Friday, 9 July, 2004

We continue with another section of Walter Wink’s “The Human Being.” This is from the section on the Pre-Easter sayings of Jesus.



Comments again deal with the story about “plucking grain on the Sabbath” (Mark 2:23-28). Here it is to read:

One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And he said to them , “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat and he gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus is not condemning the law here, or abrogating it, or declaring himself and his followers above the law and beyond good and evil. The passage assumes that keeping the Sabbath is normative. The question is not whether to keep the Sabbath, but when and how.



Keeping the Sabbath is a good thing. Wouldn’t it be good for all of us to take a day of rest and simply rest and not fit in all the things that are on our “to do lists?” But as it often the case with any good thing we have, we have this amazing way of turning it into something that no longer brings life and it can literally keep life from abounding around us. How one keeps the Sabbath…or how one keeps the law cannot be something set in stone…and yet, it cannot be something we simply push aside either. To follow the law is to consider the reason for the law, consider the impact on life within the context of day, and always consider how the law helps or hinders relationships. The non-violent resisters of the civil rights movement listened to the law, saw that it was not just for all, and therefore, people acted contrary to the law with the understanding that they would be punished. They would rather go against the letter of the law in order to bring to the law a more authentic interpretation and use of the law.



Connection: We need to know how to bend and bow and honor one another. Sometimes that is by demanding that we live according to some rules. At other times, it may mean that those rules must be seriously reconsidered and, at times, set aside, for the welfare of the life of the community in this day.



Lord of the Sabbath, you are our rest and our hope. It is because of your gracious gift of life that we are able to let go of the burdens of this day and find rest in you alone. Your peace is our peace and our source of comfort and renewal. Amen.