Finger Pointers

One sabbath he 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.”

We can often become obsessed with following rules. This is not a bad thing. Consider speed limits on roads. Following speed limits enhances the safety of drivers and pedestrians as well as ensures a smoother flow of traffic. While most speed laws limit your speed on the road, there are other laws that demand you maintain a certain speed and falling BELOW this speed is breaking the law. This is a punishable offense. However, there are occasions when one has to go slow — in case of car trouble, or an accident, or bad weather — and the law takes these circumstances into consideration. It would be stupid to drive at 60 mph in a fog, right?

Unfortunately, we don’t apply the same logic to religious practices, as we see the Pharisees doing in today’s gospel reading. It was against the law to pluck heads of grain on the Sabbath. Why, you might wonder? Because it was against the law to work on the Sabbath. Plucking heads of grain constituted harvesting which meant working; so, if you plucked the heads of grain on the Sabbath you were guilty of breaking the law. Yes, I know, it sounds silly, but that is only because these were their laws, not ours. 

Now, the disciples were hungry so they plucked the heads of grain and ate. And the rule-keeping finger-pointing Pharisees immediately raised an outcry. In response, Jesus spoke about how David broke the law and nobody said anything. It was almost as though he was justifying breaking the law because David did. But is that what he was doing? No. This is important, so let us understand this correctly. One, the Pharisees were always accusing Jesus of doing what was wrong, but that was because THEIR understanding and interpretation of Scripture was wrong. Two, the disciples weren’t breaking any laws because they were not really harvesting; they were simply eating.

Three, David did break the law — to a certain degree — but Jesus was not justifying David’s actions. Jesus was telling the Pharisees that they were having double standards. They let what David did pass, but were taking exception to what the disciples did, which was totally guiltless. Besides, what the priest Abiathar did was also — to a certain degree — breaking the law. But, all said, only one thing really mattered: compassion. They lacked it. Do we have it? We are so quick to  point fingers at people. 

Instead of pointing fingers, let us stretch out a helping hand instead.