19 July, 2024 | Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Is 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8
Gospel Mt 12:1-8
Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath.
His disciples were hungry
and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him,
"See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath."
He said to the them, "Have you not read what David did
when he and his companions were hungry,
how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering,
which neither he nor his companions
but only the priests could lawfully eat?
Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath
the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath
and are innocent?
I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.
If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these innocent men.
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath."
Reflection:
What was the purpose of keeping the Sabbath? It was a day set apart for people to remember God their Creator, and to thank and praise and honour him for all the great things he had done for them. But the Pharisees added too many regulations to it, interpreting the Law as they liked and thus making the life of the people burdensome. The Pharisees had time only to blame people but never to show them God’s merciful love and goodness. Jesus using the occasion wants to teach them what God really wants. He wants genuine human needs to be taken care of and these take precedence over regulations because he wants mercy and not sacrifice.
Activity:
Show mercy towards a difficult person today, in your words and actions.
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