shouldn’t be about what society says about the modern man, but what God’s word says manhood should look like, both then and now.
One of my favorite aspects of studying the Bible is the never ending discovery of golden nuggets that get subtly dropped into the middle of a bigger conversation or issue that is taking place. This is one such case.
In the midst of Christ’s three year ministry, a friend to Jesus, Mary, found out that her brother, Lazarus, had died. Christ spent two more days in this place before announcing that they were going to go to Judea to wake Lazarus up. The disciples, at first, thought that Christ was waking up Lazarus from a sleep, to which Christ replied that Lazarus was dead. His mission was to raise Lazarus from the dead - to bring glory to God in doing this - and to leave a testimony for his disciples, witnessing the power that he possessed.
The disciples' concern was that the rabbis in Judea had made it known they wanted to stone Christ - thus, Christ would be walking into the lion’s den if he did this. Christ disregarded the danger they presented to him, and in passing, made the statement, “Are there not twelve hours in a day?” This is a simple reference to the amount of time Jesus had available to do his day’s work - 12 hours.
It’s a subtle suggestion, but one that has the power to revolutionize a modern man’s paradigm. The modern American man, in his personal pursuit of the American Dream, has been told that an eight hour work day is the expectation to hold on to. Oh, there are people who work more or less, but eight hours a day has become the modern day norm. If a man today has the ideal schedule, he might work five days a week, eight hours a day, totaling 40 hours a week. That might slightly adjust to a four day work week, putting in ten hours a day, still totaling 40 hours a week.
However this gets achieved, many guys feel that they have fulfilled their obligation for work and get the rest of the time for themselves to do what they want with the rest of the evening - a round of golf, watch a game, develop a hobby, or play video games into the evening.
Well, what if that man has a family? What if he has kids? A wife? What happens with Monday through Friday evenings after their “work” is done? Does the man stay engaged to help his wife clean up from dinner? Assist with a child’s question about their math assignment? Do the maintenance jobs around the house get completed in a timely fashion? Does the man fade away into the background, as is often portrayed, and head to the “man cave” to disengage and decompress from everyone?
Well, what about men who don’t have a family? These previously mentioned responsibilities from a family may not yet be on their plate, and their evenings are wide open to do what they want. Richard Nixon surmised about the quality of life by saying, “What makes life mean something is a purpose. A goal. The battle. The struggle.” Men find value in their work, but do they find value in their interests when not on the job? What does a single man do? Is there a place to still work for them in the evenings? What about tutoring? Coaching a youth team? Volunteering at a YMCA? Teaching a gun safety class? Helping a neighbor with a project? The key is simply to find “purposeful work” that goes beyond a self-interest and benefits someone else in their community.
What if we recalibrated our thinking to this simple little concept that Jesus so casually brought up? “Are there not twelve hours in a day?” What if the work day didn’t end with the eight hour work day that we are accustomed to? What if the work simply continued on to the man’s home into the evening?
I would suggest that men adopting this time frame could positively impact their lives in tremendous ways, quickly removing barriers that might currently exist in their family life. Instead of the thought of kicking back in the evenings or on the weekends, the paradigm becomes that a 12 hour work day is the expectation of a man. And what is the man’s work? Not just the job he gets paid for, but also the family time spent in the evenings or on the weekends or the activities geared towards benefitting their community. What if men considered their evening hours as part of their work day? Would it help to keep men engaged in what’s going on with their wives, children, or community?
The mindset of the 12 hour work day undoubtedly keeps men engaged in areas of life that need attention. Let’s face it, too many men have neglected these other areas of life, and the consequences of broken relationships because of this neglect are quite evident.
Am I saying that men don’t need rest or relaxation? Nope, the Bible is clear on that too. Once a week, everyone is given a Sabbath. Rest and relaxation simply aren’t today’s issue for most men.
As always, when I delve into these biblical topics, I am learning too. I simply believe that Christ shows us that if we want the respect of our wives, children, or friends that we don’t see in the media today, we need to reframe our thinking with what our ”work” actually is and “earn” the respect we say we want. The perception of the modern day working man will only change when that same man truly represents the likeness of Christ.
And according to Jesus, aren’t there 12 hours in a day?
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