Bread of Presence
Second Sunday after Pentecost
Deut 5:12-15 and Mark 2:23-3:6
June 2, 2024
Growing up, I remember Sundays meant one thing, we went to church. There was never any consideration of not going, unless someone was sick or we were on vacation, and often our vacations consisted of visiting our cousins in South Carolina over a Sunday where we attended church with them. It was simply understood, Sunday equaled church.
In my early days of going to church, there were fewer distractions to keep this event from happening, as stores were not open on Sundays. I even remember when stores closed early on Wednesdays so that everyone could wrap up their work day, and get home to prepare to go to church on Wednesday evenings for mid-week services.
And I don’t know about you, but at home, we were limited to what we could do after getting home from church. The normal routine would be preparing lunch that was followed by everyone collapsed in front of an oscillating fan and a window fan. It did not take long in front of the humming of these fans to fall fast asleep. It was a time of quiet and rest.
Today, I’m not sure we have enough “hum” in our lives as it seems with each generation our lives get busier and busier, and Sundays have become just another day to get things done, rather than to stop and listen to the hum of the fan.
I remember having a conversation with my mother about how they did not even prepare a meal on Sunday. They would do whatever cooking was needed on Saturday, and then place all the food for Sunday in the pie safe to pull out after church on Sunday to have their meals.
By the time my generation came along, we had a full-fledge cooking event on Sundays, sometimes beginning with my mother cooking some of the meal before we left for church so it didn’t take as long to finish on our return home.
Now, we leave church, and find the closest restaurant to have our lunch. Then we may need to stop by the grocery store, or run an errand to the hardware store so we can get home and complete a project we started earlier in the week. Maybe we go home for a quick nap, and then head back out to a department store to grab the latest items on sale.
Where in our lives are we making time for the “hum” so we can rest and relax in the presence of God?
God commanded us to observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. While we are here observing God, there are others at home or in other places doing the same, yet many more are not. Many more are going about their normal daily activities, not observing.
Holy is being dedicated to God. The meaning of HOLY, as described by the dictionary, is exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.
Why does God command us to observe the Sabbath and keep it holy? Because long ago God rescued us from the work of slavery for Egypt, and now invites us to observe his goodness and all that is holy that makes us complete. We are commanded by God to set aside this time to remember all that God does for us, to honor God, and to rest in the presence of God.
As we move back into ordinary time in our Christian calendar, or Liturgical calendar, we move back to the Gospel of Mark. Note the green paraments that signify ordinary time.
We hear the story of Jesus and his disciples walking through the grain fields on the Sabbath. I can just imagine this scene as they have been walking for hours, and they are hungry, and before them is a field of beautiful grain, maybe even swaying in the cool breeze of the day.
I can’t help but chuckle as I consider that the reason Jesus led them through this grain field was two-fold, one so they could pluck the grain for nourishment, and two, to use as a teaching moment for the ever watchful Pharisees.
Notice, that our scripture never mentions that Jesus himself plucked any grain, just the disciples. In her book, “The Gospel of Mark, The Jesus We’re Aching For,” Lisa Harper describes the Pharisees as vultures, with their ever hovering and sharp eyes waiting to swoop down and attack their target.
The Pharisees were too busy observing Jesus and the disciples to take their own rest on the Sabbath. They certainly have to be on task to remind everyone of the law after all, the law in their minds that keeps everyone holy. They don’t have time to be interrupted from their task of oppressing and threatening people by this new Jesus person.
When they approach Jesus about the law, Jesus replies with the story of David. How David’s companions entered the house of God and ate the bread of Presence. Even though it was only lawful for the priests to eat this bread, David had given some of this bread to his companions who were hungry.
Knowing full well the Pharisees, the scholars who have studied the laws and the writings of the Old Testament would have read this story, Jesus asks them, “Have you never read.” Jesus knew they couldn’t deny the fact that it was true.
Jesus continues to tell them the Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath. As Harper writes in her book to explain this further, ‘God didn’t give Moses the Law so that by it we could be saved, but that by it we could recognize our need for a Savior!”
She continues, “I can only imagine the steam coming out of their haughty ears when Jesus affirmed the basic premise of Sabbath (physical rest) but went on to assert Himself as the Lord of the Sabbath in the light of His unique ability to provide the spiritual rest for which humanity is desperate.”
She writes further, “Defining your relationship with God solely based on the Law can be depressing because Every. Single. Infraction. Counts. Every impatient word while stuck in traffic. Every unkind thought in a slow checkout line at the grocery store. Every lapse in judgment. Every minute of insecurity. They all add up to tip the scale toward fantastically flawed. No perfectly law-abiding human exists. Paul says it bluntly and succinctly in Romans 3: ‘For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.’”
The Pharisees wanted to Lord over people by hammering them with the rights and wrongs they were doing based on the laws, yet Jesus was pointing out that as humans we are not perfect. While we are certainly encouraged to consider the laws for guidance of rightness in the Old Testament, God has sent the Son of Man to show us what is truly right and how we are made whole is in the presence of God, not the law.
Jesus tells them he, as the Son of Man sent by God, is the Lord of the Sabbath, and to bring his point home, he heals the man with the withered hand.
Jesus asks them is it lawful to do good? He asks them this knowing that they cannot say no to doing what is good. He asks them is it better to do harm on the Sabbath, again knowing they cannot say yes.
Jesus makes it so easy for them to see the truth. They have the answers within them to know the truth, but they are so prideful and stubborn they cannot admit it, especially in front of the people over whom they rule by the law.
Rather than acknowledging the truth, they conspire with the worst of the worst, the Herodians, to destroy Jesus. They conspire not because Jesus was wrong, but because they had been proven wrong, out done, out smarted, and embarrassed.
Like the Pharisees, if we cannot enjoy the fruit of the field, the Bread of Presence, we are missing the point.
And like the man with the withered hand, we have to allow ourselves to come forward, stretch out our hands and receive the Bread of Presence waiting to fill us and heal us, to make us complete.
It’s not that God isn’t with us if we don’t come forward or if we don’t stretch out our hands to receive the healing, rather God is there waiting for us to stop, to rest and relax and acknowledge his presence for the right direction and the nourishment only God can provide us.
It is a presence surely to be observed and made holy.
To God be the glory!
(Silent Reflection)
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and THE LORD’S PRAYER
Freeing God, we come to you this morning grateful for all you have provided with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Help us, Lord, to stretch out our hands and arms to help those who are in need before us today. We pray for the church, that all people follow your command to observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. We pray for nations and peoples who are like the Pharisees who refuse to acknowledge the truth of your presence, those who choose war over peace, and those who rather kill life than safe life. Like Jesus, we are angered and grieve because of their actions that foster hate and division rather than love. May we turn our anger and grief over to you, our God of mercy, as we pause to pray for those who are in need of healing, and those who have asked for our prayers __________________________________________________________________________. Healing God, we pray for your healing mercies for all these in need that we know, and those who have called out to you privately. We pray for caregivers who work tirelessly to take care of those they love, whether it be family, friends, or those they meet briefly in their life’s journey. Through the Holy Spirit, we ask all these prayers in the name of the Son of Man, Jesus, who blessed his disciples and us with this prayer, Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name……….