The Disciples and the Sabbath
http://graceandspace.org
Mk 2:23-28
23As
[Jesus] was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his
disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. 24At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” 25He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? 26How
he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the
bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared
it with his companions?” 27Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. 28That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
The Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath. It
is the Sabbath, a day of rest and a day of the Lord, but Jesus’
disciples are picking heads of grain. The Pharisees, who are
interpreters of the Torah, point out that the disciples are breaking the
Law. Using a story from King David to illustrate that, in cases of
necessity, the obligation of the Torah may be suspended, Jesus
emphasizes that the observance of the Sabbath must truly be to glorify
and praise God, and bring salvation to the human person. In fact, the
Sabbath was instituted for the good of the human person, not the human
person for the Sabbath.
Samuel,
in the First Reading, goes to dine with Jesse to choose the new king of
Israel. One by one the sons of Jesse come, and each time the prophet
errs as to the Lord’s chosen one. The Lord tells Samuel, “Do not judge
from his appearance or from his lofty stature… Not as man sees does God
see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.”
The Lord’s choice falls on the youngest son David, and Samuel anoints
him in the midst of his brothers.
How do you as a Christian make the Lord’s day holy?
Have you missed the Sunday Eucharist because of a very pressing obligation?
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