Posts
Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. And some of the Pharisees said to them, "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?" But Jesus answering them said, "Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?" And He said to them, "The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."
Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here." And he arose and stood. Then Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?" And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. But they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
- Luke 6:1-11
Yesterday, we read that Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he left all, rose up, and followed Him. Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?" And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days." Then He spoke a parable to them: "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, "The old is better."
Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. And some of the Pharisees said to them, "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?" But Jesus answering them said, "Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?" And He said to them, "The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath." My study bible explains that the second Sabbath after the first is a term that was used when a Jewish feast immediately followed the normal Sabbath, because a feast was known as a Sabbath. It says, "According to St. Ambrose, the term second Sabbath serves as an image of the new covenant and the eternal resurrection: the first Sabbath indicates the Law, while the second Sabbath indicates the gospel that follows it. Under the new covenant, the food which was at one time not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat is now freely given to all by the Lord of the Sabbath. David prefigured this when he gave the showbread . . . to those with him."
Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. A note says, "According to certain traditions that the scribes and Pharisees had built up around the Law, healing was considered work, and thus was not permissible on the Sabbath. They believed they served God by zealously keeping these peripheral traditions, but this legalism made them insensitive to God's mercy.
But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here." And he arose and stood. Then Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?" And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. But they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus. Once again there are several things on display that reveal Jesus' divinity: He knows the thoughts of the scribes and Pharisees, He performs a miraculous healing. But Jesus is also exercising His authority to teach the Law. The minutiae of traditions that have developed around the Law aren't good, neither do they save life. In fact, in this case, the experts of the Law are choosing something destructive: they refuse healing for this man's withered hand on a Sabbath. Clearly, they miss Jesus' point, but there is something more. They refuse to recognize the authoritative reality in His answer; a love of God isn't present here. Even His question to them about what is lawful goes ignored. Instead, they love their own authority to the extent that this "good" event results only in their wrath -- that they have been defied by Jesus. What fills their minds now is vengeance, and how to silence Him.
I think Jesus' question here is a kind of benchmark for us, a way He invites us to think about what is "lawful" or holy. He asks, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?" He will use a similar evaluative statement regarding our discernment of those who are false prophets coming to His Church: "By their fruits you shall know them" (see Matthew 7:15-23). Clearly, it would seem, Jesus' greatest antipathy is to those whom He characterizes as wearing "sheep's clothing, but inwardly are like ravenous wolves" (from the same excerpt in Matthew). The sense in which Jesus poses His question points to the ultimate goal, or ultimate love, of those who would act in the name of the Law or in the name of the Church -- those who claim to serve God. Do they do good or evil, do they save life or destroy? The contrast of the clothing of sheep or ravenous wolves in the passage from Matthew tells us something really important. A sheep is the one who follows the Shepherd, Christ as Son who is always working together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. A wolf -- who in this case is described as ravenous -- is out for himself. It is a way of thinking about what happens in today's reading that simply results in the extreme wrath of those whom Christ has very effectively rebuked by healing the man with the withered hand. All they can see is that their authority has been questioned and refuted in the intricate explanations of what the Law allows and what it doesn't. This is the perspective of the wolf that cares for itself, its place, its power. This is what they are ravenous for, and not the mercy and love of God present in the healing. We should remember this when it comes to "rules" in general in the Church. Even, in a constitutional democracy, a government's responsibility is to act for the good its citizens. When a law is found to create bad effects that destroy rather than do good, it is expected to change or repeal its laws -- often this comes down to a case of interpretation and practice, similar to today's example. Jesus tries to get us to think in a certain way, a certain critical way, that really has to do with the priorities of God, above all else. Do we do good or do evil? Do we heal or destroy? Life is complex, and the answer isn't always obvious. But Jesus makes it very clear that the Sabbath, the Lord's Day, must be used for good, to save life -- and no tradition can outweigh those priorities that truly serve God. This is the way we must look at our lives and what is best for us when we decide on any particular practice or rule. Let us remember always what is most important.
