Trinity 1 (Proper 4) Year B – Eucharist – 2.vi.2024
One sabbath Jesus was going through the cornfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to Jesus, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?’
The Pharisees accuse Jesus’ disciples of breaking one of the commandments of the Law. They are walking through the fields and start plucking at the growing stalks to take the grain. It’s not that they are trespassing. It’s not that they are guilty of theft in stealing the farmer’s corn. Their crime is of breaking the commandment that they should keep the sabbath – that they should refrain from work on the holy day of the week.
People these days may not give much thought to that piece of Jewish Law. It first appears in the Book of Exodus chapter 20, when Moses receives the Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. Today’s First Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy repeats that Commandment in a slightly different form. But what you can say of both is that if you take the list of the Ten Commandments it’s this one – to observe the Sabbath as a day of rest, a day to refrain from working – which is the longest. The injunction to refrain from idolatry comes pretty close in terms of length. But what we might consider to be the most serious of the Commandments almost trip off the tongue in terms of their brevity: “You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal.” Even “Honour your father and your mother…” gets no more than a single sentence.
“Remember the Sabbath day… Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy…” It’s this Commandment which is given most space in the Jewish Law. So when the Pharisees complain to Jesus about what his disciples are doing, they feel they have a serious point to make. Even walking more than a certain distance on the Sabbath day was restricted – and still is in modern Jewish observance. Plucking ears of wheat was prohibited because any gathering of grain from the fields counted as work.
But Jesus disagrees; “The sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the sabbath…” His words have become a proverb that people sometimes still quote in its non-inclusive form: “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.” You’ll probably agree. But it shouldn’t be quoted just to justify doing whatever you want. That’s what I want you to remember: that this Commandment is the longest of those you’ll find amongst those given to Moses as the Jewish Law.
Look up the Ten Commandments and you’ll find you’re given not just a rule – you’re also given a reason. It’s because there are six days when you can get on with your everyday jobs or labour. Most people now would say that five days of work is quite enough. You need time off, time for something different. In the version of the Ten Commandments which you find in Exodus there’s a reason given – that God created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. Both Exodus and Deuteronomy say that you need to be able to rest from work – and not only you, but the people you share your home with, and even slaves, livestock and foreigners who have come from outside the community. Think of how politicians talk about curbing immigration, but at the same time our care system would collapse without those people who have come from abroad. There needs to be protection for all. When many politicians may speak of the need for “flexible working practices,” we have to ask – are they simply seeking to justify the exploitation of people who are forced into working when they really could do with some time off. “Workers’ rights” go right back into the Old Testament. And the reading from Deuteronomy has Moses remind his people: “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt…” Remember how you were mistreated there. Think of what it means to have been set free. So don’t condemn yourselves to continual labour once again. And think of how you should treat other people too…
Perhaps the Pharisees push things too far. They want to catch Jesus out. When he heals a man in the synagogue on the sabbath they don’t say anything, but they get together to think of whether they can use it as a pretext to take action against him.
What Jesus says – and what is fundamentally the reason for this longest of the commandments – is that humanity is what counts. Take seriously our own human needs, our need to be relieved from the grind of work and the burden of labour. Our need for refreshment. Our need of space for renewal, so that we can regain our perspective. And in remembering this commandment, see that it applies not only to us but to other people whose work we might take for granted – see that it’s about people we might take for granted.
St. Paul in our reading from 2 Corinthians speaks of his task as “proclaiming Christ as Lord,” and says we should understand ourselves as “slaves for Jesus’ sake.” But that’s not a slavery of exploitation. It’s about finding God’s glory in Jesus – and that’s to say that God himself is revealed to have a human face.
Paul goes on with words that are so important: “We have this treasure in clay jars…” We are called to contain all that God gives us. We may feel that we are taken for granted; we may take ourselves for granted. But we are precious because God calls us to be vessels of his Holy Spirit. In those tasks we undertake, God gives us a purpose. There are times when life gets us down: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed…,” but then he adds, “not driven to despair.” Times when we feel “persecuted” – but not forsaken; “struck down” – but not destroyed.
How can we live our lives as Christians? It’s all a journey. That’s something we learn from the first disciples to follow Jesus. They leave their daily labour to discover something new. So much of what they learn seems to come not from words with which they are taught but simply from being with Jesus – there they are in today’s Gospel, walking with Jesus in the fields. It’s as they go that they discover new ways of looking at what they had taken for granted.
We need to find time to detach ourselves from the concerns which so much preoccupy us. We learn about God’s will for us not only through study, but by making space for God – in silence and stillness, in finding joy as we recognise the gifts of creation and renewal which he holds before us. We might count ourselves to be “clay jars,” like common fragile pots - not to be taken for granted or ready to be broken, but so that we may find our calling to hold the treasures we receive from God. If God’s love is to be made visible, it is to be made visible through us.
No comments:
Post a Comment