Our text from Mark describes two dramatic actions in the ministry of Jesus that both occurred on the Sabbath, and both confront the question "What is it lawful to do on the Sabbath?" The first action happened in a grain field.
What’s interesting is that we don’t hear the content of Jesus’ teaching. It’s almost like Mark is saying, “the content isn’t the important part.” In the Gospel of Mark what makes Jesus’ teaching authoritative is his person; his teaching is authoritative because of who he is — he is “the Holy One of God.”
The congregation is astounded! Jesus is not like so many other teachers they have heard. He does not cite a series of authorities, piling up learned references one upon another. Instead, he teaches out of his own authority. It is his own truth that he sets forth.
The disciples have been harshly judged these past two thousand years. Their judgment comes in large part because of what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane as recorded in this passage from the Gospel of Mark we read this morning.
One Sabbath as Jesus and his disciples were walking to the synagogue, the disciples were seen breaking grain off the stalks and eating them as they walk through a field. Of course as travelers the laws of Moses gave them that right, but on the Sabbath! Was Jesus teaching his disciples not to keep the Sabbath Holy!
We tend to think that if our words ran out, we’d lose all hope. Just the opposite is true. For when we have said all that we know to say, there is yet another word to be spoken, and it is the word of silence.
The controversy in our text starts with Jesus eating with sinners but quickly focuses on Jesus and his disciples being criticized for not fasting. The Pharisees were fasting. Even John the Baptist’s disciples were fasting. Everyone else is following the rules, so why are Jesus and his disciples not?
The Christian story doesn’t end with the death of Jesus. The Christian story is about life, not death. What Holy Week leads us through is, in many ways, a reenactment of the story of Abraham and Isaac, only this time Jesus is the ram.
The Gospels tell us that there were followers and would-be followers. I wonder which we are, particularly on this Stewardship Sunday.
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Simon of Cyrene. Since we are approaching the anniversary of our Lord’s death and resurrection, I thought I would write to you and tell you how the events of the first Good Friday impacted me.