Wednesday 24 October 2018

Psalm: Psalm 19

Background

 It was the Sabbath and Jesus was walking through the fields; his followers picked some grains of wheat. The ultra-religious suddenly appeared – they were stalking him – and said, “You can’t do that on the Sabbath, the Torah says no.”

Jesus said, “I’m sure you’d have given King David a hard time too. He and his friends had no food so they went into the Temple and ate the sacred bread, which was just for the priests. Don’t forget, the Sabbath is a day of rest so that people can relax and recharge, it doesn’t tell people what to do. In any case, what I decide to do comes first.”

No wonder we have the idea of religion telling us what we can’t do. We might want to associate this religious negativity with Jesus’ opponents but the Church then went on to inherit this outlook, creating societies that were full of things that were forbidden, backed up by horrendous punishments. Jesus says, “Forget all that, relax.” This is consistent with his message in many other places. His religion put people first, in fact his brother says the same thing in his letter: religion is actually about people. It is not about rules or divine demands, it is about human flourishing (see John 10:10). We should be re-reading the Gospels to get back in touch with Jesus’ agenda, not the agenda of the church.

To Ponder

• How do you feel about breaking religious laws?
• How can religion be about saying yes, rather than no?