Sermon preached St Mary Magdalene Clitheroe 3rd June 2018 (Trinity 1)

There’s a guy near to us has pitched his small tent in a public park. He’s been there some time and I’ve never seen him come into or out of the tent. So I’m assuming Tent Guy is a he and I’m sorry don’t know what he looks like or what his story is. I know that there’s no litter around the tent and Tent Guy’s well away from the paths so he’s causing no nuisance to me.

But it does kind of bug me and I’ve been trying to work out why. Is it because I hanker for the “good old days” when a parkie would appear and chase him off. Or a policeman. Do you remember them? You did something against the law and one of them would show up. So maybe it’s nostalgia.

Maybe it’s me being a bit jealous though. Maybe I’d like to pitch my tent where-ever I please, free of charge. And if I can’t, nobody should be able to.

As I read the stories of Jesus’s conflict with the Pharisees in Mark’s Gospel I began to see the Pharisees in a new light. Maybe they are a bit more like me than I would like to admit. When they are fasting, Jesus’ disciples aren’t. And I imagine anyone who’s been on a diet must look at people who aren’t with a great deal of envy.

By the way, I’ve never been on a diet.

In Mark’s story of Jesus (Chapter 2 verse 23) he writes that “One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. ” The Pharisees are outraged and ask Jesus why his disciples are breaking the law. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say “Because they’re hungry, duh” – though that is implied.

So does Jesus say it’s OK to break the law? “Yes, but” is the easiest answer. Yes, because laws are made for people and not people for laws. Throughout history Christians have fought against unjust laws. What makes a law unjust? If it stops people fulfilling their full potential as human beings – because Jesus taught that loving our neighbour and loving God are the most important laws.

How we do that is when things start to get messy but what Jesus teaches is that we need to keep going back to those core principles; the love of God extended to each and every one of us and his desire for us to love each other.

Today I hope you have a blessed Sabbath – relax, spend time with your family and friends if you like, and, if it helps, forget that tomorrow is Monday.