From: Luke 6:1-5
The Law of the Sabbath
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Commentary:
1-5. Accused by the Pharisees of breaking the Sabbath, Jesus explains the
correct way of understanding the Sabbath rest, using an example from the Old
Testament. And, by stating that He is “Lord of the Sabbath” He is openly revea-
ling that He is God Himself, for it was God who gave this precept to the people
of Israel. For more on this, see the notes on Matthew 12:2 and 12:3-8.
[The notes on Matthew 12:2 and 12:3-8 states:
2. “The Sabbath”: this was the day the Jews set aside for worshipping God. God
Himself, the originator of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:3), ordered the Jewish people
to avoid certain kinds of work on this day (Exodus 20:8-11; 21:13; Deuteronomy
5:14) to leave them free to give more time to God. As time went by, the rabbis
complicated this divine precept: by Jesus’ time they had extended to 39 the list
of kinds of forbidden work.
The Pharisees accuse Jesus’ disciples of breaking the Sabbath. In the casuistry
of the scribes and the Pharisees, plucking ears of corn was the same as harves-
ting, and crushing them was the same as milling-types of agricultural work forbid-
den on the Sabbath.
3-8. Jesus rebuts the Pharisees’ accusation by four arguments-the example of
David, that of the priests, a correct understanding of the mercy of God and Jesus’
own authority over the Sabbath.
The first example which was quite familiar to the people, who were used to lis-
tening to the Bible being read, comes from 1 Samuel 21:2-7: David, in flight from
the jealousy of King Saul, asks the priest of the shrine of Nob for food for his men;
the priest gave them the only bread he had, the holy bread of the Presence; this
was the twelve loaves which were placed each week on the golden altar of the
sanctuary as a perpetual offering from the twelve tribes of Israel (Leviticus 24:5-9).
The second example refers to the priestly ministry to perform the liturgy, priests
had to do a number of things on the Sabbath but did not thereby break the law
of Sabbath rest (cf. Numbers 28:9).]
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
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First reading |
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1 Corinthians 4:6-15 © |
Take Apollos and myself as an example and remember the maxim: ‘Keep to what is written.’ It is not for you, so full of your own importance, to go taking sides for one man against another. In any case, brother, has anybody given you some special right? What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given, how can you boast as though it were not? Is it that you have everything you want – that you are rich already, in possession of your kingdom, with us left outside? Indeed I wish you were really kings, and we could be kings with you! But instead, it seems to me, God has put us apostles at the end of his parade, with the men sentenced to death; it is true – we have been put on show in front of the whole universe, angels as well as men. Here we are, fools for the sake of Christ, while you are the learned men in Christ; we have no power, but you are influential; you are celebrities, we are nobodies. To this day, we go without food and drink and clothes; we are beaten and have no homes; we work for our living with our own hands. When we are cursed, we answer with a blessing; when we are hounded, we put up with it; we are insulted and we answer politely. We are treated as the offal of the world, still to this day, the scum of the earth.
I am saying all this not just to make you ashamed but to bring you, as my dearest children, to your senses. You might have thousands of guardians in Christ, but not more than one father and it was I who begot you in Christ Jesus by preaching the Good News.
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Psalm |
Psalm 144:17-21 © |
The Lord is close to all who call him.
The Lord is just in all his ways
and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him,
who call on him from their hearts.
The Lord is close to all who call him.
He grants the desires of those who fear him,
he hears their cry and he saves them.
The Lord protects all who love him;
but the wicked he will utterly destroy.
The Lord is close to all who call him.
Let me speak the praise of the Lord,
let all mankind bless his holy name
for ever, for ages unending.
The Lord is close to all who call him.
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Gospel Acclamation |
cf.Ps26:11 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Instruct me, Lord, in your way;
on an even path lead me.
Alleluia!
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Or |
Jn14:6 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
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Gospel |
Luke 6:1-5 © |
One sabbath Jesus happened to be taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples were picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands and eating them. Some of the Pharisees said, ‘Why are you doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath day?’ Jesus answered them, ‘So you have not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry how he went into the house of God, took the loaves of offering and ate them and gave them to his followers, loaves which only the priests are allowed to eat?’ And he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is master of the sabbath.’