A 40-DAY JOURNEY WITH THE KING: Lenten reflections from Mark’s Gospel (8)

“Then [Jesus] said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.” (Mk. 2.27-28)

     Between two accounts of Jesus visiting the seaside to teach/heal the ever-present and ever-growing crowds (2.13; 3.7-12), Mark shows us the collision of Jesus’ vision of holiness with that of the Pharisees.  Mark accomplishes this by means of 4 short episodes, each of which contains a question that serves to reveal the underlying motives of these competing visions, the first three being asked by the Pharisees of Jesus/his disciples (concerning eating) and the fourth being asked by Jesus of his opponents (concerning the sabbath; cf. 2.6-9).  Jesus’ unconventional ways about the town of Capernaum now begin to make waves.

     The third episode (2.23-28) has Jesus and his disciples walking through a grainfield on the sabbath.  The disciples, being hungry, begin to pick/eat heads of grain (a type of “harvesting” activity).  The Pharisees, looking on, angrily ask Jesus: “why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” (2.24).  Jesus responds with a story from the life of David, Israel’s greatest king.  David had had rather humble origins, being the youngest of the 8 sons of Jesse the Bethlehemite (cf. 1 Samuel 16.1-11).  Not only this, but following his legendary victory over the giant Goliath and a successful career as a general in King Saul’s army (cf. 1 Samuel chapters 17—20), David lost everything due to the king’s jealousy and spent many years on the run for his life with a band of men who were loyal to him (cf. 1 Samuel 21.1-9; cf. 22.1-2). 

     Jesus’ reference to David’s life as a fugitive in this episode is the first of four references to David in Mark’s Gospel; by doing this, Jesus is making the claim that he and his disciples are behaving in a way that resembles that of David and his men (sitting loose to the stipulations of the Mosaic Law in favour of an urgent human need, i.e., hunger).  Not only does the Son of Man have authority to forgive sins (2.10), he is lord of the sabbath (2.28).  Jesus claims to have authority to determine what constitutes legitimate sabbath observance.  What is more, but by telling this story from David’s life, Jesus is advancing an implicit claim to be the Messiah, aka the “son of David” (cf. Mk. 10.47-48; 12.35ff).  Jesus’ baptism by John resembles David’s anointing by the prophet Samuel (compare Mk. 1.9-11 with 1 Samuel 16.12-13).  In both instances, the recipient of the blessing (baptism, anointing) also receives the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.  Another parallel between David and Jesus is that when they are designated as king or Son of God, there is no immediate change in their circumstances.  After having been anointed, David resumed his duties as keeper of his father’s sheep; for his part, Jesus actually experienced a loss of status following his baptism, as he abandoned his conventional life as a village labourer and undertook a “career” of itinerant preaching/healing.  As David was pursued by King Saul, Jesus was on the radar of King Herod Antipas who killed John the Baptist in dubious circumstances (cf. Mk. 6.14-29; Lk. 13.31-33).

     The fourth episode (3.1-6) has Jesus return to the Capernaum synagogue on the sabbath (cf. 1.21-28).  The simmering hostility against Jesus among the Pharisees now begins to boil (cf. 2.1-12).  They are watching Jesus intently, like hungry animals stalking prey, waiting for the moment that Jesus will incriminate himself (3.2).  It seems like their resentment about Jesus’ claim to lordship over the sabbath had not subsided, but rather festered.  Jesus’ question unveils their violent agenda: “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” (3.4).  By healing the man’s withered hand with words (“Stretch out your hand”), Jesus did not actually perform any “work”, and thus did not violate the laws of sabbath observance.  At a stroke, Jesus performs a healing, exposes his enemies’ “unlawful” intentions towards him, and demonstrates his adeptness at legal interpretation (and in so doing, shames his adversaries).  The result is predictable – the Pharisees begin to plot how to kill Jesus.  Jesus is announcing and inaugurating the kingdom of God – all must choose whether they want to join this kingdom or rather destroy it.  Are you with Saul or with David (cf. 1 Sam. 22.6-23)?

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