Whoa! Cardinal Ratzinger says (in “The God of Jesus Christ”):
Jesus’ working on the Sabbath is not directed against the Sabbath. Rather, he is fighting to preserve its original meaning, preserving it as the day of God’s freedom, so that the hands of the casuists may not pervert it into the opposite, that is, a day of tormented petty-mindedness.
This is very startling. I’m accustomed to hearing casuist arguments advanced to explain Jesus’ working on that Sabbath (“Based on the specifics of the situation, this specific action Jesus undertook was OK”), so it is refreshing to see an argument that so clearly affirms God’s supremacy. In fact, Ratzinger is correct. The Pharisees were turning the Sabbath into an idol, and attempting to apply a litmus test (“Was work performed? Yes. Was it the Sabbath? Yes. Did he fail our litmus test? Yes.”) rather than understanding the underlying principle.
No Comments