Jan 19 2019 Mark 2: 23 – 3:6

They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve done something just like the Pharisees. Set things up, waiting for someone to do what I’ve decided shouldn’t be done – knowing they would do just that. It’s a set up from the first moments.

Maybe it’s kids. They’ve come home too late, broken too many rules. They ask once again for the same permission. You know they’ll break the rule. Or partners. He leaves the toilet seat up one time too many, despite cajoling from you, or promising from him. You know better. You know the argument or dissapointment will ensue.

Maybe the examples are lame, but it happens to all of us. There’s a way we think things should be done, and that way involves someone else also agreeing to that way.

Jesus goes on to say he’s disappointed at the coldness of their heart, and he goes on to heal the man’s hand.

I don’t want to be like the Pharisees, setting up rules and expectations, because that’s how I think things ought to be done, knowing that someone else will likely break them. Why do we do that? We certainly know better, and isn’t there enough angst in the world to not fabricate a disagreement you know is going to happen?

And what if the breach by the other person is defensible – more defensible than my rule. When our oldest daughter was young, she had to be home before dinner time, but regularly wasn’t. This was pre-cell phone time. One day, she came home late, and I knew she would be late. We each took our stupid roles – mom-the-enforcer, daughter-the-defiant. After we’d been through the majority of the argument, I find out she’d been with a friend who ultimately had to go to the hospital for some mental health issues.

But she broke my rule! But she was being a good and loving friend!

Maybe the lesson I can take from this is that sometimes the rules, while designed for good, can get in the way of the humans who were designed for great. It’s not that all rules are relative, but I think all rule breaches deserve a conversation at the breach, a review of the rule, and acknowledgment that world isn’t quite as black and white as the Pharisees think. Or me.