I was fascinated, when visiting a hotel in Jerusalem, to discover that one of the lifts was a ‘Sabbath elevator’. On Saturdays it automatically stopped at every floor, so that Orthodox Jews could avoid breaking the Sabbath by pressing the button for the desired floor. A similar desire motivated the Pharisees of Jesus’ day – to avoid any kind of work on the Sabbath, including picking corn and rubbing it between one’s hands to remove the husks (Exodus 34:21). If Jesus was a great teacher, why was he allowing his followers to break the Sabbath in this way (vs 23,24)? 

The Old Testament placed great importance on Sabbath observance (eg Isaiah 58:13,14) but Exodus 16:29 suggests that a day of rest is a gift from God. Jesus cites the time when David, fleeing from Saul, is so hungry that the priest in the sanctuary gives him consecrated bread (vs 25,26). The priest is willing to be flexible; desperate measures at desperate times (1 Samuel 21:1–6). 

For the second time in this Gospel, Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man (see Tuesday’s note). On his own authority he declares the Sabbath to be made for man, not man for the Sabbath (vs 27,28). Such rules are of less importance now that the promised one from heaven has come to bring in the kingdom of God.

‘Be filled with the Spirit … Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.’¹

I can’t help wondering whether all this fastidiousness about Sabbath-keeping was really the issue with the Pharisees. We read that they were looking for an excuse to arrest Jesus.² Was it really because his disciples were picking heads of grain on the Sabbath? Or was it because of his ever-growing popularity? Was it jealousy? Or worse, was he a threat to the whole complex of religious observance that they had carefully built up, which held them in prestige? Had they invested their very identity in their tradition?

It is so very easy to confuse worshipping God with maintaining the traditions that support our worship. Transfer of our loyalty can grow imperceptibly out of things that are good in themselves. We love our church buildings, our Christian music, our form of worship, our lifestyles – how we dress, who we mix with, what we do or don’t drink, etc. Even what we believe, since we pay great attention to some things in the Bible (teaching about sexuality?) and read right past others (giving generously to the poor?).³ Then someone does something that crosses the line and we are in turmoil.

Jesus crossed the line, over and over again, calling people back to what it means to live as the people of God.⁴ We read of God’s requirements in Micah 6:6–8, ‘To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’. James writes of true religion as being ‘quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry … look[ing] after orphans and widows in their distress and … keep[ing] oneself from being polluted by the world’.⁵ Jesus would love it if we take away from these readings some new thoughts about what it really means to live for him. And to put them into practice.

Think about your church family and your own lifestyle. What is Jesus saying to you?

¹ Eph 5:18,19  ² Mark 3:2  ³ Mark 10:21; Gal 2:10; 2 Cor 9:6,7  ⁴ Deut 6:5; Lev 19:18  ⁵ James 1:19–27