Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 18th January
Message from Fr Paul for Tuesday, 18th January 2022
I don’t know about you, but when I read the Gospels, I always wish there were more information that would help us understand better what was really going on. Today’s Gospel passage from Mark is a perfect example, (Mk 2: 23-28). First of all, let’s read what Mark has to say.
“One sabbath day, Jesus happened to be taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples began to pick ears of corn as they went along. And the Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing something on the sabbath day that is forbidden?’ And he replied, ‘Did you never read what David did in his time of need when he and his followers were hungry – how he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the loaves of offering which only the priests are allowed to eat, and how he also gave some to the men with him?’
And he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; the Son of Man is master even of the sabbath.’”
Why were Jesus and his disciples walking though the cornfields that particular Sabbath day? Were they going somewhere special or were they out for a stroll just as we might go for a walk on a Sunday? Mark tells us that they were “taking a walk.” Sometimes we forget that these were ordinary people doing normal things. But why were the Pharisees out there observing them? This is early on in Jesus’ ministry. so were the Pharisees already spying on him day and night, as they ended up doing?
They complain that the disciples are doing something forbidden by the Law and that Jesus is sanctioning this kind of behaviour. If the disciples were hungry, then they had every right to pick ears of corn to calm their hunger pains. Jesus replies by giving them the example of King David and his men, who did far worse by eating the loaves of offering in the temple, something that only the priests could do, and David was responsible for that action. He himself gave his men the bread: they didn’t take it for themselves. Jesus is obviously comparing himself with David, Is Jesus the new David, then, just as he is the new Adam and the new Moses? After all, the Wise Men asked Herod, “Where is he is who is born King of the Jews?” And on the cross on Calvary, the notice that Pilate attached read, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”
He certainly implies this. Finally, Jesus reminds the Pharisees that, “the sabbath is made for man and not man for the sabbath.” In other words, the Law exists to guide and protect human beings, not to enslave them. Blind attachment to the Law, by which he means an overexaggerated interpretation of the Law, serves no purpose at all. It exists to help and not to hinder. His parting shot is that the Son of Man, the title Jesus uses for himself, is master of the sabbath.
Lord God, we thank you for the teaching and example of Jesus and his concern for his disciples. May we not be overzealous in interpreting your commandments and those of the Church. Help us to put people and their needs first, and to look with mercy and loving kindness on ourselves and on others. Amen.
