Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-july-20-2023
Mark 2:23 – 3:6
Lord of the Sabbath
2:23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 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.”
27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
3:1 Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 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. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
4 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.
5 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. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
Today’s reading is made up of two related stories in which Jesus is engaged in disputes with the Hebrew religious leaders over the keeping of the Sabbath. First, a group of Pharisees criticize his disciples – and by inference, Jesus himself – because they are picking heads of grain on the Sabbath. The disciples were presumably rubbing them between their hands to remove the husks, and then eating the kernels. According to the Hebrew tradition, what the disciples were doing would violate the laws against harvesting and threshing grain on the Sabbath.
In the second story, some of the religious leaders are watching to see whether he would heal a man’s shriveled hand on the Sabbath. That would also be a violation of traditional Jewish law. Only life-threatening conditions were supposed to be healed on the Sabbath. Everyone else – those with chronic conditions – was supposed to wait until the next day.
Obviously, the Hebrew people took the Sabbath very seriously. The historians and scholars say keeping the Sabbath was one of three essential practices that marked the Jews as the covenant people. (The others were circumcising male children and maintaining ritual purity, which included eating kosher foods.) The scholars say the Jews started following these practices very seriously during the Babylonian exile, as a way of maintaining their cultural and religious identity among the gentiles of the Babylonian Empire.
In the earliest days of the Hebrew tradition, violating the Sabbath was to be punished ruthlessly, even by execution. It seems that by the time Jesus physically walked the earth, those severe punishments had been largely discontinued, but keeping the Sabbath was still an important mark of the covenant people.
It needs to be said that Jesus regularly observed the Sabbath. Earlier this week, in fact, one of our readings talked about Jesus worshipping and then apparently resting until sunset on a Sabbath day.
But what about today’s reading? What does it tell us about how we’re supposed to observe the Sabbath as followers of Jesus in our time?
Maybe the most interesting thing Jesus says in this passage is, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” That seems to say that God issued this commandment recognizing that keeping the Sabbath contributes to human flourishing. If we don’t take time for rest and recreation, we will not live the ‘abundant’ lives he intends for us. (That’s a good example of how the laws of God not only tell us what is good, but also what is good for us.) Those of us who follow Jesus owe it to ourselves – as well as to God – to set aside one day out of every seven for rest and recreation.
Obviously, in today’s world, some people’s jobs require working on Sunday. For those who fall into that category, it seems to me perfectly reasonable to use another day as the Sabbath. It seems to me God is more concerned with people observing a day of rest than he is with what day of the week that falls on.
In the second story in today’s reading, Jesus seems to be saying that saving life and healing are such a central part of God’s work in the world that no one should be condemned for doing those things on the Sabbath. That’s not to say that doctors and nurses and social workers should be expected to work every day – they need rest and relaxation to be effective in their callings, just like everyone else. It seems to me that what Jesus is saying here is that acts of charity and mercy are never in violation of God’s law of love.
But also, it seems to me that one of best insights I ever heard about the Sabbath is that keeping a day of rest and recreation each week is a way of demonstrating that we trust God to provide for us. It’s a visible sign by which we acknowledge that the universe will go on if we take a day off – there’s a God in charge and we can count on him to watch over us and provide for us while we rest and relax with family and friends.
Of course, worship is an important Sabbath activity for believers. (I’m sure you’d expect me to say that.) But the truth is that we’re expected live worshipful lives every day, and not just on the Sabbath. So by all means come to worship, but don’t miss the opportunity to get the full benefit of this great gift God has given us – the gift of the Sabbath.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for providing for a day of rest from the demands and stresses of this world. Teach us to be more willing to rest and relax on that day, to build our relationships with you and with the other people in our lives. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
(The other readings for today are Psalms 87 and 88; I Samuel 20:24-42; and Acts 13:1-12. Our readings come from the NIV Bible, as posted on Biblica.com, the website of the International Bible Society.)
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