'One sabbath Jesus and his disciples were going through the grainfields; 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 it 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.”
Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.'
--Mark 2: 23-3" 6
Possibly the greatest film of all time is The Big Lebowski, the story of The Dude, who was, well, the man for his time and place – a man who, in his own words, abides. The Dude is a bowler, and in one of the film’s many memorable scenes, he and his teammates –Donny and Walter – are scheduled to roll on a Saturday. This infuriates Walter, a convert to Judaism because, as he points out, he is Shomer Shabbos, a Hebrew term meaning, “Sabbath observer.” When Donny asks what that means, Walter explains that Saturday is the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest, and that he doesn’t work, drive a car, ride in a car, handle money, or turn on the oven, and he sure doesn’t roll! "Shomer Shabbos!" Walter keeps yelling, along with several expletives.
Despite being a convert, Walter takes the 4th commandment quite literally. No effort is to be put forth, no work done from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. This commandment shows up in the Torah at two different times, first in Exodus, chapter 20, when it is connected with God’s own sabbath rest following the six days of creation; and again in Deuteronomy, chapter 5, when Moses gives it as a reminder about the Hebrew people’s forced labor under the yoke of Pharoah in Egypt. It is meant not just for them but for everyone under their charge, so that they will not take advantage of the labor of others, as the Egyptians took advantage of them.
The idea of sabbath was not only a law to be obeyed, but it formed the theological core of what it meant to be in relationship with this God. Beyond just the commandment to rest, sabbath was intertwined with the idea of the jubilee, a time when all debts were erased, lands returned to their original owners, and the people restored to God by returning to the wilderness. Sabbath and jubilee both are about rest and restoration. Our modern, fast-paced, consumer-driven culture has lost sight of the need for sabbath, but the teachings of Jesus are fundamentally rooted in reclaiming and restoring a deep sensibility of sabbath, which has to do with the humility to understanding that as creatures of a Creator that calls us good, we are, fundamentally, enough. We don’t have to earn anything, and sabbath is our invitation to stop trying to do so, to remember that we are not as big and important as we think we are, and that it is not all up to us.
This is the understanding of sabbath that Jesus embodied – and that Christians today are still given glimpses of through the gifts of Centering Prayer, the Daily Examen, and the Divine Hours – but this isn’t the understanding of sabbath held by the folks who confronted Jesus in the early days of his ministry.
Not once, but twice, Jesus is accosted by the religious authorities for breaking the 4th commandment, for not being a Shomer Shabbos and observing the sacredness of the sabbath day. It first occurs when his disciples are caught plucking heads of grain on a Saturday, and the second happens later the same day during the time of study in a synagogue, when Jesus heals a man with a withered hand. Jesus uses a story from the Book of Samuel about David eating the holy bread in the tabernacle of Nod, as a way of showing that the Scriptures themselves supply a precedent in which human need takes priority over even divine law. Some, though, are so insulted by Jesus’ actions that they begin to conspire with the followers of Herod – the Roman’s puppet King of the Jews – to find a way to kill Jesus.
When we hear stories like this it is extremely important to not fall into some kind of antagonistic mindset as it pertains to the Pharisees. They were not the villains of the story – Rome was. The Pharisees, scribes, and other authorities held onto these strict, fundamentalist interpretations of the Jewish law as a means of silent revolt against their Roman occupiers, maintaining their customs and way of life in the face of occupation. Jesus frightened them because they were scared he would rile up the Romans, who then would bring their full wrath down on all the people, eliminating their very way of life. They may have been strict adherents to the law acting out of fear, but that doesn’t’ make them evil.
This story also doesn’t make Jesus some kind of anarchist who hated the law. Jesus doesn’t abolish the sabbath, but rather insists that the principle of doing good and addressing human need should govern not just the law concerning the sabbath but every law. We wrestle with some of the same legalistic issues that are at play here; after all, just because something is technically illegal doesn’t mean that it is morally wrong. In the antebellum South, for example, it was illegal to teach a Black person to read or write. This week we mark the beginning of Pride Month, in which we honor the beauty and bravery of our LBGTQIA+ siblings, many of whom still remember the days when it was illegal to simply gather together in a bar or hold hands with the person they love. A law put in place that ignores the needs and denies the dignity of a person is not a law that has anything to do with the God of love. When we look around we see laws on the books in several parts of our own country that deny critical, life-saving health care to young people and those who are pregnant, putting doctors and nurses in the heartbreaking position of risking their careers in order to address serious human need. What, we ask, is the Christian ethical response?
The sabbath was made for humankind, Jesus said, not humankind for the sabbath. The commandment was a gift for people, to restore them to God and to be sure they wouldn’t make an idol out of work or take advantage of others. The way the authorities respond to Jesus here is exactly what happens, Larry, when the letter of the law becomes an idol more valued than its spirit. When “following the rules” becomes the excuse for denying people’s dignity, legalism has replaced the love of Christ. Laws put in place to simply be obeyed without question are not laws that maintain an ethic of Jesus. It may seem trite, but it’s always worth asking, in all seriousness, what WOULD Jesus do? Would he march or protest in the streets like the drag queens of the Stonewall Inn? Would he remind his officials that human need trumps blind obedience? Would he urge us to do the same, and more?
Stephen Mattson, author of On Love & Mercy: A Social Justice Devotional once said to always trust the inclusive love of Christ over exclusive legalism. Or, as Johnny Cash put it, “I choose love.” And choosing love means placing human need – the needs of those made in the holy image of God – above all else. We, human beings, are the very clay jars of which St. Paul wrote, each one holding the greatest treasure of all, the grace, love, and mercy of God. But these jars of ours are fragile, so we must be careful, not just with our own, but with each other’s. Take care to be ever-present to the needs that are around us, and we may only abide with each other, but abide in the love of Christ, and at last find our true sabbath rest and restoration.
