While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”
REFLECTION
“Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”
In today’s Gospel, the disciples are hungry. As they walk through a field, they pick some grain, rub it in their hands, and eat it.
The Pharisees immediately object:“Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
The Pharisees saw a broken rule. Jesus saw hungry people.
Jesus was not teaching that God’s commandments do not matter. Rather, He was reminding them that the purpose of God’s law is to lead us to the love of God and love of neighbor. He tells them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
This Gospel beautifully reflects the life of St. Teresa of Calcutta, whose feast day we celebrate on September 5.
Mother Teresa encountered people whom others often passed by—the hungry, the dying, the abandoned, the sick, the unwanted. She did not simply see a problem to be solved. She saw Jesus.
She understood Christ’s words: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Mother Teresa reminds us that holiness does not always require doing extraordinary things. Often it begins by noticing the person God has placed directly in front of us.
Sometimes we can become so busy with our schedules, responsibilities, prayers, meetings, and plans that we fail to notice someone who is hungry—not only for food, but perhaps hungry for kindness, companionship, forgiveness, encouragement, or simply someone who will listen. Most likely it is somone living in our home.
The Pharisees asked the disciples, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?" Mother Teresa teaches us to ask a different question: “Who needs to be loved?”
And perhaps that is the question Jesus asks us today. Who has God placed in front of me? Who am I tempted to pass by? Who am I too willing to gossip about? Where did I hide my compassion and love? Who needs a kind word, a telephone call, a meal, forgiveness, patience, or simply my presence?
We may never serve thousands of poor people on the streets of Calcutta. But we can live Mother Teresa’s spirituality right where God has placed us—one person, one act of kindness, one small sacrifice at a time.
On her feast day, may we ask St. Teresa of Calcutta to help us recognize Jesus hidden in the ordinary people and events of our lives.
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