There has been one day in our society when we have Sabbathed, when we have truly rested. There has been one day when we've put off our jobs, gone home, and just been—September 11, 2001.

On that day, all of us who could went home. We stopped flying. We left our work. Our whole society rested. We called people we were at odds with and reconciled. Imagine what it would be like if we rested for something good: because we are reconciled people. It is like the famous Yam HaShoa festival in the nation of Israel. For one day each year in Israel, the entire nation stops what they are doing to remember the Holocaust and its victims. Cars stop driving, people stop working, gas stations stop pumping gas. Everything stops.

In a weird way, it required a tragedy to cause us to rest. A horrible tragedy. But that tragedy caused us all to go home and tell people we love them, to stop working, and to just be for a day. Like September 11, Holy Saturday was rest that was brought about by tragedy. And we rest because of Holy Saturday. The Jewish rabbis said that if everyone rested on Sabbath, the Messiah would come back. The Christian story twists that. For in the Christian story, when the Messiah comes back, everyone can rest from their toil. We no longer have to strive to become something before God and can, for once, rest in his love.