Lord of the Sabbath

Friday, July 19, 2019
15th Week in
Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Ex 11:10—12:14
Gospel: Matthew 12:1-8
It happened that Jesus walked through the wheat fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and began to pick some heads of wheat and crush them to eat the grain. When the Pharisees noticed this, they said to Jesus, “Look at your disciples; they are doing what is prohibited on the Sabbath!”
Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and his men were hungry? He went into the house of God, and they ate the bread offered to God, although neither he nor his men had the right to eat it, but only the priests. And have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the Temple break the Sabbath rest, yet they are not guilty?
“I tell you, there is greater than the Temple here. If you really knew the meaning of the words: It is mercy I want, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. “Besides the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Most of the trees I climbed as a kid had dark bottles hanging from every fruit bearing branch. I wasn’t disturbed by these hanging objects until a playmate said he heard from grownups that those dark bottles contained poison, and the fruits had their way of absorbing the poison as they repined.
Today I don’t believe in hanging dark bottles anymore but I still believe adults can be shrewd. The Pharisees excelled in this art. Consider how they were able to convict the Apostles of violating the Sabbath Law when they were only picking heads of grains. Was the Sabbath Law that harsh, or the Pharisees were just too astute as to make an innocent act appear illegal? Today’s Gospel highlights the rigidity of the religious leaders by placing it side by side with Jesus’ desire, not for sacrifice, but for mercy.
Zealous about compliance with the Law that God dictated to Moses, the Jewish religious leaders crafted enabling laws resulting in the multiplication of the Law into 613 precepts. Shrewd as serpents, the religious leaders always had a way of exacting strict adherence according to their narrow interpretation. Every narrow miss was heavily condemned. Every condemnation was a feather to their phylacteries as they exclaimed: “My zeal consumes me because your enemies forget your words” (Psalm 119:139).
In a way, I have climbed the spiritual tree, having reached my dream of becoming a priest. Far be it from me that like the Pharisees I impose upon others the strict adherence to God’s commands that I am supposed to impose only upon myself as a spiritual leader. Descending to the level of the Pharisees is poison to God’s flock. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.