Day 8 : Mark 2:23-28 & 3:1-6
Which is lawful, to do good or to do evil?
As we read this story, we sense a storm brewing. Jesus and his disciples are being watched, and not with a benevolent interest. It is here that we see the plot to kill Jesus start.
To understand what is happening it helps to remember the context. The Jewish homeland is occupied and controlled by Rome and Jewish identity is threatened. The concept of sabbath is deeply rooted through the Hebrew Scriptures from the beginning with the story of creation, reflected in the collection of manna2 during the Exodus from Egypt and listed fourth place in the ten commandments. It is integral to being Jewish, inherent in their story and identity. With a foreign power dictating much of the economy and daily life, adhering to these practices is a way of exerting their identity.
The Pharisees have taken it upon themselves to ensure that the signs of Judaism are kept alive including purity laws, sacrifices and observing the sabbath. When they see the disciples apparently working (picking corn) on the sabbath day, they question Jesus. There is irony in Jesus’s response to these scholars of the law ‘have you never read…?’ (NIVUK), but there is much more to it. Jesus infers a direct comparison between himself and Israel’s greatest King, David. In the incident quoted, David has been anointed by Samuel, but is not yet the King. Jesus alludes to himself as the King in waiting.
True adherence to the sabbath is in taking time out to give glory to God. It is a time of rest from work so we can experience recreation. Literally being re-created by God. Jesus ends this by saying the sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the sabbath.
2Manna was a type of bread which God supplied daily from heaven to the Israelites in the Desert during the Exodus from Egypt to the promised land.
