What Does Our Law Allow Us to Do?

 

What Does Our Law Allow Us to Do? (Mark 2:23 – 3:6)

“What does our Law allow us to do on the Sabbath? To help or to harm? To save someone's life or to destroy it?” (Mark 3:4)

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The Sabbath is a big deal for my people. God was pretty clear when he gave Moses the Law: “Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy, as I, the Lord your God, have commanded you. You have six days in which to do your work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work—neither you, your children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country. Your slaves must rest just as you do.” 

We are pretty serious about observing the Sabbath. The Pharisees make sure we keep the Sabbath to the letter of the Law. They have done us the kindness, if you will, of letting us know what “work” is, so we can be sure we don’t do anything on the Sabbath that would violate God’s Law.

For example, harvesting wheat is forbidden on the Sabbath. Evidently, even grabbing a few kernels of wheat to chew on is considered to be harvesting and therefore, work – according to the Pharisees, that is. Healing someone is also forbidden on the Sabbath. I never really understood that one, because it seems to me that God values human life too much to want us to suffer from sickness or injury, just to make sure we are not “working.”

Well, guess what?! Today, the Sabbath day, Jesus did both of these things. He pulled a few kernels of wheat from the stalks as we walked by a field on the way to the synagogue and gave them to us to quiet our grumbling stomachs. The Pharisees saw him do that, and they were furious. They wagged the finger at Jesus and scolded him, “You can’t do that!” And later on in the day, Jesus committed the really big violation by healing a man whose hand was deformed and crippled, all shriveled up. Again, the Pharisees were raving mad, and they stomped out of the synagogue swearing up and down that they were going to get Jesus for good.

As I walk with Jesus, I’ve begun to notice something about him: Jesus cares about people. He really cares about us. He doesn’t let anything get in the way of doing the right thing for someone in need. And that’s how he helps us understand the real meaning of the Law of God – that the Law is given to us for our good, not as a burden to weigh us down or as an instrument to strike fear in our hearts. As I walk with Jesus, I come to understand more and more that God gave us the Law so that we could flourish and truly enjoy life in all its fullness.

Jesus pretty much told the Pharisees that in the synagogue. “What does our Law allow us to do on the Sabbath?,” he asked them, looking them straight in the eyes. “Does our Law allow us to help or to harm? To save someone's life or to destroy it?” I’m really glad to hear Jesus say that, because the Pharisees, and lots of people like them, use the Law as a way of sapping the life out of us. They condense the Law down to a bunch of “You shall not” commands.

It’s not as if I look for ways around the Law. I just want to live life in the way God intends me to live. And Jesus is teaching me that God wants me to live abundantly, with joy and gladness, free to show compassion and mercy to others, and to learn how to really love God with everything in me, and to love everyone I encounter. 

The longer I walk with Jesus, the more grateful I am that he helps me understand the true meaning of God’s Law – it is a gift of abundant life.

Dear Jesus, as I walk with you today, open my eyes, so that I may see the wonderful truths in your Law. Amen.