Daily Insights from the Bible - Are We Foresaking the Gathering of the Saints?

I have seen some people wondering if the decision of most churches (nearly all that I know of by now) to close down all in-person meetings and services is a transgression of the command we find in Hebrews 10:24-25 to not neglect the gathered church body:

²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Let's be frank, the issue is important because if this is a sin, we are committing it on a vast scale. And we believers are a people who have claimed to be repentant toward sin. It's our desire to turn from sin to God, no matter the cost. So, are we sinning?

I believe another story from Jesus' ministry speaks to this issue very well. You can find it in Matthew, Mark and Luke, but I've decided to show you the passage from Mark because I just recently completed a study of that Gospel with our church on Wednesday evenings.

 

²³ One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴ And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: ²⁶ how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

So, the hungry disciples were "harvesting" and "processing" grain on the Sabbath, which the Pharisees, with their legalistic views of the Law were quick to point out as a sin. When they ask Jesus why His disciples are doing what is not lawful, they are calling it sin. But Jesus pointed to an event in the life of one of Israel's greatest national heroes - King David. David was fleeing for his life from King Saul and was hungry. He stopped in at the place where the ark of the covenant was located at the time to get something to eat (and he also retrieved the sword of Goliath that he won in battle). There was nothing to give him to eat but the bread of the Presence, which is the bread that had just been replaced from before the Lord in the Holy Place and was, by Law, only to be eaten by the priests. But the high priest, Abiathar, gave it to David and his men because they were hungry.

I think the simplest reason to explain why Abiathar could rightly set aside God's Law on who could eat this special bread, and which makes the most sense of Jesus' explanation in verse 27, is that human need trumped this command. God's highest commands, Jesus taught, were to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. He said all of the Law and Prophets can be summed up in these two commands. So, it was love for neighbor that allowed Abiathar to feed David and his men, and it was love for neighbor that allowed the disciples to eat some of the heads of grain that day. And it is love for neighbor that allows us to set aside the physical gathering of the people of God, for a season only, to protect so many who are threatened in this time.

I pray that this temporary separation will be lifted sooner rather than later, but I am glad so many have decided that love for neighbor is worth more than what we might rather be doing on a Sunday morning.