One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
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Then he said to them, “The
Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
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Another time Jesus went into the
synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking
for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would
heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the
shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
Then Jesus asked them, “Which is
lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But
they remained silent.
He looked around at them in anger
and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out
your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.
Then the
Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill
Jesus.
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Shocked, I tell you, shocked! Jesus and the
disciples went into the temple, on the Sabbath, and ate the sacred bread. And
to add insult to injury, he actually healed someone on the Sabbath. He broke
religious law.
Then, he said to the religious leaders and all those
assembled – the Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.
And scores of jaws dropped to the floor, especially
the Pharisaical jaws.
This very short piece of text is at the core of
religious debate within the temple and synagogue – and by law a part of the
lives of the Israelite people, whether or not they liked it.
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought in the Holy Land during the time of Second Temple Judaism – more or less the time in which Jesus lived. The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE. Conflicts between Pharisees and Sadducees took place in the context of much broader and longstanding social and religious conflicts among Jews, made worse by the Roman conquest. Another conflict was cultural, between the Sadducees who favored Hellenisation – introduction of Greek Hellenistic thought, and the Pharisees who resisted Hellenisation. A third was juridico-religious, between those who emphasized the importance of the Second Temple with its rites and services, and those who emphasized the importance of other Mosaic Laws. A fourth point of conflict, specifically religious, involved different interpretations of the Torah and how to apply it to current Jewish life, with Sadducees recognizing only the Written Torah (with Greek philosophy), and rejecting doctrines such as the Oral Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and the resurrection of the dead.
And into this walks Jesus with the disciples and does something which manages to offend both groups. The Sabbath was made for people, not the other way around. Jesus and his disciples were caught breaking the Mosaic Law. What they did sounds harmless enough, they plucked grains on the Sabbath. Was Jesus really guilty of breaking the law? Or did the Pharisees misinterpret the law?
The fourth commandment says to keep the Sabbath holy. A Sabbath Day is a day of rest and in fact we do need to take a break. The word \sabbatical’ means just that – time for re-creating and renewing, and building back energy. And there are many passages in Leviticus that address what you can and cannot do on the Sabbath.
And the punishment was severe. In Numbers 15:32-36, we read: a man gathering firewood on Sabbath is put to death. The potential punishment for desecrating Sabbath (stoning) is the most severe in Jewish law. Jesus is, in my mind, saying they have not only misinterpreted the law, they have misinterpreted God. Humans existed long before Sabbath – hence Sabbath was made by man for man, following the example of God resting on the seventh day.
And they are quick to accuse Jesus.
Rev. Frank Schaefer imagines the questioning of Jesus regarding interpretations of the law – specifically imagining Jesus’ answer;
“I think the Sabbath law was put into place by God and the elders of Israel for the benefit of the people. Its purpose is to give us a day off, to relax, to meditate, pray, and regain our strength. I doubt that the intent of the Sabbath law was to control, restrict, or harm people, and surely, if there is an emergency that involves our health or well-being, we need to show some grace.”
Now, they probably think, finally, we have something concrete against him. He advocates breaking the law on the Sabbath. Even though they knew he was right. They knew he was right because in fact it wasn't against law, but against rabbinical tradition. And it ticked them off.
When I was in seminary, I had a nose-to-nose, in class, with my preaching professor. One of the basic tenets of good preaching is the tension between law and gospel. It was his theory of preaching that always one had to point to the cross and always preach the Gospels because they held the good news. I suggested that often the good news is in the Hebrew Scripture through the law, and the bad news might be in the Gospels. And that I thought preaching would get pretty boring with the preacher following his formula every week, year in and year out. A good preacher had to push the edges and go beyond them. And my sermon final was criticised for not following that formula.
Well, this morning, the text from Mark offers both. There’s what the law says, and what good news says. It offers the stark contrast between the law of men, parsed out in great detail and imposed on a people - doctrine – and the law of God which is one of unconditional love and openness to the needs of people first - grace.
In this seemingly very simple demonstration parable, Jesus puts the whole of the religious hierarchy on notice – people are more important than artificial religious law which serves nothing more than as a method of control by religious leaders.
People supersede religious interpretation – wholeness of people, freedom to be who they are without imposed religious understanding – ministry which builds up, heals and strengthens, comforts, energises and inspires. When God said to keep the Sabbath holy, it didn’t mean stop doing everything. To feed hungry people on the Sabbath, to heal hurting people on the Sabbath, *is* keeping the Sabbath holy.
And he’s teaching the disciples that the call to care for people is ministry. And that the key for making decisions in ministry has to be based in what makes people whole – what offers grace.
Here’s another small story – in our religious doctrine, dead people cannot be baptised, because baptism is a welcome into the body of the living covenant, the congregation. That’s our religious doctrine, and some clergy adhere to it without exception.
When I was doing on-call chaplaincy, I was called into the hospital about 4 am, because a woman was giving birth to a baby which had died in utero. Would I come in and do a baptism and naming ceremony. Their own minister would not baptise a dead baby, and ‘didn’t do hospitals’. He would not come.
Here was the crux for me between law and gospel, between religious dogmatism and ministry to people. For me, ministry to a grieving family – mother and father, other children, grandparents, aunts and uncles all together in the room to say goodbye to this child who was very much one of the family. And theologically, seems to me, the family of God encompasses both the living and the dead – we read in Hebrews about the ‘great cloud of witnesses’ who have gone before us. And my personal philosophy is that if it’s a choice between human-made doctrine, and an offering of God’s grace and love to people, ministry is most important every time.
And I think that’s what Jesus was saying – there is always a choice between religious doctrine, or the needs of people. And every one of us is called to make those choices every day. Here we are, Holy One, by your grace.
Sources:
1. “For Your Own Good” by Rev. Frank Schaefer. Mark
2:23-30
3. http://www.ccel.org/contrib/exec_outlines/mark/mk2_23.htm
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