The Lord Over Status Quo? (Mark 2:23-28)

Dr. Shirely Gutherie, who had been one of my professors, died while I was still in seminary.  He was a renowned Presbyterian theologian and someone who I really respected.  Afterwards, I heard the president of Columbia, Dr. Laura Mendenhall, tell of something that happened a day or so before Dr. Gutherie passed on.  He had become bedridden in his very last days and during her visit that day, she sat next to him reading scripture to him.  She wasn't sure he was aware of what was happening.  But then he spoke out saying to her, "So many of the things I thought were important to God, weren't." This is a man who lived his life intentionally for Jesus - an good example to the rest of us.  And yet, even he saw things that he had placed importance on that weren't important in the grand scheme of things.

Mark 2:23-28 ²³ And it came about that Jesus was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. ²⁴ And the Pharisees were saying to Him, "See here, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" ²⁵ And He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and became hungry, he and his companions: ²⁶ how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he gave it also to those who were with him?" ²⁷ And He was saying to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ "Consequently, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

The Pharisees had lost track of what is important to God.  Human need  is important to God.  It takes a higher priority than rule keeping, tradition, law, personal preference, etc.  When we put these trappings of religion ahead of human need, we aren't really being who God wants us to be. 

What human need might we be overlooking in our striving to follow God?  How can we look beyond the trappings of "being good Christian people" and see how God really wants us to act and behave?  This isn't easy - sometimes it means bucking what we've learned and assumed was most important to God - and then taking on what is truly important.