Scripture: Luke 6:1-5
One Sabbath while Jesus was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
Thought for the Day: This is the first of two stories where Jesus was confronted about what can and cannot be done on the Sabbath. The religious leaders of the day did not approve of what Jesus was doing, yet even the Jewish law made room for an individual to do exactly what Jesus was doing. A person’s health and wellbeing were always more important than ritual, yet some people forgot and began to place ritual above human need. Do you see any churches today that place rules and rituals above people? Do we forget that human beings were made, not so that God had someone to follow the rules, but because God is a God of relationships? The rituals are a beautiful way of expressing and experience the relationship, but they were never meant to replace the relationship. When asked, Jesus summed up all the laws with the simple idea: Love God and love your neighbor.
Prayer: O Lord, may the teachings of faith that you provided through Jesus never be confused with the relationship those teachings were inviting us to experience. Amen.
