Dividing the Sunday from the week: Sabbath as arduous eschatological way-making

Abstract

Exegetes often read Jesus’ defense of his disciples for “harvesting” grain (Mark 2.23–27) as a straightforward story of the irrelevance of Sabbath laws under the new covenant. As Mikeal Parsons correctly points out, the story is really not about whether or not the Sabbath matters, but about who will be the Lord who determines how the Sabbath is observed. Beyond that, the passage deals with the nature of Christian Sabbath as arduous way-making for the coming of the Messiah-King. This reading of the story invites Christians to ask what specific forms of Sabbath labor they can undertake to prepare a way for the Lord’s coming. Through a brief study of Jesus’ life from the Markan perspective, the stories of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and the spiritual theology of Saint John of the Cross, the ancient Christian practices of silence and solitude emerge as powerful forms of Sabbath-keeping.