Not Knowing What Time it Is : Mark: 2:23-28 (9)

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”                                                                                                                                      

Fellowship of the Ring

Jesus Exposes the Pharisees (2:23-28)

Mark draws together two unrelated stories here because they share the theme of sabbath. Each of them also reveals the depth of the Pharisees’ lack of knowing what time it is. We must remember that in these conflicts between Jesus and the Pharisees the latter serve as foils for Jesus’ message and ministry and are to some degree caricatured. The fact that they are his chief antagonists tells us that they posed a significant alternative to his kingdom movement. Mark and the other gospel writers are not trying to tell an “objective” story. They’re on Jesus’ side, and for them his life, death, and resurrection proved him Israel’s messiah and all that entailed. They therefore present the Pharisees as somewhat stilted and artificial characters, to serve their narrative purposes rather than historical figures.

It’s important to remember that because I believe in this first sabbath story Jesus exposes and ridicules the Pharisees’ lack of biblical knowledge as a sign of their not knowing what time it is. Now, I’ll be honest. I came to this view on my own before consulting the commentaries. When I did that I found only one who suggested the view I have come to. That gives me pause about my interpretation but does not deter me from presenting it here. Even though this story is an artificial creation (by Mark or someone else) it reflects a Jesus impish and humorous, one we seldom allow to have a voice in our interpretation.

Jesus and his disciple are caught by some Pharisees doing something that was probably not unlawful at the time. Were they prowling the grain fields to catch such perpetrators or was a special delegation following Jesus in particular? Neither seems especially plausible and points to the story’s artificial character.

Nevertheless, the Pharisees lodge their complaint against Jesus. I’m going to let William Placher, the one commentator I found who agreed with me, tell the story from here.

“Jesus’ response, however, adds to the confusion. He appeals to a precedent: in 1 Samuel 21:1-6 he says, David and his companions were hungry and they “entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest,” and ate the bread set apart for only priests to eat. This gets the original story wrong on almost every count. David was by himself with no companions. The story does not mention hunger. David did not enter the house of God; the priest was Abimelech rather than Abiathar, and, though David took the bread with him the story does not mention that he ate it.

“Is this all a joke? A mistake? By Jesus? By Mark? Mark so rarely misremembers texts that I doubt he is doing so here. I infer, then, that the point of his reply is to show that these Pharisees, eager to burden the common people with the details of the Law, are actually so ignorant of Scripture that they do not recognize one misquotation after another. Such matters have not altogether changed, and those who quote a particular biblical passage as a means of condemnation often turn out not to know its context or relation to other biblical texts.” (Placher, Mark, 51)

I would add that I think Jesus is doing this with an impish smile on his face. Almost taunting the Pharisees with their ineptitude here.

So the Pharisees don’t know the scriptures, maybe not even their own law. It comes as no surprise to the reader, then, that they do not or cannot grasp who Jesus is and why he and his mission takes precedence over the sabbath, even being the “Lord” of the sabbath (v.28)!

And his followers share in his Lordship and freedom and honor it by caring for others and meeting human need.

Jesus Heals a Leper (3:1-6)

Jesus’ mood has changed in this second sabbath episode. For the second time in this gospel Jesus is angry (1:41). In that first instance, it is likely it is evil which had damaged God’s creation that raised his ire. Here it is human, particularly Pharisaic “hardness of hear” that sets Jesus off.

And that “hardness of heart” indicates their failure to know the time they live in. Jesus’ question “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” really means “Do you believe I have the authority to do God’s work on the sabbath or not?”

The Pharisees sullenly remain silent.

Jesus’ anger drives him to call a leper, who by law should not even have been in the synagogue, forward. One wonders whether the leper was a plant by the Pharisees. Nevertheless, the most ostracized and forlorn figure in Israel is present. Jesus heals him with just a command. No touching, incantations, other substances as in other healing stories. Almost as if to suggest comparisons with God’s creation by word alone in Gen.1, Jesus sovereignly heals and restores this man not only to bodily wholeness but to social, political, and economic wholeness as well.

This section of Mark ends on an ominous note. The struggle is fully joined. With Jesus God’s New Exodus has dawned and God and the people have begun to return to the land. The Pharisees have determined their resistance. It’s a mortal struggle. Decision is required.

If Gandalf is right and “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us,” knowing what time it is utterly essential. Jesus’ “Fellowship of the King” is made up of those who know and embrace this.