Keeping The Sabbath
KEEPING THE SABBATH
MARK 2:23–3:6
A rigid attitude to man-made rules and traditions is far from the spirit of the kingdom.
The fourth and fifth stories of conflict are concerned with observance of the Sabbath. The Old Testament law forbade plowing and reaping on the Sabbath (Exodus 34:21). The Pharisees’ detailed interpretation of this law had been transgressed, and they demanded an explanation from Jesus. He referred them to David’s action at Nob; a clear transgression of Mosaic legislation (Exodus 25:23-30; Leviticus 24:5-9). It is often said that David was breaking the law of God in a case of necessity, and that Jesus was justifying the same procedure on the part of his disciples. Rather, he was showing that David’s action is one that was not condemned by Scripture: similarly, his disciples were not breaking any Scriptural law but only the Pharisaic, pedantic interpretation of it. Two new positive principles are established. First, the Sabbath exists for man’s benefit, and man-made rules that make it a burden to observe are wrong. Second, if the Sabbath is made for man, how much more has man’s lord and representative, the Son of man, authority over its use. Note the deeper implication of this statement: in the Old Testament the Sabbath is the Lord’s day, so that by claiming lordship over it Jesus is implicitly claiming equality with God.
In the story in 1 Samuel 21:1-6 the priest’s name is Ahimelech; no fully satisfactory explanation as to why the better-known Abiathar is mentioned here exists. The value of the story is not affected.
In Jewish law a man was warned rather than punished as a “first offender” since, it was argued, he might be acting unwittingly; if he transgressed a second time, he was obviously wilfully ignoring the warning and was then liable to punishment. This may be the background to this second story about sabbath-breaking. Healing was permitted on the Sabbath only if life was in danger. Opinions differ about 3:4: did Jesus simply mean by “do harm” and “kill,” “not to heal,” or was he not thinking of the malicious plotting of the Pharisees? The latter were rapidly hardening their hearts against the grace of the kingdom (cf. 6:52; 8:17). The Herodians were supporters of Herod Antipas, and an alliance between them and the Pharisees was utterly inconceivable; evil can unite men as well as good (3:6)!