Word to the Wise
Friday, July 17, 2020 - Friday in the 15th Week in Ordinary Time
[Isa 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8 and Matt 12:1-8]"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." [Matthew]
The "innocent men" in Jesus' words above were his disciples. They were condemned by the Pharisees for pulling grain to munch on as they walked behind Jesus. It was a sabbath and pulling grain would have been considered "work" in the very legalistic and meticulous world of the Pharisees. Jesus turns their arguments back on them by citing the example of King David and companions eating bread that was supposed to be for the temple priests, and the example of the priests themselves who had to "work" on the sabbath!! But, in the end, it is not the casuistic argument that Jesus uses. It is hunger and mercy!! The temple of sacrifice would be replaced by the temple of Jesus.
This was not the first time Jesus said this to the religious authorities. When he called Matthew [Levi], the tax collector, Matthew invited him to dinner with other tax collectors and "sinners." The Pharisees and scribes objected to Jesus eating with them. Jesus spoke the same quote from Hosea 6:6 to them about God's preference for mercy over sacrifice. Matters would come to a head in chapter 23 of this gospel when Jesus really unloads on the Pharisees and scribes about the burdens they had created through their narrow interpretation of the Mosaic Law. The accounts may well have reflected conflicts between the first followers of Jesus and the religious authorities in the time after Jesus' death and resurrection. The conflict lives on today when some folks take on the cloak of liturgical "vigilantes" and report any tiny deviation from rubrics at Mass or accuse the preacher of "politics in the pulpit" when the needs of the poor and hungry are being ignored by public authorities.
Jesus' conflict with the religious "powers" of his time unquestionably led to his death. He warned his disciples that they too may suffer the same consequences for following him. Do we have the courage to stand up to those who put small matters of liturgical etiquette or political opinions ahead ot the mercy that God desires? The current need to dispense from Sunday observance to help battle the COVID-19 pandemic and the necessity of wearing facial coverings along with distancing when we do have Mass comes to my mind. AMEN