06-28-20

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
June 28, 2020
Scripture: Matthew 12:1-2
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.”

Thought for the Day: Jewish law required that landowners did not harvest the edges of the field, providing needed food for the poor who would come along later, gleaning from the fields (Leviticus 19:9-10). There was some interesting debates among some of the religious folks in regard to whether those who were hungry could gather from the fields on the Sabbath. No one was to work on the Sabbath, but that’s an easy rule to impose on others who do not have the luxury of leftovers in the cupboard from a day earlier. If rituals are intended to teach people about who they are, but more importantly who God is, then what would it say if the Sabbath rule suggested that the poor had to suffer one day every week even though there was available food for them to collect? Sabbath was to provide a day of rest, a day for intentional reflection. On the Sabbath, one might reflect on, among other things, the mercy and compassion of God. It seems strange that a person would reflect on the mercy and compassion of God while holding fast to a rule that limits the mercy and compassion of God. Religion can be a strange thing sometimes, holding so tightly to some practices that God is eliminated from the conversation.

Prayer: May the practices of faith always draw me closer to you, Lord God, while also helping me to embody your grace, mercy and compassion for others. Amen.

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