HOMILY OF 15TH FRIDAY OF ORDINARY TIME: YEAR A
HOMILY THEME: “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.”
BY: Fr. Mike Lagrimas
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 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.”
ALSO RECOMMENDED: HOMILY OF 15TH FRIDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
In the Gospel yesterday, the Lord offers us His yoke that is easy and His burden that is light. Such is in direct contrast to the yoke of the Law which the scribes and Pharisees impose on the people. An example of such a yoke is given in the Gospel today.
As stipulated in the Law of Moses, the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath. It is a day of rest for the Jews. That is why is why manual work is not allowed on this day. There are many activities that are prohibited, and one of them is harvesting.
Jesus and his disciples were walking through a cornfield. The disciples were feeling a little hungry so they began plucking heads of grain to eat. There is really nothing wrong with that, for clearly they are not harvesting. They are just picking grains along the way for they were hungry. They also are not stealing. The term for this activity is ‘gleaning’.
Actually, there is a provision in the Bible regarding gleaning. The Book of Leviticus states: “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not be so thorough that you reap the field to its very edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Likewise, you shall not pick your vineyard bare, nor gather up the grapes that have fallen. These things you shall leave for the poor and the alien. I, the Lord, am your God” (Lev 19: 9-10). This commandment clearly reflects God’s desire for people of means to create opportunities for the poor and marginalized. The purpose of the law was to feed the poor, the orphans, the widows, and the foreigners.
Gleaning, especially where the poor is concerned, is not even regarded as stealing. It is a legitimate activity that is allowed according to the Book of Deuteronomy 23:26: “When you go through your neighbor’s grain field, you may pluck some of the ears with your hand, but do not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.”
The Pharisees, being the experts of the Law, surely know about these biblical provisions. They criticized the disciples not because they picked the heads of grain and ate them, but because their action was a violation of the sabbath rest. The Book of Exodus explicitly mentions harvesting as one of the activities that is prohibited on a sabbath: “For six days you may work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; on that day you must rest even during the seasons of ploughing and harvesting” (34:21).
But the question is, can the disciples’ action be considered as harvesting? In the legalistic and petty minds of the Pharisees, yes. What the disciples have done constitutes a violation of the Sabbath Law. However, Jesus is quick to defend His disciples by giving two examples which the Pharisees could not refute.
The first is the example of David’s soldiers: “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?” And the second is the case with the priests who are on duty in the Temple. They are allowed to do more work on the sabbath, but they incur no violation whatsoever.
Then, to finally silence the Pharisees, Jesus lays down two more points:
He quotes the prophet Hosea: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”(6:6). The Lord reminds them that in God’s eyes, the observance of the law is pleasing to Him only when there is love and compassion for those in need. The Pharisees “would not have condemned these innocent men” had they only fully understood these words of Hosea.
And lastly, Jesus solemnly declares, “The Son of Man is indeed the Lord of the sabbath.” Jesus is not bound by any law whatsoever, even by the laws given by God to Moses. And He is clear on this: “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath” (Mk 2:27).
The lesson of the Gospel today is a strong warning against the hypocrisy and legalism of the scribes and Pharisees. May we not be quick to judge and condemn others. St. Josemaria Escrivá has this to say: “We also learn to discover so many virtues in the people about us, who teach us by their hard work, their self-denial, their joy, that we shall not dwell too much on their defects; only when it is absolutely necessary shall we advert to them in order to help them with fraternal correction.”
FOR A SIMILAR HOMILY, CLICK HERE >>>>>