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 Jess 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."  My study Bible comments on this passage that 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 ate the showbread and also gave some to those who were with him.   

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.  In accordance with some traditions developed by the scribes and Pharisees and built up and around the Law, healing was considered to be work.  Therefore it was not permissible on the Sabbath.  My study Bible says that they believed they served God by zealously keeping these peripheral traditions, but their legalism made them insensitive to God's mercy.   The Herodians are those supporters of the rule of the family of Herod, which ruled for Rome.  In this case they would be specifically associated with the court of the tetrarch of Galilee, Herod Antipas.  

If we take a close look at some details of today's reading, we might notice some interesting things to consider.  First of all, there is this great declaration which appears only here in Mark's Gospel.  Jesus says, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."  This gives us a deep personal glimpse at the intentions of God, for it is God who established the Sabbath and declared its observance by God's people (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:8-11).  Christ's characterization of the Sabbath as made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, sets a precedent and a tone for our understanding of God's work and creation -- and also of God's love and care.  Our is a gracious God who loves us; this singular statement by Jesus qualifies entirely our relationship to God.  We have an a priori understanding that God loves us.  It may be up to us to take steps toward God in order to realize that love for ourselves, but just like the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son, it is God who already runs to meet us from a great way off, and has compassion for us.  God's compassion is another way of understanding what it means that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Of course, we see this notion completely enforced through Christ's healing of the man with the withered hand in the synagogue under the glare of the Pharisees -- and in the detail we're told that Jesus looked around at them with anger, and was grieved by the hardness of their hearts.  My study Bible explains that righteous anger is a natural human emotion experienced in the face of sin.  It says that while there is certainly anger that is sinful (Matthew 5:22), there is also anger that is God-given and proper to humanity (Psalm 4:4).  Here, my study Bible says, Christ's anger is in response to people who profess God, but yet they have such hardness in their hearts they cannot rejoice in the healing of one of their brothers.  And there are a couple of smaller details we might not easily notice, but that tell us something if we look closely.  It might not seem of deep significance, but in the first part of the passage, the Pharisees object to the plucking of the heads of grain by the disciples as they glean the fields they're passing through.  This is sustenance, nourishment for them.  It is not work but a necessity for the good of a human being.  In the continuation of the theme, though the time spent in the synagogue and the challenge of the indignance of the Pharisees, what is it that Jesus heals for this man, after He has declared that the Sabbath was made for man?  He heals a withered hand, a hand that may also pluck heads of grain in order to feed and sustain a human being.  It may seem like a strange detail to notice, but we have to ask ourselves what Jesus does in restoring human beings to themselves.  He not only protects His disciples from scrutiny, and makes claims on behalf of the whole of mankind in terms of characterizing the Sabbath as made for man. He also -- in this immediate context of plucking the grain -- restores another to the capacity to gather and pluck should his need arise, to take in nourishment and sustain life.  So in varied facets of today's reading, we see God's compassion and its various expressions:  in the statement that the Sabbath was made for man, in the allowance for David to eat the showbread, in the aggrieved anger by Jesus on behalf of the man with the withered hand, and finally in defying the heartless Pharisees and incurring their retaliation by "doing good" on the Sabbath.  Christ's compassionate nature that we know comes full circle here, as He risks His own health and safety for the sake of saving and healing a human being.  This is the God that we know, the One who made the Sabbath for man, who restores us to wholeness, and goes all the way to save, even at great risk to Himself and the incurrence of His own suffering on our behalf.  Jesus, true author of the Law, introduces a question that defines God's law and intentions:  "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"   We know that He came that we may have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).  This is expressed in all that He does, even in the details.  May we all model His integrity of intention and purpose in all that we do as we seek to follow Him. 

