The Monk

“I, the Son of Man, am master even of the Sabbath.” Mt. 12:8

There once was an old Japanese monk who lived simply and tried to follow his orders’ rules as best he could. He had an acolyte that followed him everywhere, trying to absorb the old man’s wisdom so that he too could one day become a monk.

One day, they were traveling to a distant city. As they approached a river, they discovered that the little footbridge had been washed away in a storm. The river could be forded, but there was no to cross and stay dry. Standing on the bank of the river was a young geisha who was afraid to cross. The old monk spoke to her for a minute then volunteered to carry her across. The acolyte was horrified. Their order taught that a monk should avoid women. They generally did not even speak to women, much less touch one. The old man crouched, allowed the young woman to get on his back and then carried her across the river. Once on the other side, she hopped off, the monk waved cheerily to her, and set off once again at a brisk pace.

All this time the young apprentice had not spoken a word. However, as they continued to walk in silence, he finally could restrain himself no longer. “Master, how could you bring yourself to touch that woman?” he asked. “Surely that is beneath your dignity, and you are now unclean!”
The old monk looked at his young apprentice in surprise. “Child, I put that woman down hours ago, why are you still carrying her?”

We often get so caught up in our own little lists of rules and dogma, that we forget their original intent. We are practicing rules for which we have no reason. One Sabbath day, as Jesus was walking through some fields of grain, his followers began to pick grain to eat. The Pharisees said to Jesus, “Why are your followers doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath day?”

Jesus responded with an example from the Old Testament where David had eaten bread that was normally only eaten by priests, and was not been condemned by God. Later, he went into a synagogue, and a man with a crippled hand was there. Some people watched Jesus closely to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath day so that they could accuse him of breaking their religious rules. Jesus asked the people, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath day: to do well or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?” They said nothing to answer him. The Scriptures say Jesus was angry as he looked at the people, and he felt very sad because they were stubborn. Then he healed the man. Let’s determine to not get so entrapped by the letter of the law that we neglect its spirit.