Word to the Wise
Friday, July 15, 2016 - Friday in the 15th Week in Ordinary Time
[Isa 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8 and Matt 12:1-8]"I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew that 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." [Matthew]
FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2016 ST. BONAVENTURE, ofm
In good story-telling, the elements of "good guys"(white hats) and "bad guys" (black hats) make dramatic tension possible. Even when the story is familiar and we know the outcome in advance, we enjoy hearing "good" conquer "evil" one more time (or at least most of the time). The evangelist Matthew makes sure we get a good dose of that in his story of Jesus. Today's gospel scripture is an example. The Pharisees object to behavior of Jesus' disciples on the sabbath when they pull grain to eat. That constituted "work" in their eyes and was strictly prohibited in their understanding of the Law of Moses. Jesus quickly shows how their understanding was warped. He also sets a new order of things when he says that "...something greater than the temple is here..." and "For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath!"
"Vigilantes" can be worrisome folk. Their philosophy is that "rules are rules and are meant to be obeyed." However, as Jesus points out in today's gospel, rules have a purpose and when they are used in such a way as to frustrate that purpose they are destructive. I have in mind a simple example that has occurred in my pastoral experience. A person says to me, "I forgot about the time and did not abstain from food for an hour before receiving communion, so I didnt go to communion." My response to that is that the person had no intention of violating the law and that the law was not designed to prevent people from receiving communion." The latter half of that statement is very important! Mercy trumps sacrifice when the whole point of sacrifice is lost. The phrase from Psalm 51 comes to mind, "My sacrifice is a contrite heart.." AMEN
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