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

 

 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 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."  A second Sabbath after the first was a term used when a Jewish feast immediately followed the normal Sabbath.  My study Bible explains that this is because a feast was also known as a Sabbath.  My study Bible cites St. Ambrose of Milan, who suggests that the term "second Sabbath" serves here 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 once not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat is now freely given to all by the Lord of the Sabbath. This was prefigured by David when he gave the showbread . . . to those with him (see 1 Samuel 21:1-6).

 

 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. According to certain traditions that the scribes and Pharisees had built up around the Law, healing was considered work, and so was not permissible on the Sabbath.  My study Bible explains that these men believed they served God by zealously keeping these peripheral traditions, but this legalism made them insensitive to God's mercy. 

 

 Jesus asks one question of these experts in the Law:  "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?"   This question is essential, because it points us to something that Jesus seems to suggest is of overriding importance to our understanding of faith and what God wants from us.  His question seems to suggest that it is not so much what particular actions we do (or refrain from) in order to honor God, as that we honor God by aiming at the goals God wants for us and for our world.  Are we doing good or doing evil?  Are we seeking to save life or to destroy?  The way that Jesus phrases this question, and juxtaposes doing good or evil, saving life or destroying, teaches us that it is the aims of God we either oppose or choose to align with.  To align with evil is to align with the energies of that which opposes God, the evil one, or the antichrist.  To align with God is to participate in the energies of God, and the same is true of seeking to save life -- or its opposite, to destroy.  In Orthodox theology, it is said that we cannot know God in God's absolute Being; only God can know God, for none else can perceive God fully.  But what we experience of God in this world is called God's energies; that is, God's active mercy, including the activities of the Holy Spirit which we know and human beings have experienced.  It is said also that to participate in the "energies" of evil or good, of saving life or destroying, is participation in the life of God for us in this world, or to participate in the action of the evil one.  So let us focus on Christ's question:  are we saving life or destroying?  Are we doing good or doing evil?  What Jesus suggests is that this choice is what is proper to the Sabbath, to do the things that are of God.  That is, those things which participate in God's energies, in doing good, in practicing mercy, in saving life, and these things can be true on so many levels.  In this light, the Sabbath rest is a good thing for humankind, and to remember God is essential to the life of the entire world.  But let us consider Christ's aggrieved heart, His sympathy for what could be healed, life that could be restored.  We recall His words from St. Mark's Gospel, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27).   Jesus has come into the world as one of us to give life, and to give it more abundantly (John 10:10).  He has come to restore what was lost. Let us remember our calling to life, to do good, and not to destroy. 

 

 

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 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus 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 has a considerable note on the expression second Sabbath after the first.  It notes that this term was used when there was a Jewish feast which immediately followed the normal Sabbath, as a feast was also known as a Sabbath.  According to St. Ambrose, my study Bible says, the term "second Sabbath" is 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.  (Note how this theme naturally follows yesterday's reading -- see above -- and Jesus' statements therein regarding the old wine and the new, with the new needing "new wineskins.")  Under the old 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.  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.  My study Bible comments that, according to certain traditions that the scribes and Pharisees had built up around the Law, healing was considered to be work, and therefore was not permissible on the Sabbath.  They believed that they served God by zealously keeping these peripheral traditions, but this kind of legalism in effect made them insensitive to God's mercy.  

 

