Have you (not) read the Bible?

Luke 6:1-5

1 On a certain Sabbath Jesus was walking through a field of ripe grain. His disciples were pulling off heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands to get rid of the chaff, and eating them. 2 Some Pharisees said, "Why are you doing that, breaking a Sabbath rule?" 3 But Jesus stood up for them. "Have you never read what David and those with him did when they were hungry? 4 How he entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? He also handed it out to his companions." 5 Then he said, "The Son of Man is no slave to the Sabbath; he's in charge."

Food for thought!

This is the first of two incidents which show the opposition to Jesus rapidly coming out into the open. He and his disciples were passing along corn fields. The fact that the disciples plucked the ears of corn was in itself no crime. One of the merciful laws of the Old Testament laid it down that anyone passing through a corn field was free to pluck the corn so long as he did not put a sickle into it (Deut.23:25).

On any other day there would have been no complaint; but this was the Sabbath. Four of the forbidden kinds of work on Sabbath were reaping, threshing, winnowing, and preparing food; and technically the disciples had broken every one of them. By plucking the corn they were guilty of reaping; by rubbing it in their hands of threshing; by flinging away the husks of winnowing; and the very fact that they ate it showed that they had prepared food on the Sabbath. To us the whole thing seems fantastic; but we must remember that to a strict Pharisee this was deadly sin; rules and regulations had been broken; this was a matter of life and death.

They made their accusation and Jesus quoted the Old Testament to them. He quoted the incident in 1Sam.21:1-6 when David and his comrades, when they were very hungry, ate the showbread of the Tabernacle, the equivalent of our Eucharist. The bread stood just as our Eucharist stands for us in the Tabernacle, for the very presence of God and none but the priests might touch or eat of it (Lev.24:5-9). But David's need had taken precedence over rules and regulations.

It is most significant that they were watching Jesus and his disciples as they passed through the corn fields. Clearly they were spying; from now on every act of Jesus' life was to be scrutinised by those bleak and critical and hostile eyes.

This said, Jesus will use this incident to teach us all: "Have you not read what David did?" The answer of course was, "Yes", but the Pharisees had never seen what it meant. It is possible to read scripture meticulously, to know the Bible inside out from cover to cover, to be able to quote it verbatim and to pass any examination on it, and yet completely miss its real meaning. Why did the Pharisees miss the meaning, and why do we so often miss it?

(i) They did not bring to scripture an open mind. They came to scripture not to learn God's will but to find proof texts to back up their own ideas. Far too often men have taken their theology to the Bible instead of finding their theology in the Bible. When we read scripture we must say, not, "Listen, Lord, for thy servant is speaking," but, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant is listening."

(ii) They did not bring a needy heart. The man who comes with no sense of need always misses the deepest meaning of scripture. When need awakens, the Bible is a new book. When we read God's book we must bring to it the open mind and the needy heart, and then to us also it will be the greatest book in the world.