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| “The Disciples Pluck Corn” by Edward Armitage, c. 1865 |
Reading 1: Exodus
11:10—12:14
Although Moses and Aaron
performed various wonders
in Pharaoh's presence,
the LORD made Pharaoh
obstinate,
and he would not let the
children of Israel
The LORD said to Moses and
Aaron in the land
of Egypt
"This month shall stand
at the head of your calendar;
you shall reckon it the first
month of the year.
Tell the whole community of Israel
every one of your families
must procure for itself a lamb,
one apiece for each
household.
If a family is too small for
a whole lamb,
it shall join the nearest
household in procuring one
and shall share in the lamb
in proportion to the number
of persons who partake of it.
The lamb must be a year-old
male and without blemish.
You may take it from either
the sheep or the goats.
You shall keep it until the
fourteenth day of this month, and then,
with the whole assembly of Israel
it shall be slaughtered
during the evening twilight.
They shall take some of its
blood
and apply it to the two
doorposts and the lintel
of every house in which they
partake of the lamb.
That same night they shall
eat its roasted flesh
with unleavened bread and
bitter herbs.
It shall not be eaten raw or
boiled, but roasted whole,
with its head and shanks and
inner organs.
None of it must be kept
beyond the next morning;
whatever is left over in the
morning shall be burned up.
"This is how you are to
eat it:
with your loins girt, sandals
on your feet and your staff in hand,
you shall eat like those who
are in flight.
It is the Passover of the
LORD.
For on this same night I will
go through Egypt
striking down every first
born of the land, both man and beast,
and executing judgment on all
the gods of Egypt
But the blood will mark the
houses where you are.
Seeing the blood, I will pass
over you;
thus, when I strike the land of Egypt
no destructive blow will come
upon you.
"This day shall be a
memorial feast for you,
which all your generations
shall celebrate
with pilgrimage to the LORD,
as a perpetual institution."
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Commentary on Ex 11:10—12:14
In this reading
from Exodus we have jumped forward to the end of Moses’ contest of wills with
Pharaoh. The first nine plagues have
been visited upon Egypt and
still the Pharaoh will not allow the people of Israel Egypt
CCC: Ex 12:3-14 608
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm
116:12-13, 15 and 16bc, 17-18
R. (13) I will take the cup of salvation, and call on
the name of the Lord.
How shall I make a return to
the LORD
for all the good he has done
for me?
The cup of salvation I will
take up,
and I will call upon the name
of the LORD.
R. I will take the cup of
salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.
Precious in the eyes of the
LORD
is the death of his faithful
ones.
I am your servant, the son of
your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
R. I will take the cup of
salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.
To you will I offer sacrifice
of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name
of the LORD.
My vows to the LORD I will
pay
in the presence of all his
people.
R. I will take the cup of
salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.
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Commentary on Ps 116:12-13, 15 and 16bc, 17-18
This selection
from Psalm 116 recalls the Passover ritual referring to the “cup of
salvation”. The psalm rejoices in God’s
saving works in releasing the people from their bondage. It gives us the image of the “Cup of
Blessing” used in the Passover celebration. It is this cup that the Lord first
blessed and used as our communion cup.
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Gospel: Matthew
12:1-8
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."
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Commentary on Mt 12:1-8
Following the
comment by Jesus in yesterday’s Gospel about having those burdened by the Law
come to him, we find a practical example as the Pharisees attack the disciples
because they picked some grain to eat on the sabbath. In Pharisaic Law that act is considered work
and is forbidden on the Lord’s Day. The
Lord reinterprets their Law, sighting the First Book of Samuel (1
Samuel 21:2-7) and Leviticus (Leviticus
24:8). The implication of his final statement in
this passage is clear to us. “The
ultimate justification for the disciples' violation of the sabbath rest is that
Jesus, the Son of Man, has supreme authority over the law.”[4]
CCC: Mt 12:5 581,
582, 2173; Mt 12:6 586,
590; Mt 12:7 2100
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Reflection:
What is most important about
what we believe, that is our faith lived and practiced? Is it that we attend Mass each Sunday as we
are obligated to do? Is it that we
scrupulously observe the rituals, fasts, and abstinence rules? In fact, some have challenged our practices based
upon this scripture passage. They have asked; do we need rules and laws – the
precepts of our faith at all? In point
of fact, many of the various Christian denominations developed out of a “sola
scriptura (Bible only)” idea.
Their argument is Jesus’
disciples were not confined to the religious rituals and laws of the Pharisees
and Chief Priests of the Temple
As is generally the case,
when one takes the Lord’s demands based on only one aspect of his teaching we
can justify almost any action “in the name of being faithful to the
Bible”. The Church, in her wisdom, has
looked for millennia at the whole of Christ’s teaching, understanding in the
broader sense the Lord’s will for God’s people.
This broad and foundational view, long studied and reflected upon lets
us see beyond the “face value” of such readings.
When Jesus challenges the
Pharisees he first testifies (by example) that he has come, not to destroy the
“Law”, but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matthew
5:17ff). He tells us that he has the
authority to excuse his disciples, because of the vital role they are playing
in God’s plan, to be exempted or dispensed from the strict rules regarding
“work” on the Sabbath. He did not say
that those rules regarding work were wrong or that they should not be
followed. He simply dispensed his disciples
from this obligation as those having authority in the Church may dispense one
of the faithful from a specific obligation based upon need.
Jesus, in this instance, used
this point of contention as a :teaching moment, trying to point out to the
Pharisees that what they had long hoped for, the coming of a Messiah, was
realized in the person of Jesus (“I say to you, something
greater than the temple is here.”)
As in Jesus’ day, there are
those who would argue this point and lobby for an easier discipline, a more
flexible set of rules governing the practice of the faith. We submit to you today that, as difficult as
it is to adhere to the Precepts of the Faith, it is those very ideals that
define us as Christian and Catholic.
Pax
[1]
ALTRE
[2]
The picture is “The
Disciples Pluck Corn” by Edward Armitage, c. 1865
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
[4]
See NAB footnote on Matthew 12:1-8
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