The fear of walking on the eggshells of a wrathful God vs. cracking open God’s eggs to feed His people.
Psalm 20, 21:1-7(8-14) • Psalm 110:1-5(6-7), 116, 117
Isa. 43:1-13 • Eph. 3:14-21 • Mark 2:23-3:6
The Pharisees did not limit themselves when deciding right or wrong to the Ten Commandments. They depended at least as much on oral commentaries that generated yet more religious sayings. This parsing of meanings often included pro-and-con analysis of what today might strike us as bizarrely improbable predicaments. Five hundred years after the destruction of the Second Temple this oral wisdom was collected into what is now the Talmud in 2,711 volumes.
This relentless multiplication of rules and guidance for their application was not unique to that place and time. The 1787 edition of the US Constitution took up 4 pages of parchment. The 2020 US Code of Federal Regulations runs 170,000 pages and that does not include the full text of the case law from the federal and state courts, nor the state, city and county ordinances, nor articles in law reviews.
At issue in Mark’s gospel is what constitutes forbidden labor on the Sabbath. The Pharisees observed hungry disciples walking along on the Sabbath who were plucking the tops of ripening barley from roadside farms. The Pharisees thought it must be absolutely stopped because oral and written tradition specifically cited harvesting crops as prohibited on the Sabbath. Ironically, other sages indicated that hungry passersby could legally pluck grain by hand as long as they did not go farther than about ten feet onto the farmer’s property, and limited themselves to a handful.
On what side would Jesus come down? He referred the Pharisees and the onlookers to this debate to stories about King David, Israel’s national hero, and Abiathar, a respected High Priest of David’s time. David was on the run from King Saul, and his rebel band were desperate for something to eat. So they made their way to the temple. The High Priest was on duty that morning and had just replaced the previous day’s sanctuary bread with warm fresh loaves. He intended to share the day-old but still sacred bread with the other members of the temple priesthood. This holy elite were the only ones allowed to eat them. But this priest having no other bread to offer, took pity on David and gave him the blessed bread instead. Jesus asked the Pharisees if the High Priest and the future King David were likely to collude to break a religious stricture without sufficient reason? To this, the Pharisees had no answer.
When deciding between conflicting Jewish laws Jesus always comes down on the side of kindness to humanity as opposed to encouraging others to live in constant fear that imperfection in religious observances will trigger the wrath of God.
Written by Tony Stankus
Tony Stankus, now 69, became the first librarian ever promoted at the U of A to the rank of Distinguished Professor. He became an Episcopalian at age 66 because he could no longer resist the transcendent liturgies at St. Paul’s nor the warmth of its priests and people.