“Jesus chose people. When at the intersection of people’s needs and religious rule keeping, Jesus chose people. When he saw members of his faith community choose traditions and proclamations over human need, he called it “hard heartedness” and it “grieved him.” For Jesus, relieving human suffering was worship!
“For Jesus, religious and political structures exist to affirm human dignity and deliver mercy. When this ceases to be so, our spirituality is malformed and our witness to the nations is diminished.
“What must Jesus think today as he watches people who identify as his followers vilify asylum seekers, immigrants and the poor at Saturday rallies, be indifferent to their needs on Sunday and benefit from their labor Monday through Friday?”
– Bishop Rob Wright
From the SALT blog – “According to Mark, the first day of Jesus’ ministry was a sabbath day. He begins by teaching “with authority” in the synagogue; then heals a man possessed by an unclean spirit; and then heals Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever. Taken as a whole, this first day prefigures major themes — healing, restoration, hope — that will feature at the heart of Jesus’ ministry. But the fact that he does all of this on a sabbath day reveals yet another key focus of his work: as a rabbi and reformer, Jesus is especially concerned with protecting religious life from abuse and distortion. Religious practices are not ends in themselves, or standards people must follow in order to be righteous. Rather, Jesus contends, the whole point of practices like sabbath keeping is to help foster healthy forms of life.”