Commemoration: George Herbert
Our God and King, who called your servant George Herbert from The pursuit of worldly honors to be a pastor of souls, a poet, and a priest in your temple: Give us grace, we pray, joyfully to perform the tasks you give us to do, knowing that nothing is menial or common that is done for your sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.The Pharisees, in their zeal for righteousness, often, if not always, missed the point of the very law they claimed to uphold. Strict observance of the Sabbath was one of the most important tenets of their religious system. So, when Jesus comes along with his band of ragtag disciples, wandering through the grain fields on the Sabbath and, horror of horrors, plucking heads of grain, the Pharisees are, to put it mildly, greatly offended. "Look," they say to Jesus, "why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"
Jesus responds to the Pharisees' inquiry by citing Scriptural precedent. "Have you not read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him," he asks these noted experts on the Scriptures, "how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?"
It is important to note that the incident Jesus cites took place during what might be seen as a transitional time in Israel's history. David had been anointed king by Samuel, but Saul was still on the throne. David was legitimately king, having received the sign of divine sanction, but he had not yet been officially recognized by human authorities. Similarly, Jesus, the true heir of David, has been anointed (in baptism), but has not yet been recognized, in this case, by the self-appointed human authorities who lodge their complaint about his alleged transgression of the Sabbath.
"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath," Jesus declares. "So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath." It is a bold declaration indicating that what appears to the "experts" to be a violation of the law is, in reality, a sign of the in-breaking of the kingdom of God. Even as the old order of things languishes in the throes of death, the new order of things is breaking forth in its midst.
But the incident in the grain fields is merely a prelude to what is about to happen in the synagogue. Plucking grain was bad enough. But would Jesus be so bold as to heal a man with a withered hand on, of all days, the Sabbath? It is here that the hypocrisy of the Pharisees is fully exposed and Jesus, far from being a Sabbath breaker, is revealed as the true Sabbath maker. "Is it lawful on the Sabbath," he asks, "to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?"
Jesus challenges the very notion that the Sabbath is to be observed for its own sake, rather than for the glory of God. What, after all, was God's purpose in setting aside the seventh day as a day of rest, if not to make creation whole? In their zeal for the letter of the law, the Pharisees had run roughshod over the spirit of the law. In their minds, it was not holy for one to be made whole on the Sabbath. But Jesus turns their misguided zeal on its head. It is, indeed, most holy for one to be made whole on the Sabbath.
Such restoration to wholeness is what the Sabbath is all about! To keep the Sabbath holy, you must keep it wholly. One day a week is not enough. Six days a week is incomplete. God is to be glorified in everything we do moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, every day!
To the feet of my Savior in trembling and fear,
A penitent sinner I came;
He saw, and in mercy, He bade me draw near;
All glory and praise to His Name.
Refrain
He touched me and thus made me whole;
Bringing comfort and rest to my soul;
O glad happy day, all my sins rolled away!
For He touched me and thus made me whole.
I knew not the tender compassion and love
That Jesus, my Savior, had shown;
Tho’ burdened with grief, His dear hand brought relief,
He healed me and called me His own.
Refrain
“My grace is sufficient,” I heard His dear voice,
“O come and find rest for your soul;
From sin you to save, My life freely I gave;
I died that you might be made whole.”
Refrain
O Jesus, dear Jesus, Thy Name I adore,
For saving and keeping my soul;
Thy praises I’ll sing, my Redeemer and King,
Thy dear, loving hand made me whole.
Refrain
- Thomas Sullivan
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