Mt 12:1-8
[On one occasion] 1Jesus 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. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.”
3He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, 4how 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? 5Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent? 6I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. 7If you knew what this meant, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned these innocent men. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”
Reflection:
I desire mercy, not sacrifice. In the end what matters is how we have touched, sustained, cared for, and borne with one another—mercy, not sacrifice.
Money will not save us, no matter how many millions we have. Accomplishments will not matter and remain in the end. The love of our families, the faithfulness of our friends, and the mercy of our God are what will see us through.
We are lords of the Sabbath. We have the power and the ability to care for one another.