Mark 2:23-3:6 (NRSV)

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.'

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him.  And he said to the man who had the withered hand, 'Come forward.'  Then he said to them, 'Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?'  But they were silent.  He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.'  He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.  The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Lawful is the word that comes out in the reading today.  Mark continues to be on the move while telling the story.  The Pharisees are getting upset and worried that Jesus’ teaching is going to upset the status quo.  Their legalistic views on what you can and can’t do on the Sabbath come across strongly.

The scripture today takes us through the Pharisees challenging Jesus because they see his disciples plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath.  Jesus quickly responds with antidotal reasoning from the stories of David from Hebrew scripture.  He explains that common sense should prevail – that the laws regarding the Sabbath should trump human decency.

Jesus enters the synagogue and heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.  Even though he doesn’t touch the man, and just said, “stretch out your hand,” the Pharisees are upset and conspire against him with the Herodians, a political party of King Herod Antipas, the corrupt son and successor of Herod the Great.

The call that I hear today is to use common sense with regard to humanity.  The Sabbath should remain the Sabbath, and should be a holy day of rest and re-creation.  However, if one is in need then that one’s need shouldn’t be ignored just because it is Sabbath.  The disciples that were plucking heads of grain so that they could eat (probably the only meal that they had that day) did nothing wrong according to Jesus.  In the healing of the man’s withered hand, Jesus did not “work” in the conventional sense – he spoke to the man and restored his dignity, status, and position.  His hand was healed, because Jesus spoke and it happened.