Isaiah 38 :1-6.21-22.7-8
Isaiah 38: 10.11.12abcd, 16 (Song of Hezekiah)
Matthew 12:1-8 Full Readings
Law and Mercy
What is the true meaning of Sabbath and what is it intended for? After the Apostles picked the ears of corn and ate them on Sabbath, the Pharisees blamed them for working on Sabbath for it was prohibited to do anything in Sabbath, the day set apart by God for rest and worship. Jesus responds to the Pharisees that He desires mercy not sacrifice and that the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. One of the ways in which Jesus spread the kingdom and it's true meaning was through unveiling the characters of some Jewish groups of people like the Pharisees and scribes. These people took the law from God and made it a burden to others and themselves they would not follow them. Exposing their ignorance about the law and its meaning was one way to free the captives of law and show God's merciful love.
The Sabbath commandment to rest was from God. But the commandment to rest was not a requirement for its own sake. This was not some legal requirement that somehow honored God just by strictly keeping it. The Sabbath rest was primarily a gift from God to humanity in that God knew we needed rest and rejuvenation. He knew we needed time each week to slow down, offer special worship to God and enjoy the company of others. But the Pharisees turned the Sabbath rest into a burden. They made it out to be a strict legalistic observance that did nothing to glorify God or refresh the human spirit. In their strict observance they forgot that God desires mercy not sacrifice.
God calls us to interpret His law through the eyes of mercy. Mercy always refreshes us, lifts us up and fills us with new energy. It motivates us to worship and fills us with hope. Mercy does not impose a heavy legalistic burden upon us; rather, God’s mercy and law together rejuvenates us and refreshes us. Jesus reminds us that while the claims of ritual sacrifice are important to God, mercy and kindness in response to human need are even more important. Similarly, the law should be interpreted with love and in the spirit of serving God and His people. It's not enough to just take the law strictly even at the point of risking life and violating human dignity but going the extra mile of doing the will of God and taking serving God faithfully and His people as the priority in accordance with the law. Provided we are doing the will of God, we are following the law.
This is why God had mercy and healed Hezekiah in the first reading who was at the point of death and gave him more fifteen years with a promise of protection from their enemies. All the time Hezekiah was very faithful to God and did God's will and so God had mercy on him. When we do the will of God, His mercy will be upon us always.
Reflect today on how you interpret the law of God. Do you interpret it in love and mercy? Do you keep the Sabbath Holy but with loving and serving God and His people in mind. Pray today that the Holy Spirit will keep enlightening you to interpret the law of God rightly.
Let us Pray
May your Spirit Lord guide me always to know you more and thus love you more by following your law in the right way. Amen.
Be blessed
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