Abiathar, the Pharisees, and the Big Picture

May 8, 2009

Today's Reading: 1 Samuel 22-23 and Mark 2

It isn’t often that I have a good Old Testament and New Testament tie-in for Irreverent Reverence. After all, Jesus mentions the Old Testament reading in the New Testament. It could be that these stories represent some historical and spiritual link, or as Doc Brown said in Back to the Future II, it could be just an amazing coincidence.

In Mark, Jesus was going through a field and he was plucking kernels for him and his disciples for a snack. The Pharisees felt it necessary to say “A-ha. We told you that he was working on the Sabbath day”.

In all honesty, I don’t see how this constitutes as work. I mean, if they made a day of it, and then went and sold the grain, then I can see why. However, they just were chomping some seed, dude!

Oddly enough, Jesus quotes a Scripture that does not even seem remotely related to what is going on. He mentions the story of how David went to the house of Abiathar the high priest, and how they ate the showbread.

I don’t see how it is related, except that there are times when it is okay to bend or break a law in case of emergency. In fact, Jesus talks about how “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”. I am assuming that he is emphasizing that if we make all these rules for the Sabbath, then the holiday becomes Lord, not the God of it.

It is a nice reminder of what is really important in life, because sometimes we forget. I mean, I know a lot of Christians who get bogged down in little rules and forget that they serve a very big God who is above all little rules. They easily forget the big picture.

There was a time when I forget this. I have two small children, and I fear that they are learning that Sunday, during the message is simply “be quiet time”. I focus a lot of effort keeping them quiet, and I often fear that others are going to rebuke me or something.

In all honesty, there really isn’t any law saying that children are to be silent in church. Oddly enough, there is that whole “women are to be silent in the church”, but that can be interpreted so many ways.

Sometimes I forget why I take my children to church in the first place. Granted, they are too young to understand some things, but I’m trying to get them started.

And that is the Big Picture.