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Gospel: Mark 2: 23-28
As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath,
his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain.
At this the Pharisees said to him,
“Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”
He said to them,
“Have you never read what David did
when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry?
How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest
and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat,
and shared it with his companions?”
Then he said to them,
“The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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There’s only one group of people whom Jesus cannot stomach. Surprisingly, perhaps, isn’t tax collectors, prostitutes, or sinners.
He loved them and forgave them.
The ones whom Jesus cannot tolerate are the hardened religious leaders of his day, who pressed the Jews into following hundreds of man-made laws, including a law which forbade people from eating grain on the Sabbath, as we hear in today’s Gospel.
What good is it to follow a series of rules if doing so does not lead to a transformation of the heart?
This is why Jesus says elsewhere, the scribes and Pharisees are like “whitewashed tombs,” religious rule-followers on the outside, but defiled within.
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Catholics also follow a series of rules. We attend Mass on Sunday. We say our prayers. We avoid eating meat on Fridays during Lent. These guidelines are meant to lead us to an inner transformation.
Receiving Jesus in the Eucharist becomes “food for the journey.” Praying the rosary allows us to intercede on behalf of others. Avoiding meat on Fridays in Lent reminds us of the sacrifice that Christ made in his flesh on the Cross.
But if we aren’t mindful of why we’re doing these things, then their lasting impact begins to wane.
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Today’s Gospel isn’t meant to upend the “rules” we follow or the devotions we practice. Rather, it’s meant to make us more aware of why we follow them – to encounter the Divine.
What is my religious practice like? What difference has it made in my spiritual journey? How do I encounter God?
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Anyone who puts their heart and soul into seeking Christ will not only find him; slowly, they will also become more and more like him – holy, innocent, and pure of heart.
May that include us today.
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Image credits: (1) Radically Christian, Wes McAdams (2) Bread for Beggars (3) Ottawa Church of Christ