Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- Kingdom Rules

[MurphsLaw]

Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Matthew 12:1–8

Friends, again and again in the Gospels, Jesus is portrayed as violating the sacred command to rest on the seventh day.
For example, he often cures on the Sabbath,
much to the dismay of the protectors of Jewish law.

And then in today’s Gospel, after his disciples pick grain on the Sabbath,
Jesus declares himself "Lord of the Sabbath."
It’s hard to express how breathtaking this claim would be for a first-century Jew to make.
Yahweh alone could be assigned the title "Lord of the Sabbath,"
so what is Jesus implying?

In short, he is claiming that he is above their rituals,
even perhaps the defining practice of pious Jews,
because he is the Lord.
Thus the rules must be placed in subordination to the kingdom of God,
the kingdom that the Lord Jesus is ushering in even here and now.

[MurphsLaw]

+++Jesus was going through a
field of grain on the sabbath.
His disciples were hungry
and began to pick the heads of grain
and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they
said to him,
“See, your disciples are doing what
is unlawful to do on the sabbath.”
He said to the them, “Have you not
read what David did
when he and his companions were
hungry,
how he went into the house of God
and ate the bread of offering,
which neither he nor his companions
but only the priests could lawfully eat?
Or have you not read in the law that
on the sabbath
the priests serving in the temple
violate the sabbath
and are innocent?
I say to you, something greater than
the temple is here.
If you knew what this meant, I
desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these
innocent men.
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”+++