The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath

 

 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 

 

On Saturday we read that, after healing a paralytic who had been lowered to Him through the roof of a house, 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 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 tells us that the second Sabbath after the first is a term that was used when a Jewish feast immediately followed the normal Sabbath, as a feast was also known as a Sabbath.  St. Ambrose of Milan comments that the term "second Sabbath" gives an image of the new covenant and the eternal resurrection:  the first Sabbath indicates the Law, and the second Sabbath indicates the gospel that follows it.  Thus, 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 new gospel, the second Sabbath, 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.  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.  In accordance with some of the traditions which the scribes and Pharisees had built up around the Law, healing was considered work -- and therefore was not permissible on the Sabbath.   My study bible says that they believed that they served God by zealously keeping these peripheral traditions, but this legalism made them insensitive to the mercy of God.

What is legalism?  How do we understand it?  What does it tell us about our faith?  In today's reading, we see an example of what is called legalism.  To use a broad definition, we might say that "legalism" is putting the letter of the law above the spirit of the law.  In fact, if we understand God as One who loves us, and religious law as meant to help us to have a closer relationship with and to serve and worship God, then all of the law should be useful and instrumental in attaining that end.  Here, we encounter an application of rules and traditions which were built up around the law that actually were preventing the expression of God's mercy from happening:  the scribes and Pharisees watch and see if Jesus will violate their tradition that healing on the Sabbath is a violation of the Sabbath.  They become filled with rage that a man's withered hand is healed.  So much so, that they discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.  To be sure, there were exceptions in the application of the law, made for the sake of mercy.  But in this case, the religious authorities seem more interested in enforcing their own power as regulators of religious practice and of the doing of the law.  Jesus is an outsider in that sense, without authority.  He is not a part of the religious establishment, and so, for various reasons, they are already disposed to antagonism against Him.  For His ministry is one that He conducts with authority, and with power, and these things are not under their control.  So legalism also comes to us, in the stories of the Gospels, as a way to disguise a struggle for power and authority, and also to avoid the power and authority that is sent into the world by God and which is manifest in the ministry of Jesus.  In this sense, the legalism we read about here in the Gospel as a sort of cautionary tale becomes a metaphor for the things we do in our own lives, when God comes calling upon us for growth and personal transcendence.  Frequently our inner lives are beset by "do's and don'ts" we've learned in childhood, or in some other formative period in our lives.  Possibly bad experiences have taught us lessons that aren't quite serving our daily lives today.  In each of these ways, God might come calling upon us to change an internal rule we stick to as a form of legalism, where God's mercy and love (God's grace) might be at work asking us to soften our stance, ease up a bit, or possibly just expand our minds to the possibility that we are called to do something different.  A childhood rule might need to be broken to serve a bigger picture of ourselves and our world, and especially where God asks us to transcend the past and become more of the image and identity we have in Christ, instead.  All of us have seen at one time or another the dangers of putting a political party before God and conscience, or the place where our prayer lives might call us to something different.  The same applies to family squabbles, or internecine fights within an organization or group of any kind.  Just because one way served us many years or is the way we've always done it, does not mean that Christ is not at work in your life calling you to something bigger, a point of view that changes the picture and teaches a different way to apply God's values and understanding.  At Jesus' time, there were exceptions to the Sabbath law to allow for pulling an animal out of danger, or other such dire circumstance.  In Luke chapter 14, Jesus stumps a group of lawyers and Pharisees, who once more are watching closely to see what Jesus will do on the Sabbath, by asking them, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"  They can't answer.  (See Luke 14:1-6.)  God's love and mercy is unchangeable, for this is the very nature of God (1 John 4:8).   But the ways in which we understand that love to manifest, and the ways in which God's love will ask us to express that love as bearers of God's light will expand and grow, and change and transform, because we are meant to grow in our faith and not stand still.  This is why our faith is mystical, and not simply a set of rules or rationalizations to apply in all cases.    This is why our mystical connection to God in our hearts must be active, growing, and open to that light and love.  This is why our prayer life needs to be active, and worship life as well.  Faith is a living thing, not a dead set of letters.  Tradition is that which is meant to be understood and renewed each generation, and in each believer.  When St. Ambrose teaches us what a second Sabbath might mean, he is speaking within the entire arc of the faith, and with a perspective that encompasses our understanding even centuries later, in our understanding of the gospel of Christ.  His very commentary is part of a living tradition, that remains true even as it has encompassed centuries of experience and growth, but remains cautionary.  So let us look at our own rigid ways of being in the world.  Do we need to let more light in?  Do we need to renew tradition? Have we let go of too much of it, and need to correct that as well?  We make mistakes in all directions, and an open mind is one that does not think rigidly.   We can also apply "new tradition" in a rote manner and go too far.  Renewal is about correct understanding, not making a new rule out of radical change.  Legalism comes about when we neglect the heart, and that can happen in any number of ways, and even with good intent.  The ancient world was filled with brilliant philosophers, moral systems, and codes of conduct.  But Christ did not come with just another set of abstracts, principles, or rules.  Let us be zealous for the place where we come to know Christ, where our spiritual fruit can blossom and produce more, and grow in the gospel that gives so much-- for it is that same Son of Man who is the Lord of the Sabbath.