But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless

 

 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath.  And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!"  But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:  how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?  Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?  Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.  But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.  For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.  And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand.  And they asked Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" -- that they might accuse Him.  Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?  Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?  Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."  Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him. 

 

- Matthew 12:1-14 

 

In our recent readings, Jesus has been speaking about John the Baptist, who is at this time imprisoned by King Herod Antipas of Galilee.  Jesus has criticized the people for their attitude of rejection toward John the Baptist, and also to Christ's own ministry and the "mighty works" He's done among them.  Yesterday we read that He answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.  Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.  All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father.  Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

 

 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath.  And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!"   My study Bible comments here that the Pharisees are rigid in their legalism.  It explains that the Law allowed plucking a few heads of grain in a neighbor's field (Deuteronomy 23:25), but these men consider it "reaping" which is therefore unlawful on the Sabbath.  

But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:  how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?  Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?"  Jesus provides clear exceptions to the "rule" from the Old Testament, giving examples of blameless "violations" of the Sabbath.  In so doing, He makes it clear that the law is not absolute over human need or service to God, as my study Bible puts it.  David and his men partook of the showbread (1 Samuel 21:5-7), prefiguring the Eucharist.  In the Old Testament this food was forbidden to anyone except the priests, but in Christ it is given to all the faithful. 

 

 "Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.  But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.  For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."  My study Bible comments that, as Author of the Law, Jesus is the Lord over all of it.  As Lord, therefore, He teaches that mercy takes precedence over regulations, ordinances, and ritualistic observances.  Jesus quotes from Hosea 6:6.

Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.  And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand.  And they asked Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" -- that they might accuse Him.  Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?  Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?  Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."  Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.  Here is the expression of Christ's mercy at work on the Sabbath, and it is all the more deeply rejected by the Pharisees.  In the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, it is noted that Jesus is aware of their love of money and things over people -- so He first appeals to them regarding precious property, and the allowance to save the life of a sheep on the Sabbath.  But the healing of this man's hand -- a hand now capable of laying hold of a sheep to lift it out of a pit -- means only defiance to the Pharisees, for which they now seek to destroy Him.

 

 One of the first things we might notice -- and that we need to pay attention to -- is the growing intransigence of the Pharisees in today's reading.  They begin by condemning Jesus and the disciples for plucking some grain (likely ears of corn) to eat when they were hungry.  They liken this to harvesting and therefore working on the Sabbath.  That they don't seem to be aware of the blameless exceptions to the Sabbath rule tell us how fixed they are in their ideas to begin with.  These, after all, are men who spend their days debating the fine points of Scripture.  But when Christ is faced with a choice of completely restoring someone's hand on the Sabbath or not, they double down on their legalism.  They dig themselves into a deeper pit, so to speak, and increase their intransigence to the point that they now are essentially denying a livelihood to this man, and diminishing his life by doing so.  It's an important illustration of the principle of repentance, because it teaches us the importance of the direction in which we're going in life.  We don't stand still.  Every moment we are always going to be challenged with new decisions to be made, building up upon previous choices and earlier directions we've chosen.  The word translated as "repentance" is metanoia/μετανοια in the Greek, and it literally means a change of mind.  That is, a kind of transformation involving a turnaround.   Real repentance asks us for an open mind and an open heart, a willingness to be corrected, to face and embrace truth, and the humility to accept when we need to do something over, or change our direction.  For the Pharisees, whatever it is that has hardened their hearts is keeping them chained not only to the same direction they started, but the inevitable descent into a position that is simply untenable.  Now they refuse to accept plain goodness on the Sabbath, the healing of a man's withered hand.  Let us consider the society in which this takes place, based on agrarian products such as crops and also fishing.  What would be considered to be any type of industry would all depend on a person using their hands.  Think of the kind of hardness of heart that would in turn cement themselves into this position where they plot to kill Jesus because of His saving healing in the synagogue, and let it be a warning to us.  Jesus tells them, "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless."  To condemn the guiltless is perhaps the archetypal act of unrighteousness.  Because repentance is present as an option in order to save ourselves from ourselves, our pride, our arrogance, our misguided sense of "right," it is important to observe the stories here and take them to heart.  We all could be the self-righteous who now plot to destroy Jesus, because our authority is questioned.  Let us accept God's love and mercy, and remember that the call to repentance is a gift.