The time Jesus breaks the law to fulfill it. By healing people. Which shouldn’t be such a big deal. But totally is.
“When Jesus became aware of this, he departed.”
Matthew 12:15
What did Jesus become aware of? Don’t you want to know?
“But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.”
OK. That feels like it needs some context, too.
So let’s back up to the beginning of this part of the story.
It is chapter 12 of Matthew. Jesus and his disciples are walking through a field on the Sabbath. They pluck some grain to eat. Some religious leaders get upset. This clearly breaks Sabbath Law. Jesus confronts them about this teaching. How they’ve clearly lost the plot.
Then Jesus walks into their synagogue. And looking to continue this disagreement, they question Jesus. There’s a guy with a withered hand. Would God want us to cure him now?
Jesus doesn’t answer. But he turns to the man and asks him to “stretch out his hand.” When the man does, it is healed.
That’s when the Pharisees leave to conspire, “how to destroy him.”
There’s quite a bit of nuance to this story, particularly around how Jesus uses “the Son of Man” and teaching. But the gist is pretty scandalous, actually.
Messing with the Sabbath
It is hard for us to truly get the idea of Jesus messing with Sabbath Law. We can’t approximate the relationship. It is too close to American blue laws, which kept things closed or restricted on Sundays. It makes the forbidding character of the Sabbath institutional and secular. Besides, the idea that I can’t buy booze on Sunday really has little to do with honoring the Sabbath day, which is Saturday.
What we fail to conjure up is the sense of breaking the biggest of rules when we already see it as maybe a minor infraction. But it is a big deal. Even to the point that it was put right after Love God, worship no other gods, make no graven images, keep the Sabbath. Right there. Above honoring parents and not killing. Think about that: messing with the Sabbath may be worse than murder. And if you’re not an absolutist here, at least equal to it.
Jesus is messing with the stuff you don’t mess with. And he’s saying God wants him to. That should give everyone involved pause.
An eye for an eye
I’ve always seen the leaders’ character assassination of Jesus and then the actual assassination as revealing their hypocrisy. But I’m starting to wonder if they saw it as retributive justice. Perhaps they were seeking an eye for an eye. In that case, Jesus did something as bad as murder, so he is deserving of murder.
It is hard to imagine this in the literal sense. But when we consider what people of faith say when confronted with the death penalty, it becomes far less academic. Have we not heard that people on death row have somehow “forfeited their life” because of what they have done? They have killed, so let them be killed.
Notice the passive voice, too. You and I aren’t killing. We have them killed. As if it happens without action or without control. As if someone isn’t pulling a trigger or injecting a needle.
It is no less troubling that we have sought to outsource our own vengeance. So as to not break God’s command just to punish someone who breaks God’s command. We have people for that. So we don’t have to.
Frees us of guilt. Or at least we pretend it does.
When Jesus became aware of this, he departed.
Who can blame him, really.
But it probably isn’t about self-preservation. More like going to where the work actually works.
But one of my favorite lines comes next:
“Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them”
I don’t know about you, but given how specific Matthew can be, I’m not sure we’re supposed to hear this as general or hyperbolic.
He cured all of them.
Jesus cured the man with the withered hand. Why? Because it was the Lord’s day. Yes, and he could. Yes, and Jesus is saving his life.
The Pharisees argued with Jesus about the Law. But Jesus argued with them about God’s intent.
To save us.
What better time than the Sabbath?
He cured all of them.
There’s something outrageous about Jesus. Puckish, like a scamp. Like Shakespeare’s jesters. He provokes with the truth while everyone else shies away from it.
The leaders come after him for letting his people survive the Sabbath. For reveling in the glory of the Lord. So what does he do? He goes into a synagogue and heals a man. Then what does he do when he finds out they are conspiring? He cured everybody.
God cannot be contained because we will it. Or because we want it that way. We make terrible gatekeepers for God’s grace. But we make excellent fools for it.
And in his name the Gentiles will hope.
Bringer of Justice. Patron of Hope. In his name the world will hope. Beyond the tribe, its laws, our systems: a beloved community of generous grace.
We hope. We pray. In that we follow.
This is how we find Sabbath’s purpose. Fulfilled justice. And he cured all of them.