GOSPEL, Matthew (12: 1-8)

 Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew

 Plucking Grain on the Sabbath

12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. ² When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.” ³ He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests. ⁵ Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless? ⁶ I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. ⁸ For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”

The Gospel of the Lord

 

REFLECTION

Matthew presents in this passage (Mt 12: 1-8) an incident between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus’ disciples violated the Sabbath law by picking heads of grain. Jesus defends the disciples by citing the example of David and his men, who ate the temple bread reserved for the priests.

Then he presented a second argument considered blasphemy. That, He was sent to the World to reform laws and institutions when they failed to serve the greatness and dignity of humankind.

Jesus did not deny the validity of a day consecrated to the Lord through worship and rest. The Christian Sunday, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, came to fulfill the Jewish Sabbath, freeing it from sterile formalism. Christ came to defend a religion born of faith purified from dead ritualism’s, by living worship.

However, faith is not limited to an intimate experience. It´s celebration is augmented by an outward and community led worship. The adoration that Jesus wants, although it is not limited to places and times, formulas and rites, it nevertheless needs an external sphere of manifestation in a community that celebrates their faith and praises God as a group of believers.

The authentic believer must be personally aware of his faith and put his whole existence in the hands of God, renouncing false ritual, magical guarantees and a Pharisaic morality.

Christ Jesus is our model. He was the great worshipper of the Father in spirit and in truth. Like him, we have to bring worship to life and life to worship, assuming the religious dimension of our entire existence…

PRAYER

Glorified be Thou, Father, for Christ has freed us from the bondage of the law, to live in freedom as children of God. Let them be guided by your Spirit. Amen.