Have you ever made a rule for yourself, and then later realize you must rethink it and "bend" that rule a little -- if not change it altogether?  So often we come to conclusions that we decide are much better for us and resolve to make rules around them, such as, "I will never do that again!"  Or possibly we vow that we can't tolerate something (or somebody) and vow to eliminate such influence from our lives.  But God has a way of making God's love present to us not in absolute rules, but in  our own capacity to be "sensitive to God's mercy" (if we may paraphrase the note in my study Bible on the insensitivity to such on the part of the scribes and Pharisees).  What may be very well-meaning, and even rooted in a good impulse, may come to be a burden and even a curse -- or worse, it may come to be something that separates us from the love of God.  Humility is a key to understanding this.  It is essential that we always maintain our humility before God, remembering God and taking time out for earnest prayer.  This is because within the constant changes of life, we must always remember where our anchor is.  It is not in absolute rules about this, and that, or the other thing.  We can see this play out in social life, especially in social media.  One day, all people who think "X" are bad; the next we hear or read about an incident in which someone is easily smeared with such accusation and treated harshly -- and the next thing we know, social commentators are revisiting "X" with new nuances and a re-evaluation of the old accepted wisdom.  Our anchor and constant is Christ, for it is only in remembering the love of God that we also may remember who we are and who we are called to be in the world.  In this sense, humility before God serves us as those who wish to be righteous and just, who wish to find the word of God in our hearts.  The scribes and Pharisees as described in the Gospels had a lot of human faults, but as my study Bible says, they believed that through their zeal for the "rules" they had developed around God's Law, they were serving God.  We should note that Jesus teaches the disciples at the Last Supper that, "They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service" (John 16:2).  This is the problem with legalism, with absolute rules we make for ourselves, whether they be social, political, or otherwise.  Christ's love will ask us to expand our perspective, will teach us humility in that we don't have all the answers to all things, that we need to depend upon God for insight and learning, all the time -- that this, in fact, is the essence of discipleship.  If we look around at our world, we see it beset with violence and problems of all kinds.  A great deal of these problems come from absolutes of one sort or another, and many of us remain unaware that we are under the influence of professional persuasion all the time to believe in one sort of "rule" or another that we always must follow.  We are to hate "this person" or "these people."  We are only to embrace "these" others, while we pillory another.  These are the rules of the crowd that always follows the crowd, just like the things we read in the Gospels and in the life of Jesus.  Let us be anchored in Christ, in our own knowledge of our need for discipline and humility, for self-knowledge and correction, and especially for the light of God's love and mercy.  For this is the only real true and dependable constant, and it will ask us to open our eyes to new things we don't yet know, and to grow in that love and faith.  Just as Jesus indicated in our reading from yesterday, and is illustrated in today's reading, we are called to be the "new wineskin"s that may expand with the new wine of His new covenant.   For He is always working, always making all things new.

 

 

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

 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

In Saturday's reading, we were told 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 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?"  My study bible points out that "the correct observance of the Sabbath-rest is a major point of controversy between the Pharisees and Jesus."  We will see how the interpretation of the Law by the religious establishment and the Law's fulfillment  in the Person of Jesus will come to clash throughout the Gospels. 

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 "this is a reminder that Jesus is God in the flesh -- that He is both God and Man." 

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.  My study bible says, "According to the scribes and Pharisees, healing was considered work and was not permissible on the Sabbath.  They believed they served God by being zealous for traditions they had built up around the Law, and they saw Jesus as a lawbreaker.  Their dedication to rigid legalism made them insensitive to God's priorities."

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?"  Jesus gives us an important key here, and one that we can continue to use for our own traditions.  Do we do good or evil, do we save life or destroy?  What is truly lawful?  We remember that in Saturday's reading, Jesus has just been dining at the home of Matthew (or Levi) the tax collector, with others who are rejoicing that the Bridegroom is with them.  Jesus told the criticizing leadership then:  "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."  Thus, Jesus equated the healing of a sinful life with true health from a Physician.  So His question about good or evil, and particularly regarding saving life or destroying it, is key in virtually any circumstances regarding our faith and its practices.

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.  Let us note that Jesus' key question (Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?) is lost on the leadership.  They are filled with rage at this demonstration of healing which seems to be in defiance of their prohibitions.  Their rage leads them only to talk of vengeance with regard to Jesus.

How often do we get traditions confused with God's love?  Let us think about the meaning of tradition.  On the one hand, customs build up through time that are both good and helpful, and the test of time is actually one such proof that things are indeed valuable for believers.  On the other hand, when we become rigid around the traditions so that we are incapable of either seeing harm or of letting in what is good and helpful -- that is, of returning to the real purpose of tradition which is to help us practice love as Jesus has taught through His works and commandments -- then we get into an area of great problems.  As the world changes and evolves, as we are faced with yet new problems to deal with (such as, for example, problems of drug addiction or violence or modern forms of afflictions upon the poor and powerless) then we have to make certain that we're asking Jesus' key question.  Is it lawful to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?  And that's really the key to our healing, which permeates every aspect of what it is to be true to our faith.  Jesus comes to save and to heal, He's the Physician who takes on our ailments for health and correction.  And this flows into every dimension of our lives.  Elsewhere, it's put into another form:  that He's here so that we may have life abundantly.  When we pray, it's good to ask, what is healing?  What saves life and doesn't destroy?  What is a way to do good and not evil?  It becomes a key for taking direction in our lives, a key for asking "how do I respond for this or for that?"  And it's also a way to evaluate the spiritual fruits of a choice long past, which may not have seemed clear nor easy in the moment, but in retrospect may have created something good that wasn't foreseen.  Let us remember Christ as our Physician.  He guides our way to health in every direction.  Let us remember there will be those people who may rage at us for doing the right thing.  Christ's courage and truth -- and His suffering for love -- then becomes one more example of what it takes to truly heal.