Mt 12,1-8 – Friday of the XV Week of Ordinary Time
The defense of the hope that Jesus brings forward in today’s Gospel, interpreting the Law correctly, is not a sophisticated way to be right against the scribes and Pharisees. It is instead the revelation of the very heart of God: «I want mercy and not sacrifices».
Jesus thus reminds us of a truth that we continually risk forgetting. All the Law, all the faith, all the religiosity have a single purpose: make us more like God. And since the most characteristic feature of God’s face is mercy, a faith that does not make us merciful has failed in its objective. In fact, one can be formally irreproachable and have a ruthless heart. You can follow all the rules and use those very rules to judge, condemn, and humiliate others.
This is the great paradox denounced by Jesus: using the things of God against man, forgetting that God gave everything for the salvation of man. This is why Jesus states that “the Son of man is lord of the Sabbath”. Sabbath is a gift, not a prison. The Law is a path, not an idol. The rules must help us become saints, not simply feel better than others. God, in fact, is not someone we have to keep good through our sacrifices. He doesn’t need our religious services. He needs us to let our hearts transform until we become capable of loving like Him.
The true sacrifice pleasing to God is a life that learns mercy. We must always ask ourselves if we are at the service of the Sabbath or if the Sabbath is at the service of our holiness. Because when a rule distances us from mercy we have certainly lost the heart of the Gospel. True fidelity to God does not simply consist in observing the Law, but in becoming, through it, more and more like Him.
