THE Gospel of Luke says: One Sabbath Jesus was going through the corn fields, and his disciples began to pick heads of grain, crushing them in their hands for food. Some of the Pharisees asked them, “Why do you do what is forbidden on the Sabbath? Then Jesus spoke up and asked them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his men were hungry? He entered the house of God, took and ate the bread of the offering, and even gave some of his men, though only priests are allowed to eat that bread”.
Here we have two conflicts between Jesus and the religious people of his time concerning the Sabbath. Let us not forget that the word Sabbath means rest. God requested that one day be made holy each week, not primarily for religious assemblies, but to allow everyone to rest (Ex 20:10). God is glorified when people are not enslaved in order to gain their daily sustenance because of their work.
In the first episode, Jesus does not argue with the Pharisees who consider work the mere act of plucking a few ears of corn and shelling them. First he recalls that great believers, like David, at times overlooked the law. He then adds: The Son of man rules over the Sabbath. Among the Jews, however, no one, not even the High Priest could dispense from the Sabbath observance. So Jesus leaves them perplexed and wondering: Who does he pretend to be?
In the second case, Jesus could have said to the man: “Why do you ask me to do something forbidden on the Sabbath? Come back tomorrow to be healed.” Jesus does not avoid the confrontation because Gospel means liberation and we become free and when we admit that there is nothing sacred in a society that attempts that impose its own standards. The law of rest (Sabbath) is one of the fundamental laws of the Bible but that does not prevent the possibility of this law causing oppression and for that reason it must at times be dispensed with.
It is a the same for the most sacred laws of the Church at a given moment they might be an obstacle to the Gospel and, if that be the case, Christian conscience, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, must find a solution for the time being. As long as people are subject to an order, to laws and authorities which are considered sacred and which no one thinks of criticizing, those people are neither free nor true sons and daughters of God.
A respect for God that would destroy our critical sense would not be in keeping with the Gospel; a religion preventing us from seeking human restlessness would not be the true one. To study the Bible without daring to know and take into account the contributions of modern science for fear that our very naïve vision of sacred history would fall apart would be to sin against the Spirit.
Jesus keeps those whom he loves the most in his prayer. The success of his mission will depend upon them; other people’s faith will rest on them. Jesus does not want their call to be his own will: before calling them, he wants to be certain that he is doing the Father’s will.
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