Mark 2:23-28

In today’s reading, Jesus’ disciples are criticized for picking heads of wheat to eat on the Sabbath because they are hungry.  Jesus responds by giving examples from Scripture in which people did break rules in order to eat when they were hungry.  He concludes, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.” 

Over and over again, Jesus teaches us to care about the spirit of the rules and laws, and not to be bound by the superficial letter of the law.  His teachings go to the heart level and are the opposite of narrow focus on rules and dogma.  Excessive focus on rules, canon law, and codification of dogma has been harmful to the Church, which we may remind ourselves is the Body of Christ, and it has alienated millions of people.  It is not for human beings to try to force compliance with spiritual development, and especially not to force compliance on others.  Spirit is more fluid than that, let us recall.  Let us seek joy as well as common sense regarding how closely to follow rules.  There is a bit of the rebel in Jesus.

Now is the deepest cold of winter.  You get a chance to press the reset button of life. Ask what you really need and don’t need, clear out the rest.  Simple is better.  Amen.