19 July 2019 - not against the grain

 

Today's Readings

(Audio)

His disciples were hungry
and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.

The disciples are hungry so they eat. Normally this would be considered work and therefore forbidden on the sabbath. But in there are certain kinds of service that take precedence over the sabbath prohibitions. The disciples are where they are and not in a place with food prepared precisely because they are following Jesus. If even the priests that serve in temple are allowed to serve on the sabbath how much more are the disciples of Jesus allowed, who are there in his service?

I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.

Worth nothing, too, is that the specific violation which Jesus permits is for their own sake, to sate their hunger, and to give them the strength they need to continue following Jesus. The Pharisees would have insisted that they follow the rules in a cold and arbitrary manner, a way which would compromise the ability to carry out the mission. Jesus knows that the sabbath is given for the sake of man and so he knows how it fits into the bigger picture. Only when we realize that Jesus is greater than the temple and the LORD of the sabbath do we begin to see that bigger picture. Apart from him we can't make sense of the law. We end up using it as a weapon and a tool for judgment. But in him, all things find their fulfillment and meaning.

Tell the whole community of Israel:  On the tenth of this month
every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb,
one apiece for each household.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover. He himself is the lamb given to forgive all of our sins. He himself is the true food that can satisfy for all eternity. His death keeps the angel of death from executing judgment upon us. Without Jesus we can't fully make sense of the sabbath or of the Passover or of our own lives. But in him everything takes on new and radiant meaning.

The bread of the fields, the bread of Passover, and the bread of the Eucharist are all gifts of God most high. They are given to us for our sake, to strengthen us to follow Jesus and to abide with him more and more. In return, we have nothing to offer besides what we ourselves are first given.

How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.