Son of a . . .

Muslims find Christians’ claim that Jesus is the Son of God offensive because the Quran says that God couldn’t have a son.

“The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was only a Messenger of Allah . . . . So believe in Allah and in His Messengers, and do not say: (Allah is a) trinity. Give up this assertion; it would be better for you. Allah is indeed just one God. Far be it from His glory that He should have a son.” (An-Nisa, 171, trans. Abul Ala Maududi in Tafheem-ul-Quran)

Sadly, we (Christians) are guilty of not clarifying the term as non-biological. The Hebrews used the “son of” terminology broadly – even for someone’s grandson (2 Sam 16:11), son-in-law (Luke 3:23), or ancestors – son of David and son of Abraham (Matt 1:1). Further, like other Ancient Near Eastern countries, they considered their king/queens as God’s son. YHWH, for example, promised David,

“When your days are fulfilled, and you sleep with your fathers, I will raise your seed and be with him . . . I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me.” (2 Sam 7:12, 14; also Ps 2:7)

For the Hebrews, “the son of” didn’t imply biology. Instead, it implied a close relationship. Even the term “son of man” meant someone closely related to humanity, a human (Ps 80:17; Ezek 2:1; Dan 7:13).

The scribes and Pharisees had difficulty understanding Jesus. He forgave sins (Mark 2:1–12), ate with sinners (2:15–17), and wasn’t fasting like them (2:18–22). Now Jesus and his disciples worked on a sabbath, i.e., plucked grains on a sabbath – a most offensive deed (2:23–28). Keeping the sabbath holy was not only a command in the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:8–11) but also failing to keep it holy sent them into exile (Lev 26:33–35). So, the scribes and Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing on sabbath what’s unpermitted?” (2:24).

Jesus, however, thought he followed protocol. His ancestor, David, when he was running away from Saul to save his life, entered a temple and ate the consecrated bread that only the priests were permitted to eat. Further, he gave some of those bread to his companions (Mark 2:25–26). Similarly, Jesus and his disciples plucked grains and ate on a sabbath because they were hungry.

After citing David's actions, Jesus said,

“The sabbath was made for people, not people for the sabbath. In this way, the Lord is the son of man and the son of the sabbath.” (Mark 2:27–28)

The first part was a historical reflection: the sabbath came after the creation of people and served them by giving them rest. People weren’t created to serve the sabbath. When they understood this principle, then, the second part of Jesus’s statement became clearer: the Lord was the common denominator between people as the son of man and the sabbath as the son of the sabbath. For the Lord to rule the people and sabbath, people’s needs should come before routine observations of the law, even the sabbath.

Those teachers had difficulty learning this principle of putting people’s needs about religious requirements. One another time, they didn’t want a woman with a crippling spirit for eighteen years healed on a sabbath (Luke 13:10–17).

The same could be true of us – putting our religious procedures, requirements, and timetables above people’s needs. For the Lord to truly rule us and our sabbaths, we must prioritize people’s needs above sabbatical rules and regulations.