Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
An easy interpretation of the brief exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees in our text from Luke’s Gospel today is that Jesus found the rules and practices of the sabbath to be a burden that his followers did not need to bear. That is why he allowed his disciples to eat the grain as they passed by it and proclaimed that he was “the lord of the sabbath.” Some have even extended the point to say that Jesus was all about challenging or loosening up the various rules and obligations of Judaism.
Careful Catholic commentators, however, say that this interpretation is too simple and, more importantly, quite off the mark. Jesus wasn’t challenging the practice of observing the sabbath; on the contrary, he regularly observed the sabbath. Thus, Jesus’s point is not that the sabbath is a burden, but that to practice it well we must take situation, context, and the needs of others into account. Such a nuanced approach to the sabbath is warranted, Jesus reasons, by the example of David who took bread from the house of God for his hungry companions, an act that was, on the face of it, obviously contrary to the Law.
So, Jesus is not throwing out all the rules, not even the rules for the sabbath. Instead, he is saying, “It depends.” The sabbath is good, as are the rules pertaining to it. And, as followers of Jesus, we are challenged by him to follow those rules. And, just as challenging, he calls us to make thoughtful allowances when following the rules turns out not to be very Christian.
Understandably, many Christians (and non-Christians) prefer rules that do not bend, flex, or give. They want their rules firm, fixed, eternal. And that’s because rules like that promise security, order, and certainty. Moreover, those who follow such rules can be confident that they are in the right. And that feels good.
But Jesus isn’t just about making sure we feel good. He was clear about that. So, rather than give us fixed rules, he called us to ethical action. And that requires us to do the hard work of discerning when following the rules aligns with the Kingdom of God and when it doesn’t. Jesus doesn’t tell us in advance. We have to figure it out.
That said, he certainly gives us guides along the way. And, clearly, we are getting one here. Follow the rules of the sabbath? Yes! No matter what? No. If following the rules means abandoning compassion and ignoring the suffering of others, definitely not.
A friend of ours who is a pastor and theologian told us of a phone call he had recently with his mother, whom he adores. She called with a concern that he was not preaching or serving his congregation in accordance with certain rules she (and many others) find in the Old Testament to be crucial for the Christian faith. For her, to be Christian is to affirm those rules in all that you say and do.
Ah, but the role of the pastor seeking to follow Jesus faithfully is nothing if not complex. People don’t come to pastors with neat and tidy stories that either simply do or do not fit with those rules. Our friend knows this well. Rules can definitely be helpful. But also harmful. As we learn in today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us all to discern when a rule is doing good and when it is running counter to the Kingdom.
In response to his mother’s concern, our friend asked her a question: “So, Mom, who do you say that I am?” What he meant, of course, was this: Having known me my whole life, witnessed my pastorate, experienced my love and care for my congregation, do you think I’m a Christian? Put another way, do you measure my faith by my love and compassion for others or by the degree to which I follow “the rules”?
And so, our friend’s mother finds herself in precisely the place Jesus has put all of us in this text. She/we have to figure it out. When must she/we insist upon following a rule (assuming it’s a good rule), and when are we called to bend and flex? When might insisting on the rules that were meant to sustain Christian faith actually undermine it?
May we hear Jesus today, teaching us to tread carefully when it comes to rules and their applications. And may we follow the examples of David and Jesus and choose to err on the side of the love, care, and grace of the Kingdom. Amen.
—Susan Trollinger