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Mark 2:23-3:6 – Keep On Reading
Of all Biblical aids, the most helpful is also a huge hindrance: chapters and verses. So when you don’t understand, just keep reading.
Biblical writers use stories to explain stories by grouping stories together. Chapter and verse markers break up these helpful hints. In Mark 2:23-28, Jesus’ disciples are picking heads of grain on the Sabbath. The Pharisees accuse them (and Jesus by association) of “doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath” (2:24). To explain their actions as authorized, Jesus uses an action of David which was “not lawful” (2:26). How can what is not lawful be lawful? Jesus explains, “The Sabbath was made for man; and not man for the Sabbath” (2:27). That miniature chiasm explains why the disciples did not break the Sabbath. Jesus declares His authority to define what is scriptural by saying “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (2:28).
In the next chapter there is another Sabbath story. That’s our hint Mark is connecting the stories. A man has a withered hand. Jesus’ enemies watch to accuse Him again (3:2). Jesus asks, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do what is good or to do what is evil, to save life or to kill?” (3:4). Interpreting Mark we should connect these stories: The Sabbath was made for man but not to keep him from doing good or saving a life; and man was not made for the Sabbath to make him do evil or cause death. David using left over bread was for his good, as he escaped Saul trying to kill him. Neither law was given to restrict these actions. So when a text is difficult, just keep reading. The answer might not be easy, but it might be explained.
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