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 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 the, "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; 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."   Jesus gives to the accusing Pharisees an example of a blameless violation of the Sabbath:  when David and his men were given the showbread to eat, which under the law was meant for the priests only (1 Samuel 21:1-6).  In this case, because of the human need of David and his men, a way was found to feed them the food intended for the priests.  But here Jesus uses the term Son of Man, reminding us that He is incarnate Son.  That is, He is at once the Word and He is a human being; therefore the common thread of Christ's life is His divine compassion for the needs of human beings.  That the Sabbath was made for man is an expression of God's compassion for human beings; it implies that the holiness of the Sabbath is not simply a way to honor God, but that God's holy day is also God's way to show compassion on human beings and for human needs, including the need for rest and spiritual nourishment in our communion with God.

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 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.  My study Bible comments that according to certain traditions that the scribes and Pharisees had built up around the Law, healing was considered work, and therefore was not permissible on the Sabbath.  It says that they believed that they served God by zealously keeping these peripheral traditions, but this legalism made them insensitive to God's mercy.  The Herodians are supporters of the dynasty of Herod the Great, which rules for Rome; Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, is tetrarch (popularly called "king") of the region of Galilee.

Let us look closer at this comment in my study Bible, that the Pharisees believed they were serving God by zealously keeping peripheral traditions (that is, traditions built up around the law, not the specific law as given by Moses), but their legalism made them insensitive to God's mercy.  Certainly the Pharisees are not alone in this behavior;  I would suggest that it is a common human error that has been with us in many forms, in the Church and outside the Church as well.  But what is important here is something which we have commented on through the past few readings, and that is Christ's expressions of compassion.  Christ the Son is Incarnate in our world in order to express God in the world -- He is love in action, the manifestation of God with us (Matthew 1:23).   We should be reminded once again that Jesus said to His disciples at the Last Supper, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him" (John 14:7).  Jesus reveals God to us through His human life.  And so far in Mark's Gospel, what we have seen of Christ's "works" indicates that God is compassion; God is love (John 1:48).  As the human expression of God for us, Jesus expresses compassion when He heals, just as He calls for compassion -- and cites a Biblical reference of compassion in mentioning the story of David and the showbread -- when He and the disciples are accused of violating the Sabbath law.  In healing the man with the withered hand, He makes a direct challenge to the Pharisees who make the accusations of violation of the law:  "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  Jesus reveals God to us, and at the same time reveals the intent of the Law in the character of its true Source and Giver.  If the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, then it is fitting that the Sabbath was made for man.  In this sense, the Sabbath Law is seen as yet another extension of God's compassion to human beings, the God who heals and gives us rest and spiritual nourishment for our needs.  It is only in Mark's Gospel that we find Jesus' remarkable statement,  "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."   It is a statement which implies for us that which will be explicit in Christ's voluntary Crucifixion for the world's salvation:  that God acts out of love for us.  Jesus will fully "self-empty" by giving up His life for the life of the world ("I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" - John 6:51).  With this statement that the Sabbath was made for man, Jesus implies that God's creation is for the sake of His creation, and that God does not act or express anything that could be called selfish.  In both instances of worship:  the Jewish Sabbath of the Old Covenant and also its fulfillment in the Christian Eucharist of the New Covenant, it is God's love for us which is expressed, God's nourishment for God's creation.  It teaches us that in every act of God -- in creation and in all the ways we are spiritually directed through God's work in the world -- it is God's compassion and love that are being expressed.  And so it is in Christ's ministry, where it is God's love that is expressed in each act and teaching.  While there is an important lesson to be learned about "legalism" here, perhaps the greater lesson is that we are taught that we must seek to be "like God" especially in our expressions of love for God.  In the Church, the notion of what is called economia in Greek fills this role of compassion.  That is, we know our faith and belief and the traditions of worship, but the principle of mercy must also be there for every exception and question, and we must root ourselves in this understanding of God that is given to us through the gospel of Christ.    The purpose of the Physician is to heal (see yesterday's reading, above; also Isaiah 6:10 as quoted in Matthew 13:15, Acts 28:27), for this is how He forms our understanding of the compassion of salvation in the hospital of His Church.

 

 

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.