Wisdom 1:16-2:11,21-24; Col. 1:1-14; Luke 6:1-11

After an extended gap for Morning Reflections, I return.  Part of the issue has been settling into a new morning routine – living in a small apartment with a dog, extended morning walks, commute to work, etc.  It is also the demands of a new job, relationships to foster, procedures to get to know.

With normal routines out the window, it is not going to surprise you that observing a Sabbath day was getting more and more difficult.  It was moving around, sometimes not happening very well, and generally my schedule was all over the map.

I had to laugh then when I turned to our passages this morning only to discover Jesus breaking the Sabbath – and quite deliberately to make a point!

Jesus cures on the Sabbath.  He teaches on the Sabbath.  He allows his disciples to pluck heads of grain and eat the grain.  All this is considered work.

Jesus ends one of the conversations with: “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Jesus also reinterprets the entirety of the Law.  No longer is the Law meant to restrict, but to set free.  It is not that the Law is obsolete, but must always be read through the lens of love.  And so, in that respect, we are not to focus on the fact that these heads of grain are being plucked (i.e. work) and that they are most probably stolen from a field that is not theirs.  Instead we are to focus on their hunger, and God’s desire to provide for us in times of need.

It is with this spirit that Colossians begins.  “We have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord.”

In our culture of instant gratification, patience is not much of a virtue.  But the Christian life demands it.  Coming to a knowledge of God’s will and cultivating wisdom are lifelong endeavors.

More than that, we are not asked to pick up our Bibles and check our minds at the door, but to wrestle with the struggles of the Law and love.  We are meant to breathe it in deeply and come to wisdom and understanding.

This is not an easy endeavor, but one that requires patience and fortitude.  It also requires a certain counter-cultural deliberateness.  Looking through a lens of love changes things!  To lead lives worthy of the Lord means turning from what the world says is important, to what God deems important.  

I wonder how this is true in your life.  From what do you need to turn to find spiritual health?  Money?  The tyranny of the clock?  An abusive relationship?

Whatever it is, I pray that God dwells in you richly, and that your hunger is satisfied by the Bread of Life.

-Matt