Lord of the Sabbath
Rules. We tend to love them and hate them. We love them especially when they apply to other people, less so when they’re directed at us. At our best moments, we may realize that rules help us keep ourselves in check, but those really are out best moments…and sometimes they feel mighty rare.
The first story in chapter 6 of Luke’s Gospel is about rules – rules about the Sabbath, the day of worship for Jewish persons. So what are we to make of the fact that Jesus and his disciples break those rules? Does it mean just these rules don’t apply anymore (at least to Christians)? Or does it give us permission to look at a variety of rules in both our society and our church with a willingness to call them into question for the sake of our neighbor.
That’s what the group – including yours truly – wrestled with as we looked at Luke 6:1-16 in this week’s Bible Story Jam. What was interesting was that almost immediately we felt like this wasn’t really an old question – rules about the Sabbath back then – but also had something to say about our life in Sunday worship today. What are the rules we have for church, known and unknown? Whom do they serve? And whom do they keep away? What’s at stake in talking about rules in the first place?
One of the thoughts I had since that time together is that rules are at their best when they are functional – when, that is, they serve a purpose. They are intended to help promote some other thing, and we run into trouble when they’re no longer focused on that thing itself – whatever it may be – but rather become the thing.
Listen, watch, let me know what you think!
Bible Story Jam – Luke 6:1-16 from Ben Cieslik on Vimeo.
Notes: 1) If you are receiving this post by email, you may need to click here to watch the video.
2) We are currently working on releasing a new version of WorkingPreacher.org in the next couple of weeks. When we do, we’ll place these Bible Story Jam videos there; until then, I’ll keep hosting them here to get the word out. Thanks for sharing! (And if you want to be notified of the new release of Working Preacher, click here.)
Awesome…real people struggling with the text allows a vision for my people to see that there are others, they are not alone, that do not always understand but they are willing to talk about the story and what it means.
Thank you; I hope I can make it a url on my email of the week so they can open it and hear conversation about the text.