Romans 2:12-24 (NRSV)

Thursday of the 2nd week of Lent - Reflections on the Letters of Lent

All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all. But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God and know his will and determine what is best because you are instructed in the law, and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You that forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You that abhor idols, do you rob temples? You that boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? For, as it is written, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

"The doers of the law will be justified." It seems to me that Paul is making a good case for walking the walk, not just talking the talk. Those who do, especially those who have not been taught, are what it's all about.

In Paul's letter to the church in Rome, he continues to exhort those who think that they are better than everyone else, just because they are Jewish. He goes on to explain the intent of the law rather than the letter of the law, much like Jesus did. Paul makes a case for those who are acting on the intent of the law and doing instinctively what the law requires without any prior knowledge or study of the law. He also admonishes those who know the law, and preach the law, and then do that which is against the law. Paul says that those folks should pay more attention to teaching themselves.

Today's call to action that I hear would be to walk the walk. If you know it's wrong, don't do it. If you know it's right, do it. If it will destroy your relationship (with God and others) don't do it. If you walk in love, then others will see that God is love. Yet, if you walk in hate and disdain, who are you showing others God to be?

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.