I say to you, something greater than the temple is here

19 JULY (Mt 12,1-8)

Jesus is only the Mediator in the gift of the true law, of the Gospel law, of the new commandment, but also the true interpreter of the Old Law. He is both Author and Interpreter, Teacher and Giver, Gift and Explanation of the gift. Who wants to know according to truth the will of God manifested and contained in the sacred books, he needs Jesus Christ. Without Christ, we are confronted with the sacred text as a person without eyes and without touch. It is known that the law exists, but its content is completely ignored, because it is given a meaning completely opposite or contrary to the very will of God. Jesus reveals this truth with power of speech to the scribes and Pharisees. These do not know the Law according to divine wisdom.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the kingdom of heaven before human beings. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves. “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If one swears by the temple, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.’ Blind fools, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If one swears by the altar, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gift on the altar, one is obligated.’ You blind ones, which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it; one who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it; one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who is seated on it. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. (But) these you should have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing (Mt 23,13-28).

The Law forbade servile work. Never has it forbidden to live on the sabbath day. All that was necessary for their livelihood could have been operated.

When you go through your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many of his grapes as you wish, but do not put them in your basket. When you go through your neighbor’s grain field, you may pluck some of the ears with your hand, but do not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain (Dt 23,25-26). Take care to keep holy the Sabbath day as the Lord, your God, commanded you. Six days you may labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God. No work may be done then, whether by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or ass or any of your beasts, or the alien who lives with you. Your male and female slave should rest as you do. For remember that you too were once slaves in Egypt, and the Lord, your God, brought you from there with his strong hand and outstretched arm. That is why the Lord, your God, has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day (Dt 5,12-15).

The disciples do not transgress in the Law if it is God the one to interpret his will. On the contrary, they are offenders if it is man the one that makes himself the one and only interpreter of the divine Word.

At that time 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 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.”

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints free us from this temptation.