Friday, 16th July, Gospel and Reflection

All the Mass readings for the day are here.

Gospel is below

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

The Pharisees couldn't see the Old Testament sabbath traditions the way Jesus did.

They  condemned the innocent because they did not understand what God really wanted : "I desire mercy and not sacrifice."

 In God's terms the law exists for the sake of mercy. All the law is summed up in this one word: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. 

The Pharisees couldn't see this true meaning of the sabbath.

 

"The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath," Jesus says in Mark 2:27. 

So if your heart  is not made of love—you cannot see the meaning of the sabbath.

Image source

The sabbath is a gift of love to meet man's and woman's needs, not an oppressive burden to make us miserable.

The sabbath is a privilege and benefit, not a task of drudgery.

God never designed it to be a burden to us, so we must not make it that way for ourselves.