For Sunday
Proper 4B
Collect
O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Reading
Reflection
From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus has his critics. People who don’t understand what he is doing. And because he is playing with expectations, such as forgiving sins, eating with tax collectors, and not encouraging his disciples fast, those critics worry about what Jesus is teaching his followers.
Jesus is messing with the order of things. With tradition. And for most people, this is a welcome development! But for some…it is deeply threatening. And then, when the rule is about doing things on the Sabbath? Well, that’s too far.
I suspect our reading of this is colored by our own sanguinity around the reservation of holy days and the preservation of tradition. And given our cultural rejection of the spirit at the heart of Sabbath—to not out-hustle your neighbor—it should be fair to say that we don’t really get the scale of what’s happening.
We do get that Jesus is comparing himself to King David and saying he gets to be the exception to the rule. And then we also get that Jesus sees healing a man’s withered hand is a lifesaving intervention—and that lifesaving interventions are actually super Sabbathy.
At the root of Sabbath is God’s command for how we are to order ourselves. Not just for work and for rest, but how all are given freedom through rest.
Vacation isn’t just for the wealthy. But Sabbath isn’t just about occasional times of rest, either. It is a relationship to work that puts it below God’s desires for the world. Below our own self-interests.
It is a rejection of our societal hierarchies, working ourselves to death, anxiety over economic conditions, or any number of ways we bully one another for cultural supremacy.
Sabbath is for saving lives. Which includes our neighbors.