Reading
Mk 2,23-28
23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Meditation
According to the rabbis, the Sabbath rest, in honor of the day on which God rested after the work of creation (Gen 2:3), is the most important commandment: observing it correctly means fulfilling all the law. Consequently, the violation of the Sabbath is considered the same as the worst sins (idolatry, incest, murder).
The simple commandment contained in the book of Exodus (Ex 34:21) and in Deuteronomy (Dt 5: 12-15) has been extended by the Jewish masters to include thirty-nine types of forbidden works, in turn divided into thirty-nine classes, for a total of 1521 prohibited works. The opposition of Jesus is against these excesses of the sabbatical legislation, against the "teachings [that] are merely human rules." (Mt 15:9).
Contrary to what the Pharisees reproached, travelers who did not have enough food were allowed to eat by picking the ears on the road (Dt 23:24-25). The opposition of the Pharisees is, therefore, not only malicious, but also unjustified.
The episode of David who ate the offering loaves with his companions is taken from the first book of Samuel (1 Sam 21:2-7) and does not concern the violation of the sabbatical rest, but is inserted here to demonstrate that the violation of the law is possible because David's men, fleeing from Saul, were without food. The loaves of the offering were the twelve loaves presented to the Lord in the temple, replaced every Saturday (Lv 24,5-9) and which could only be eaten by the priests.
The law of the Sabbath, established by God for the rest of the body, cannot go against the needs of the body (ours or that of the neighbor). This is why Jesus performs many healings even on the Sabbath day. He reaffirms the divine intention of the Sabbath, a day of rest "made for man" (v. 27), as a benefit to Israel, opposed to the restrictive tradition of the Pharisees in interpreting the law.
Man was not made for the Sabbath but to honor and serve God. The meaning of the final comment, "the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (v. 28) is that the violation of the Sabbath is justified by Jesus' own authority. He thus affirms his authority and the power to restore God's authentic law, rejecting human traditions that enslave man and re-establishing the Sabbath as a day of blessing.
The restrictions of the Sabbath are abolished thanks to justification made by Christ in his death and resurrection, so that the day of the Lord, moved by Christians to Sunday, will become the day on which to celebrate his sacrifice of salvation and to honor him. The gospel of grace frees us from the fear of the Law to serve God with love, in response to the concern that he has shown for us, in creating us, keeping us and redeeming us in his Son.
This is the meaning of the "commandments": a guide to teach us to love God, not under the yoke of slaves, but with responsibility, knowing how to look at man and his needs before any precept.
Prayer
Lord God, who freed us from the slavery of sin, teach us to love you making us solicitous to the needs of our neighbor; so that we can reach the endless rest of your eternal Sabbath. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
