"He is the Lord of the Sabbath"

Jesus, as the Son of Man, has the power and right to determine the meaning and practice of the Sabbath.

He demonstrates that the Sabbath was meant for human well-being,

and that acts of mercy and necessity were not violations of the Sabbath's spirit.

 

 The poor and the sick are the heart of God. In serving them, we serve Jesus Christ.

 St. Camillus de Lellis, priest

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Exodus 11:10-12:14*

(...) The Lord spoke to

Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt and said,

"This month is to be the beginning of all months, the first month of your year.

Speak to the community of Israel and say to them:

On the tenth day of this month let each family take a lamb, a lamb for each house.

If the family is too small for a lamb, they must join with a neighbor, the nearest to the house,

according to the number of persons and to what each one can eat.

 

You will select a perfect lamb without blemish, a male born during the present year, taken from the sheep or goats.

Then you will keep it until the fourteenth day of the month.

On that evening all the people will slaughter their lambs and take some of the blood

to put on the door posts and on top of the door frames of the houses where you eat.

That night you will eat the flesh roasted at the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Do not eat the meat lightly cooked or boiled in water but roasted entirely over the fire – the head,

the legs and the inner parts. Do not leave any of it until the morning. If any is left till morning, burn it in the fire.

 

And this is how you will eat: with a belt round your waist, sandals on your feet and a staff in your hand.

You shall eat hastily for it is a Passover in honor of the Lord.

On that night I shall go through Egypt and strike every firstborn in Egypt, men and animals;

and I will even bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt, I, the Lord!

The blood on your houses will be the sign that you are there.

I will see the blood and pass over you; and you will escape the mortal plague when I strike Egypt.

This is a day you are to remember and celebrate in honor of the Lord.

It is to be kept as a festival day for all generations forever.

 

Ps 116:12-13, 15 & 16bc, 17-18 I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Matthew 12:1-8

It happened that Jesus was walking through the wheat fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry;

and they began to pick some heads of wheat, to crush and to eat the grain. When the Pharisees noticed this,

they said to Jesus, "Look at your disciples! They are doing what is prohibited on the Sabbath!"

Jesus answered, "Have you not read what David did, when he and his men were hungry?

 

He went into the House of God, and they ate the bread offered to God, though neither he nor his men had the right to eat it,

but only the priests. And have you not read in the law, how, on the Sabbath, the priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath,

yet they are not guilty? I tell you, there is greater than the temple here. If you really knew the meaning of the words:

It is mercy I want, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent.

Besides, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"He is the Lord of the Sabbath."

There is a story of a country parish in Ireland where the farmers asked for the priest to pray for rain after a long period of dry weather.

The priest met the farmers at the door of the church, and said, "You men of little faith. Not one of you brought an umbrella!"

The Israelites are dressed for departure, and they are commanded to eat hastily, but Pharaoh has not allowed them to go yet.

And so, their actions and preparations all show their faith in God, trusting that he will free them from slavery that very night.

 

God leads his people out of slavery into freedom. Likewise, the Son of God goes before his disciples,

leading them into the freedom of the children of God, achieved through the Passover of his own death on the cross,

through the destruction of the temple of his own body. Christ is greater than the Temple. He is Lord of the Sabbath.

And so, we are to worship in him, in his name, and follow him. We show our faith in God by our actions,

just like the Israelites. May our actions reflect a deep trust in the Lord.