BIBLE STUDY WITH JESUS

Deuteronomy 5:12-15; Mark 2:23-3:6

2nd Sunday after Pentecost, June 2, 2024

Rev. Dr. Ritva  H. Williams

This morning, we get to interpret scripture with Jesus! So let’s begin by setting out the context.

Our gospel reading is addressed to Christ-followers of diverse nationalities and religious backgrounds living in Rome forty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. This incident shows  how Jesus dealt with controversies about biblical interpretation. 

Jesus is challenged by some Pharisees. They represent a reform movement within early Judaism that encouraged forming synagogues for studying scripture and developing the spiritual practices of purity, almsgiving, prayer and fasting. The Pharisees were well respected in the time of Jesus, for their willingness to discuss how scripture applied in the changing contexts of daily life. Not surprisingly different interpretations often emerged. Rabbi Hillel, for instance, had a reputation for being “lenient,” while Rabbi Shammai was noted for his “strict” interpretations. Some Pharisees were drawn to the Jesus movement: Nicodemus whom we met last week pondering who it means to be born from above; the Apostle Paul, author, co-author and inspiration for half of the New Testament.

The Pharisees who confront this morning Jesus are concerned about the behavior of the disciples on the Sabbath: “why are your disciples doing what is not permitted on the Sabbath?” This was a big deal — one of the ten commandments, summed up in our first reading:

Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days shall you labor and do all your work. But this seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall do no work — you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your town, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day (Deuteronomy 5:12-15) 

Notice doing no work applies to humans of every gender, age, and legal status, and includes foreigners living in the community as well as beasts of burden, and livestock. Everyone — human and creature alike — is to join God in enjoying a day of rest free from labor. The Sabbath  is a day both to remember that once they were slaves in Egypt and to celebrate their liberation from that slavery.

Elsewhere scripture reminds God’s people: “in six days the Lord made haven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and a consecrated it” (Exodus 20:11). The sabbath day is the day of completion and fulfillment of God’s creation, a day of delighting in the world and the life God has made. 

For these reasons, observing the sabbath on the seventh day of the week, beginning at sunset on Friday evening and concluding at sundown on Saturday, was and is a distinguishing mark of Jewish communities. It shouldn’t surprise us that devout Jews wanted to get this special day right and wondered what counts as work? In the time of Jesus, Pharisees and others were engaged in figuring this out. Eventually they defined work as the act of creating things, and settled on thirty-nine categories of activities that were forbidden on the Sabbath. These included sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, grinding, and sifting (Mishnah, Shab. 7.2). 

The Pharisees see the disciples walking through a field on the sabbath and plucking grain which looks a lot like one of these forbidden categories. In defense of the disciples, Jesus refers to a scripture about David and his companions. When they were in hiding from murderous King Saul, and had no food, David entered God’s house and asked for bread. The priest reluctantly gave them them holy bread of Presence which was reserved for priests in an state of ritual purity (1 Samuel 21:1-6).  Although that incident had nothing to do with the Sabbath, Jesus presents it as precedent for bending or breaking ritual rules to feed hungry people. Jesus’ point is that the Sabbath came into being for the sake of humankind, as a gift for their benefit. Humankind was not created for the sake of the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath. 

Son of Man is a phrase that means “this humble child of humanity.” Christ uses it to signal his solidarity with humanity, and in doing so grants the children of humanity lordship of the Sabbath alongside the Christ. What this looks Jesus demonstrates later in the synagogue, when he asks, “Is it permissible to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or destroy it?” 

Jesus’ question is met with silence. Why? They all know the answer. Healing is not one of the thirty-nine activities prohibited on the sabbath. It was and is a consensus within Judaism that saving a life is not just appropriate but required on the sabbath. The rabbis concluded: “Any danger to life overrides the prohibitions of the Sabbath” (Mishna, Yoma 8.6). In situations of chronic illness where the patient’s life is not in immediate danger, the consensus was to wait at least until the first day of the week (i.e. Sunday in our calendar). 

Everyone present could see that the man with the withered right hand (see Luke 6:6) was not at death’s door, but they all know full well that this man was not living a full life. His withered right hand limited the man’s ability to work and support himself, and (in a world without flush toilet and running water) was an insurmountable obstacle to meaningful social engagement. In the face to his man’s physical disability, economic need, social isolation, emotional and psychological distress, Jesus asks is it permissible to do good or harm? to save a life or to destroy a life? Will failure to do good for this person cause them more harm? Will a refusal to heal have harmful consequences for the remainder of this person’s life? In the deafening silence, Jesus says the words that initiate the healing of the man’s withered right hand.

The bottom line about interpreting scripture with Jesus is summed up in this cartoon by David Hayward, who signs himself as “Naked Pastor.” We see Jesus telling a crowd of zealous Bible-believing folk, “The difference between me and you is that you use scripture to determine what love means and I use love to determine what scripture means.” Christ’s love for humanity prioritizes doing good and avoiding harmful consequences for the most vulnerable person in the room — the one who cannot help themselves — even when it means bending or breaking some man-made rule, even when it makes the most privileged folk in the room uncomfortable or even furious. 

Please pray with me this prayer adapted from Mark Sandlin’s “On Sabbath Renewal” in Progressive Prayers for Progressive People.

Good and gracious God, 

we are bombarded with the constant whir of people, companies, and governments 

trying to tell us what is important in this life. 

We sometimes get so caught up in this fog of messages and activity 

that we lose our focus on what really matters. 

We begin to buy into … false priorities and we find ourselves living into them …

Help us slow down … Help us pause to breathe deeply …

Help us  focus our hearts and minds on love and the life to which we are called.

In our homes and in our churches, in all the places we go 

…help us create spaces … where Sabbath rest can be found — 

places where we are renewed in our willingness

 to stand over and against the priorities of the world

 … for the sake of  the priorities to which we are called …

doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly in this world. 

Amen.