What would Jesus do?
Gospel MK 2:23-28
As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the
sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of
grain. At this the Pharisees said to
him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” He said to them, “Have you never read what
David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? How he went into the house of God when
Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could
lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made
for man, not man for the sabbath. That
is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
I'm sure you've heard the phrase
"What would Jesus do?" It can be a very helpful rule of thumb in making
daily decisions as a Christian, but it can also be a little misleading. It is
true that we should be "imitators of Christ" as Thomas a Kempis
wrote, but that doesn't mean we can do everything Jesus did, nor should we.
Maybe this analogy will help. One
day Scott Hahn was out for a jog and saw a man mowing his lawn. He was being
pestered by his small son, who was pushing his toy mower, constantly getting in
dad's way. Scott Hahn decided to circle the block to see how dad would solve
the dilemma. When he came back around, he saw that dad now had junior in one
arm, and was pushing the mower with the other arm. Junior, however was beaming because he had
both hands on the real mower and, with eyes wide open and a huge smile,
believed he was really mowing the grass. Don't you wish junior would feel like
that when he's 13 years old and mowing the grass?? So, while we can be imitators of Christ, that
doesn't mean we do exactly the same thing he does, nor can we.
Today's gospel provides another
example of something that's just "a Jesus job." It's the Sabbath and Jesus allows his
disciples to do more work on the Sabbath than is allowed by picking head of
grain to eat. Now, the Pharisses are correct that such an action violated the
Sabbath rule of rest. But Jesus says, "The Son of Man (meaning himself) is
lord even of the Sabbath." In other words, Jesus is asserting that he is
equal to his Father, who originally made the Sabbath statute, and so he can
make an exception to the rule. However, Jesus was not advocating that his
apostles have that authority. You see, some actions belong uniquely and solely
to Christ and he cannot abdicate them, while we, for our part, cannot imitate
them. Some things are just "a Jesus job," not ours.
It is crucial that every
Christian catches this distinction every time we ask, "What would Jesus
do?" Just because we imitate Christ doesn't mean we are Christ, and enjoy
all his authority. For instance we sometimes hear of "cafeteria Catholics,"
who pick and choose what they like in Catholicism, as if we were the one
establishing the "First Church of Father John." That is not what WWJD
means. Other people suffer the "Messiah Complex" feeling they alone
can save others, and know what's best for others. Know any meddling
mother-in-laws like that? What's our biggest excuse for not praying more? We
say, "I'm too busy; too busy saving the world." Sorry to break this
to you, but Jesus already did that, and that is just "a Jesus job,"
not ours. WWJD means we should imitate
Christ, but it does NOT mean we ARE Christ, and hijack prerogatives that are
purely his. And that, by the way, should open our eyes really wide and put a
huge smile on our face.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
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