Passage: Mark 2:23-28
After a couple of weeks away for Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday, we return to our study in the Gospel of Mark with the first of two accounts depicting direct confrontation with the Pharisees over the meaning and practice of Sabbath. In this morning’s passage, the complaint is lodged against Jesus’ disciples. In next week’s text, Jesus himself is the problem. In both, a stark contrast is painted between the ceremonial formalism of the Jewish religious leaders and the grace and mercy emphasized in Jesus’ preaching. Lest we be too quick to jump on our religious high horses in criticism of the Pharisees, it would behoove us to look at our own lives and preferences and take note of those secondary or even indifferent things that we can make more central than the gospel of grace.