The RULES

Mark 2:18-28

Strange how Scripture reflects life. This weekend, I spent a little time talking with some friends about some people we grew up with who became extraordinarily conservative. They fill their lives with rules that God has not commanded, and they call it sin to break these man-made rules. Jesus struggled against something similar, as Pharisees ask Him why his disciples didn't observe certain rituals.

The first example, fasting, is one that is interesting for the complexity of Christs response. He says that the problem is not that they Pharisees fast, it's the fact that they should recognize the life of Christ as a time for rejoicing. The Messiah was on earth, and should be greeted with happiness, not fasting or mourning. He points out that while there will be time for fasting after he leaves, his followers must be careful not to apply old rules to the new relationship. Judaism does not hold the blueprint of Christian ritual.
What about the current need for fasting? Is that acceptable because Christ is not physically on earth? Undoubtedly yes, but we do not have a culture of fasting. Especially in the US, we have a fascination with eating as community, but not with abstaining as community. Are we afraid of prostrating ourselves before God? Fasting seems to be a forgotten art, a vestige of a another time, but the most common reason for fasting, repentance, is something we need now more than ever, or at least, as much as ever.

The second ritual, Christ doesn't even allow for. It is an empty religious rule to prevent anyone from offending God. The disciples essentially snack while walking. Not an uncommon practice in the ANE, to pluck some grain in the field while walking by, crack it in your hands, and eat it. But the pharisees had decided that it was wrong, a violation of Sabbath rest. So they criticized Christ & the disciples. Christ points out the hypocrisy of venerating David, who ate the bread meant ONLY for the priests, and not recognizing the standard behind the law, that of personal rest.