Svithe: Oxen & Mires...en

When a Mormon consciously "breaks" the Sabbath--usually by spending money on something--he or she will often use the excuse that "their ox is in the mire." That idiom is a paraphrasing of the following verses from Luke 14 (emphasis added):

 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.

And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.

And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?

And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;

And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

And they could not answer him again to these things.

I'd argue, though, that hauling your ass out of a pit* ox out of a mire doesn't always warrant the emergency Sunday action many people are anxious to take. Too often, even when a figurative ox is in a figurative mire, there is no real reason for not keeping the Sabbath holy.

Like if you knew the ox was in the mire on Saturday night and you chose not to deal with it till morning.

Or if you knew the ox was likely to get into the mire on Saturday night and didn't take preventative measures.


Or if you created a mire and let your ox hang out next to it on Saturday night .

Or if you merely hoped your ox wouldn't find the mire you knew already existed.

Or if you acquired an ox in the hopes that it would find that mire.

Or if you borrowed both ox and mire, just in case.

Or if you consciously led your ox to the mire ahead of time.

Or any number of other possible ox/mire combinations that are not actual Sabbath emergencies because a) you could totally have prepared for this situation, b) it's your own dang fault you're in the situation at all, and/or c) it'll be okay if you leave it till Monday. You don't need to go all letter-of-the-law on your Sabbaths, but don't set yourself up for failure either. There's a reason Saturday is a special day after all.

All of which is to say that I feel a need to repent for having sent David to buy butter two Sundays ago so I could make an unnecessarily fancy cake for dessert. Fake ox. Fake mire. My bad.



*Sorry, not sorry. I couldn't help myself.