Preaching Paths 2 June 2024 Proper 4B

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

Today’s text, Mark 2:23-3:6, presents two scenes in which questions around sabbath observance are at stake. If we trace our way backward through these scenes and the preceding ones, we discover a concatenation of issues, each “nested,” in a sense, within a broader one.  We find that the question about what is permissible on the sabbath (3:4) must be considered in light of the preceding issue: the purpose of sabbath (2:27). Whether Jesus can render judgment on that question depends, in turn, on the nature of Jesus’ authority (2:10 and 1:27).  Bearing on the question of Jesus’ authority are Jesus’ deeds of power—specifically, exorcisms (1:21-26; 34, 39) and healing (1:29-34, 39-43; 2:11-12; 3:5). These deeds confront us with Jesus’ central proclamation: “the reign of God is at hand.” If that is true, we must reckon with Mark’s opening claim: Jesus Christ is “Son of God” (1:1).  Offering our listeners such a retrospective review of Mark 1:1-3:6 will re-orient them to Mark’s conflict-centered, brisk style, after weeks spent in John’s gospel. Such review also makes clear that Jesus does not bring up random issues or provoke conflict for conflict’s sake. His mission is to demonstrate in word and deed the inbreaking of God’s reign (1:15), which will challenge the status quo in many areas of life.

Today’s two scenes are the only ones in Mark that present conflict over sabbath-keeping between Jesus and the Pharisees. Like other debates we encounter in the gospels, this is an intra-Jewish debate. (Any suggestion that this is a showdown between Judaism and Christianity is out of place.) Historically, Pharisees were among the most devout and faithful of Jews. Sabbath, they believed, was not only a divine gift, but signified the core of distinctive Jewish identity under Roman rule. To the Pharisees, Jesus’ revisionist approach must have seemed a mortal threat to national solidarity.

Jesus’ teaching just prior to today’s text (metaphors of old cloaks and wineskins versus new cloth and new wineskins, 2:21-22) makes clear that Jesus is not being disingenuously provocative; he has come to announce the ferment of the reign of God. God’s reign breaks the grip of evil on human lives (exorcism, 1:21-28) and calls for boundary-crossing mercy (leper healed, 1:40-45).  As God’s reign takes hold, Sabbath, too, must give way to inrushing mercy that meets immediate human need.

We can’t assume that Sabbath-keeping is a dead issue for those in our pews. The repeal of “blue laws” in the US, which once kept commercial enterprises closed on Sundays, has leveled the week into a flat, exhausting sameness. All days are filled, start to finish, with over-working, over-scheduling, and over-consumption of goods and information. Truth be told, many of us sense that something essential is missing. An invitation to recover the practice of sabbath-keeping is timely. What might it look like to embrace—even if only experimentally, at first—a sabbath day each week? Many might choose to recover Sunday; for others, work schedules may suggest another day, or even allow just a “hallowed,” long evening. Sabbath is not self-isolation; it is relational. It is a hallowing of space for deep engagement with God, reconnection with the natural world, and mindful practices to revive our starved spirits. As Jesus showed, it is a day, too, for creative acts of mercy that call to, and call forth, the full humanity of neglected others. This might mean showing up for someone isolated by age, limited mobility, or language barriers. Sabbath interrupts our frenzied pursuit of the illusion.