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 them, "Have you not read what David didwhen 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
If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent men.
The Ten Commandments were the heart of the Old Testament Law. The Pharisees saw them as the eternal law with statutes, ordinances and ritual prescriptions. What was lacking, however, was the clarity and interior transformation that would come only in Christ.
The Pharisees interpreted the law in such a way that they misunderstood the law when the disciples picked heads of grain. Jesus unveils the deeper meaning of the Sabbath: the spirt of the law was not to be legalistic rigid but to be formed in love, mercy and communion with God.
How are we inspired and transformed by following the commandments? If we gossip, have we forgotten Christ's presence in us? If we cheat, have we forgotten the dignity given to us to work and sacrifice for the glory of God.?
Pray not because we think it is an obligation but a means to have a relationship with God.
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