Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?

 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:  how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

- Mark 2:23-3:6

Yesterday we read that Jesus went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.   And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."   The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting.  Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."

 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:  how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."  In yesterday's reading (above), Jesus spoke of the "new wine" for which it was necessary to have "new wineskins," indicating the new covenant and His physician's action of redemption in the forgiveness of sins and healing.  Here Jesus refers back to David his ancestor, who ate of the showbread when he and his men were in need.  Moreover, Christ declares that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, further enforcing His own role as physician and healer.  Moreover He links this doctrine to His divinity and His identity as Christ, when He declares that the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.

And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.  The Pharisees had built up certain traditions around the Mosaic Law.  In accordance with those traditions, healing was considered work and therefore not permissible on the Sabbath.  There were exceptions to this, however, which included the effort to save life, even that of an animal in need (see Luke 13:15).  But Jesus has already had His conflicts with the religious authorities, who have questioned His authority to forgive sins (see this reading), and also His association with tax collectors and other known sinners (see yesterday's reading, above).   Jesus defies their hard-heartedness in performing a healing which is not strictly interpreted as saving a life, but restores a man's hand.  Ironically, as is so often the case in the Gospels, by doing so He is at least figuratively (and most likely literally) restoring this man's full capacity to work. 

Jesus asks the question, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  In certain ways, Jesus is extending our understanding of what life is all about and what it means to save a life or to kill.  Moreover, in the phrasing of His question He links either choice with doing good or doing evil.  In the restoration of this man's hand, we can see full capacity restored to this man, most certainly his own capacity for work, especially in the economic context of the time period.  This is a subtle detail to notice, but it appears elsewhere in the first healing of the Gospel, that of Peter's mother-in-law (see this reading).  There, her fever is rebuked, and she immediately resumes her place in the household, that of serving Christ and His followers, a position considered to be one of honor.  Her capacity for her own work, her place in life, is restored to her.  Emphasis on believers as those whose capabilities may be fulfilled through "good work" is further expressed in Jesus' Parable of the Talents, and also His admonition to think of ourselves as those who serve by fulfilling Christ's commands as duty (Luke 17:10).  These restorations of capacity for one's work and the fullness of fruitfulness in life are not-so-subtle hints of what Jesus is all about, and what His Incarnation means for human beings.  St. Athanasius (whose memory was commemorated yesterday), prominent in the history of the Church, is known for defending the doctrine of Christ's full divinity and full humanity.  He wrote, "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."   What this means is that the Incarnation serves as transfiguring power for all of us, so that we as human beings could be restored to the fullness of communion with Creator -- and thereby all of our capacities for God-likeness, including creativity and spiritual fruit-bearing.  In this sense, to restore people to places of productivity and fullness of capacity is an act of Creator restoring creature to the image and likeness in which we are created.  However, the most important factor in this restoration is not Christ's power and authority, but rather the very nature of that power and authority, which is love.  The real conflict here is not so much between notions of authority and power, as it is between the hard-heartedness in the legalism of the Pharisees, and Jesus' grief at their lack of compassion.  This conveys to us a true and deeper notion of what it is to be "God-like," for this is the character and even essence of God (1 John 4:7-21).  Indeed, if we understand these events reported in the reading as we ought to, everything depends upon our own response to this compassionate love and our capacity for mirroring its likeness in our own lives.  In this reading is the one place where we are told that Jesus responded with anger or wrath; it is the word used also in the New Testament when referring to God's judgment.  Here is the place where Jesus leaves us with the open question of our own response to God's love, and what we do with the capabilities with which we've been endowed.