Unlawful on the Sabbath
Published Sep 3, 2022 12:05 am
REFLECTIONS TODAY
The Sabbath is connected with the Hebrew word shabbath which means to rest or to cease. Its basis is the rest of God “in the beginning”: “ rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken” (Gn 2:2). The observance of the Sabbath later became one of the Ten Commandments, in memory of God’s rest (Ex 20:8-11). The motif of God’s and Israel’s ceasing from work is related to being “refreshed.” Thus, the Sabbath has become “a delight” (Is 58:13).
To safeguard the holiness of the Sabbath, the rabbis of Israel came out with 39 prohibitions to “fence in” the Sabbath. One such transgression is done by the disciples who pick the heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat them. The Pharisees remonstrate about this to Jesus who, however, defends his disciples’ conduct by saying that even an institution like the Sabbath rest must yield to other considerations, among which is the satisfaction of human need. Just as the hungry David and his men were exempted from the regulations of the “holy bread,” so the disciples are permitted to ease their hunger and material need even on a Sabbath. But the ultimate justification is that Jesus, the Son of Man, “is lord of the sabbath.”
Gospel • Luke 6:1-5
While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” St. Pauls, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
The Sabbath is connected with the Hebrew word shabbath which means to rest or to cease. Its basis is the rest of God “in the beginning”: “ rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken” (Gn 2:2). The observance of the Sabbath later became one of the Ten Commandments, in memory of God’s rest (Ex 20:8-11). The motif of God’s and Israel’s ceasing from work is related to being “refreshed.” Thus, the Sabbath has become “a delight” (Is 58:13).
To safeguard the holiness of the Sabbath, the rabbis of Israel came out with 39 prohibitions to “fence in” the Sabbath. One such transgression is done by the disciples who pick the heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat them. The Pharisees remonstrate about this to Jesus who, however, defends his disciples’ conduct by saying that even an institution like the Sabbath rest must yield to other considerations, among which is the satisfaction of human need. Just as the hungry David and his men were exempted from the regulations of the “holy bread,” so the disciples are permitted to ease their hunger and material need even on a Sabbath. But the ultimate justification is that Jesus, the Son of Man, “is lord of the sabbath.”
Gospel • Luke 6:1-5
While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” St. Pauls, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.