Proper 4 | Deuteronomy 5:12-16 & Mark 2:23-3:6| Christopher Miner
In these passages we see Jesus involved in some tension around the Sabbath. Deuteronomy spells out to the people of Israel the idea of a Sabbath. Essentially God is saying that his people intentionally stop work one day a week. Remember, these people were fresh out of generations of slavery - all they knew was work, almost every day of their lives. They were likely unable to imagine any other way to live, so God provided them a blueprint for living. One piece of this blueprint was rest. And not only were his people supposed to rest, but everyone in the community - children, slaves, even the livestock! This was a core piece of life in Jewish communities, and remained so when Jesus was walking around Galilee.
By the time of Jesus, though, much debate had taken place about the Sabbath. What actually constituted 'work'? If your donkey fell into a ditch on the Sabbath, could you try to pull it out, or would that be work and violate the Sabbath command? At first, I imagine these questions were asked in good faith. People wanted to follow the command well. But over time, the command became the point. No longer was Sabbath about keeping in step with the God who created everything (and then took a Sabbath rest). Now keeping Sabbath, along with many other commands, made you a faithful Jew. And those in positions of authority would make sure to point out where you failed to keep Sabbath correctly. The commands, or law, were now the whole point.
In Mark, Jesus does two things on the Sabbath to challenge this idea. First, he and his disciples pick some leftover grain from a field to get a snack. The Pharisees, authoritative Jewish law-keepers of the time, immediately noticed this and called Jesus out on it - 'That's work, you are not supposed to do that on the Sabbath!' Jesus then reminds these Bible scholars of a story where David, the hero king of Israel's history, blatantly broke a command when he and his men were hungry. Later, Jesus goes to the synagogue (think church) on the Sabbath and sees someone with a withered, or deformed, hand. Jesus' reputation had preceded him, so the crowd was watching to see if Jesus would heal this person's hand, knowingly violating the Sabbath. Jesus figured out what they were thinking, and got rather peeved at them. He asked the man to come forward then posed this question to the crowd:
Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?
Mark 3:4
The crowd said nothing. Were I there I likely would have done the same, because there was no right answer. The tension around the Sabbath was created by people losing focus on why the Sabbath (or any command) existed in the first place. God commanded his people to keep the Sabbath as part of his outline of what his people where to be. But the core of their identity was not in keeping commands - it was in the God who called them, freed them, and led them out of slavery and death. Over the centuries the Pharisees had turned the commands into the identity of the people. Jesus was now pointing them back to the source of the commands as the real reason they existed.
Of course, Jesus healed the man's hand. The Pharisees, acutely aware Jesus was calling them on the carpet, began to try and figure out how to get rid of him. I would like to think, though, that among the people in the synagogue that day were some who realized what Jesus was saying:
The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.
Mark 2:27-28
Commands, rules, laws, directions, and the like, cannot give you life. Kept alone they will eventually make you a hard shell of a human. In bitterness you will growl that no one else does what you do, judge people by your standards, and unknowingly make gods out of things that were only meant as tools. This was the state of the Pharisees in Jesus' day. In the midst of this Jesus acted in ways that pointed out their mean, hard hearts, and offered a better way. Commands, like keeping Sabbath, are tools meant to orient people into communion with God. Jesus demonstrates how to rise above keeping commands for their own sake, and to become people who use commands to direct themselves toward the God who created them.
Lord Jesus, give us eyes to see where we have turned rules and commands into idols. Make us brave enough to hear the Holy Spirit calling us to something better. Forgive us for substituting you with things we can understand and control. May you speak to us anew and show us your love; and may we follow you with reckless abandon wherever you may lead.
Amen
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