Session 5

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar, the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."

Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

 

Mark 2:23-28

I used to play football a lot when I was a kid. Some of my favourite childhood memories was playing four corners on our main street back in Nigeria. Four aside for those of you who don't know is a game of football that involves four players, with their goal posts placed in a diamond shape in a small area. Each player had to man their goalposts and while trying to score in the other goal post. The main rule was, you only get two touches on the ball. If a goal went through, you had to make way for the remaining set of players in an elimination style tournament. It was fun because it was simple. What was remarkable was the impressive display of skill it took to score, such as keeping the ball from touching the ground, requiring a high level of ball control.

Rules matter, they govern the way things are done and provide stability in an otherwise chaotic set of circumstances. But at what point do the rules start to be dogmatic, restrictive and degenerative? In a lot of cases, it serves as a tool of oppression as collectives are plunged to tyrannies. This happens when vigilance gives way to willful blindness and cowardice as members abandon their will. But can you blame them when they are threatened by shaming, exile and even death? 

Forced to live this way, they inevitably forget why they subscribed to such a mode of being. Pitty for those born into it, for they don't know any better, so they perpetuate the life, like sheep to the slaughter. Forced by corrupt individuals fattened by their ill-gotten powers to live under their will. The more are intuitive are torn apart by the internal conflict. With no vision to inspire them, they eventually lash out in self and mutual destruction. All attempts to manifest individual destiny suppressed into silence, like the whisper of the last breath. 

It is not in human nature to be silenced. We yearn for expression and dream of transcendence, to go beyond our limitations for a better future. To make something of a painful existence that we never asked for. We do so with ingenuity and creativity, in whatever way we find meaningful, revivifying the community and evolving beyond our naturally imposed limitation. This desire for expression and realisation is innate, even Dostoevsky during his incarceration recognised this amongst prisoners who had for years been ruthlessly crushed by the oppressive restriction lashed out in defiance. As I understand, that experience henceforth, influenced him, and no doubt elevated his work into a timeless category. 

Perhaps the forefathers recognised this when they wrote the American Declaration of Independence, proclaiming that All men are created equal with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. It would eventually be defined by James Truslow Adams in 1931 as the American dream.

"Life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth."

Without rules, there would be chaos, but too much of it and the rejuvenating will of man is stifled. All that is left is but a walking corpse. It is in the best interest of the individual to follow the rules. Yet he must stay vigilant to ensure the rules are in service to him. If the rules cannot be questioned and the authorities cannot be questioned, rest assured no liberties will be afforded.