The Most Important Bible Passage
Okay, that’s admittedly a clickbait title. But on a serious note, now that our community has completed its journey through the Old Testament and turn our eyes to the New, I am drawn to one particular passage. While there is no single “most important” verse or chapter or book in the Bible for all people and all times, I think this passage is incredibly relevant to many issues plaguing the American Church today.
It’s the brief exchange found (in different forms) in the Synoptic Gospels between Jesus and the Pharisees about picking grain on the Sabbath. All three accounts follow this basic pattern:
Jesus’ disciples pick heads of grain on the Sabbath.
The Pharisees challenge Jesus because this is unlawful behavior. Their implicit argument is that certain Old Testament verses’ plain meanings teach that work cannot be done on the Sabbath, and that picking grain is obviously work.
Jesus reminds them of the story where David flagrantly breaks the Old Testament law by eating consecrated bread in an emergency situation.
Jesus closes with the assertion “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
There is one extra point of teaching spoken by Jesus in each of Matthew and Mark:
If you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. (Matthew 12:7)
The Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)
What’s happening in this episode?
Now, we could sit around and unpack all the dimensions of this story for days. Instead let’s just reflect together a little in this one brief blog post. On one level, Jesus is making an argument here that rests on his own privileged theological station: “David was allowed to break temple law, and I’m greater than both David and the temple, so I am the one who gets to make or break the rules on a Sabbath.”
But the added content in those two last bullet points makes it clear that his reasoning is far more robust than just, “I’m the Son of Man, so nana-nana-boo-boo.” Even if Jesus wasn’t present on the scene, and even if the Pharisees were unable to see him as Lord of the Sabbath, there were still reasons for them to let the disciples pick the grain. Why?
Because God cares infinitely more about mercy—meeting needs and alleviating suffering—than sacrifice—obedience to a religious system or sacred text.
Because the laws, rules, standards, traditions, practices, etc., are gifts that are only ever meant to build up and give life, not to tear down and diminish life. If ever a rule—even one from Scripture—causes someone to wither, as in the case of hungry David or the hungry disciples, it is to be set aside in favor of human flourishing.
This does not mean that David or Jesus “ignored” or “disobeyed” the text. Rather, the relevant verses were considered, but discernment revealed that in the particular context at hand, they did not apply in the way they might apply in another context.
Why is this so relevant?
I think that an honest, painful reflection on these passages by religious conservatives could be a game-changer. Let’s consider the ramifications for just one issue: full inclusion and celebration of LGBTQ folks in church communities:
Queer Christians (like disciples picking grain on the Sabbath) do the things that demonstrably further their flourishing: love and marry each other, raise children, participate in sacraments, step into church leadership roles, etc.
Conservative leaders (like Pharisees) object, pointing to Bible verses whose plain meanings seem to indicate that these are not allowable activities.
What is Jesus’ response? If he continues the type of work and teaching he brought us in the first century, it would seem to be that he would be happy to set aside this handful of Bible verses (whether or not they actually prohibit same-sex love or sexual activity) in order to reduce the agony, ostracization, suicide rate, and hatred against the LGBTQ people in God’s family.
He might sum this decision up by saying, “If you had understood the saying, ‘the Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.”
The very next story in Matthew’s account is about a similar argument surrounding Jesus healing someone on the Sabbath. In that encounter, he argues that people would rescue their endangered sheep on the Sabbath without a second thought, and people are more valuable than sheep. He builds to this crescendo: “So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
It is lawful to do good to our queer siblings.
To love, embrace, follow, celebrate, minister to, receive ministry from, officiate weddings for, have our weddings officiated by, partner with, teach, and learn from our dear LGBTQ friends.
