Ham in the Oven

Once, a newly wedded couple splurged and bought a bone-in ham. Before the wife heated the ham, she trimmed the edges and set them aside. The husband was curious why she didn’t bake the edges, his favorite pieces. She said that her mother trimmed the edges, and she didn’t know why. Out of curiosity, she called her mother to find out why she did, only to find out that she didn’t know, but her mother did the same. The bride called her grandmother, who said she had a small oven, and a whole ham didn’t fit in it, so she trimmed the edges.

Some traditions’ origin becomes obscured, and people follow them unthinkingly even if the original context or reason no longer fits.

God gave the Israelites a mandate to keep the seventh day holy, meaning none should work and give the land a break, just as God finished creating the world in six days and rested on the seventh (Exod 20:10–11). The Israelites took this command to an extreme. Talmud and Mishna, two sets of commentaries on their laws, outlined thirty-nine forms of creative work forbidden on a Sabbath. Of these, seven related to agriculture (sowing, reaping, watering, etc.), four to food preparations, thirteen to how clothing was stitched or mended, seven to butchering and tanning, two to writing and erasing, two to building and demolishing, two to lighting and extinguishing fire, one to giving the finishing touches to something, and one to how one carries objects in public. Even now, in Israel, on Sabbaths, elevators in buildings go up and down non-stop, with doors opening at every floor, because pressing the button to operate an elevator on a Sabbath is considered work, a violation of the law.

One Sabbath, Jesus’s disciples violated the Hebrew tradition.

“As they went through grainfields, they plucked the grains, rubbed them in their palms [to remove the bran], and ate them.” (Luke 6:1)

Neither plucking grains nor eating them was work. But rubbing the grains in their palms to remove the bran was equal to harvesting, and raising the temperature in one’s palms by rubbing them together was like starting a fire on a Sabbath – both these were work and unlawful to do on a Sabbath.

Some of the Pharisees said to them,

“Why do you all do what is unlawful to do on a Sabbath?” (Luke 6:2)

Once again, Jesus (not the disciples) answered and said,

“Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry and those with him? He entered the house of God, ate the consecrated bread, which was unlawful for anyone except the priests, and gave them to those with him.” (Luke 6:3–4)

Jesus didn’t address the tradition – whether rubbing the grains in one’s palms was work. Instead, he showed an example of an exception to Mosaic law. Even though the consecrated bread was to be eaten only by the priests, David made an exception to the law when he and his men were hungry. God didn’t punish them because he allowed such exceptions. In God’s mind,

People were lords/masters over the Sabbath. (Luke 6:5)

Although often translated as “The Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath,” the ancient hearers would have heard, “People were lords/masters of the Sabbath.”

Even now, in some Christian traditions, keeping the sabbath becomes a tradition so holy that people can forget the intent of it. God gave the Sabbath commandment for people to rest, not to overburden them. If Sundays become burdensome, we need to evaluate why.