Mark 2: 23-28
One sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” Then he 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.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
The Role of Law
1 Samuel 21:1-7 provides the context that Jesus references and summarizes in Mark 2:25-26. Why would David break the law? It seems David was on an important mission and his focus was on the larger task at hand. Jesus also points to his larger mission and the necessity of feeding his companions as part of that mission in today’s Gospel. This incident is just the latest in a string of confrontations between Jesus and the Pharisees chronicled in Mark Chapter 2, all revolving around the role of the law in people’s lives, in situations Jesus encountered on his travels in Capernaum. The Pharisees were upset that Jesus said he could forgive sins, ate with sinners and tax collectors, didn’t fast and seemingly didn’t observe the Sabbath regulations. In all of these disputes Jesus challenged the way the law was being interpreted at the expense of the humanity of the people of God.
—Carl Caceres, SJ, is a Midwest Province Jesuit working on a doctoral degree in higher education and doing spiritual direction at Loyola University.
Prayer
We pray to you, O Lord,
Let us remember what our mission is
The work you call us to do
Help us to respect Your law and Your sabbath
But never to interpret it in such a way that
compromises the humanity of your people
and doesn’t follow Your law of love
Give us the courage to imitate You
even when doing so comes at a cost
and people may not understand
Amen
—Carl Caceres, SJ
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