NOTES for Luk 6:1-10
1 And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. |
2 And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days? |
3 And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungred, and they which were with him; |
4 How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone? |
5 And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. |
6 And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered. |
7 And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him. |
8 But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. |
9 Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? |
10 And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other. |
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The Lord heals even on the Sabbath. In the Gospel of John He gives a full explanation of this: "Jesus said to them, 'My Father is working until now, and I am working.'" (John 15:7). We accept this explanation with all our soul and rejoice in it. But then a difficulty arises with a straightforward understanding of two other biblical texts, and very important texts at that. The first difficulty: how should we understand the Six Days of Creation? The second difficulty: if a living being is more important to Jesus than ritual Sabbath rest, why did He Himself rise on Sunday and not on the Sabbath? We will not sort out these two questions of the greatest theological complexity together right now. We can only offer some opinion of our own, very imperfect and, most of all, simply mistaken, because we learn from one another's mistakes.
Regarding the first difficulty, even in the patristic heritage one cannot identify a single strict line; the teachings differ quite a bit. But should that torment us? The main thing that distinguishes us from deists, and this is absolute for all Christians, regardless of whether they are creationists or evolutionists, is our knowledge that even after the Act of Creation God participates in the life of the universe, in the life of every person. The whole Bible, as someone said, is the story of how God went out in search of man. God is active, He works; there is no doubt about this even among the most convinced creationists. Otherwise they are not Christians and not even theists, but deists or pantheists. And in general, this relieves the tension between these two texts.
As for the second question, here, perhaps, for every Christian, there is something so reverent, so untouchable... But we cannot fail to acknowledge one thing: in this Holy Saturday rest there is something very, very important for us, although no longer what the Pharisees had in mind. We actually are, as one contemporary priest said, all children of Holy Saturday. Because the Resurrection is still only coming. Many, many people speak of how they value the silence of this day. And for the new meaning of this Sabbath, we are inexpressibly grateful to the Lord.
Readings for 6 September 2025
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