Word to the Wise
Saturday, September 6, 2008 - Saturday in the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Corinthians 4:6B-15 and Luke 6:1-5]The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.
In this incident Jesus makes a startling claim - one that will definitely put him in bad standing with pious Jews like the Pharisees. He claims to be "lord of the sabbath." Who but God can be "lord of the sabbath" since it is God who revealed in the Law of Moses, particularly in the Ten Commandments, that the sabbath had to be kept holy. It was not that the disciples and Jesus were eating that was the violation. It was the act of picking the ears of corn. That was considered labor and not permitted. In claiming to be "lord of the sabbath," Jesus was making himself equal with God! Well, we say, of course! But it was not so clear at the time, and the audience that would, years after Jesus' death, read the story in the Gospel of Luke need to be reassured of their way of interpreting the sabbath law. Basic human needs trumped the sabbath (even the temple servants had to work in order that the sacrifices could be made! I refer to Sunday as a "work day" for me! Having said all this, I have to ask myself how I do spend the "sabbath," which for me and most Christians is Sunday? The old Catholic usage forbade "servile work." Lots of interesting interpretations were put forward for that term. Needless to say, after the Second Vatican Council (if not before it), places of business other than restaurants began to stay open on Sunday. For many Catholic workers, the advent of the Vigil Mass made it possible for them to work on Sunday. Is it a basic human need that a person should be able to "go to the office" or "flip burgers at a fast food restaurant" on Sunday? Is "sacred time" to be confined solely to the hour or less that we spend at Mass on the weekend? I ask these questions of myself in terms of what I do with my own time after I have finished celebrating Mass on Sunday. If for no other reason, these kinds of questions hold me accountable for creating "sacred time" which should not conflict with the fundamental human needs that face me. Jesus has given me a reason why the sabbath does not "trump" all human needs, but he has not made me "lord of the sabbath." AMEN
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