Lord of the Sabbath September 9

To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clad and roughly treated, we wander about homeless and we toil, working with our own hands. When ridiculed, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we respond gently. We have become like the world’s rubbish, the scum of all, to this very moment. 1 Corinthians 4:11-13

“The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.” Luke 6:5

Piety
Let us pray: God, source of the sunrise and the sunset, open our eyes to your new laws. Help us to see beyond just a legalistic framework to true justice for all people. Enable our minds to truly learn about the social impact of the teachings and preachings of your, Son, our Lord, Jesus of Nazareth. Then, empower our hands to do the work required, whenever required. Amen.

Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/090906.shtml

If the Lord is just in all His ways, as the Psalm says, why does he upend the people who follow the law so strictly? Why not just follow the laws and bring along all the law abiding citizens to the new vision for the Kingdom of God? Certainly it would seem like that course of action would be less antagonistic.

Is it, perhaps, because Jesus’ concept of justice goes well beyond the reach of temporal law and church law?

Today in Luke, Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees who devoutly quote the law. And instead of compromise, Jesus introduces a new perspective on the law.

Jesus was not a Pharisee or High Priest. He was not a politician or Roman. If Jesus intended to teach a new law, and if Jesus intended to bring God’s kingdom to heaven on earth, then he picked a very unusual way to go about it.

Jesus did this first by recruiting his own inner circle from among the powerless and then by challenging those who had power through his words and deeds.

Taking on the Pharisees was an interesting fight. Hans Kung, in On Being a Christian, Kung points out that historically, the Pharisees were a uniquely devout group which paid special attention to the provisions of the law on cleanliness.[1] They were the sole party which had survived the great revolution against the Romans. The name implies not hypocrites but rather “separated.” Kung and other sources portray them as a devout, righteous, God-fearing sect.

Yet, Jesus’ reaction to their interrogation shows that He is a New Moses, bringing a new law to the people. Jesus is an outsider bringing a new perspective. Jesus reveals his new law to the Pharisees, pointing out that God’s work – satisfying human needs such as hunger and performing works of mercy like caring for the sick and healing (protecting God’s very creation) -- takes precedence even over the sacred Sabbath rest.[2]

Being a devout, God-fearing person must equate with the higher order of caring for your neighbor. These two intersecting planes come together in the humanity and the divinity of Jesus.

St. Paul asks the Corinthians and the Virginias and all peoples to be imitators of Christ, not imitators of the world. The disciple experience then, to imitate Christ, contrasts and departs from our standard definitions of success in the world – whether according to political, social or religious norms. Being true to the apostolic experience can not be judged in terms of human success. Jesus sets the New Standard.

Action

Where does Jesus challenge you to go beyond devotion?



[1] Kung, Hans. On Being A Christian (translated by Edward Quinn). Garden City, NY:Image Books. Page 202
[2] Notes to the New American Bible (NAB). http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/luke/luke6.htm#foot1