Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
As we approach today’s Gospel, it’s important to do so with yesterday’s text in mind, as well as the intervening verses, Matthew 12:9-13. I see the extravagant mercy of God underscored in this overall passage. Today, let us ask God for the grace to become more merciful, especially when we recognize a spirit of judgment within ourselves. Rather than being quick to judge, may we each become quicker to be merciful.
In the first part of chapter twelve, we encounter some Pharisees criticizing and condemning Jesus for allowing his hungry disciples to pick and eat grain on the sabbath. On that same day, as Jesus moves on to their synagogue and heals a man with a withered hand, these Pharisees are morally outraged over this action, too. These religious leaders were so incensed by Jesus’ actions and by his claim to be Lord of the Sabbath that they “went out and took counsel against him to put him to death” (vs 14).
The Pharisees were not wrong in their adherence to God’s commandment to keep the sabbath holy. For first-century Jews, sabbath observance was not only an issue of personal piety but also of national security. According to the prophet Jeremiah, failure to keep the sabbath holy was one of the sins that brought judgment on the Jewish people in 586 BC when the Babylonians invaded (Jer. 17:19-27). As I think about the Pharisees in light Matthew 12, I believe their religious fervor blinded them. They could not see and understand God when he says, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7). So it is with us, sometimes . . .
I recognize within myself and my personality a fervent desire for justice. Partly, I learned that from my Dad. He became angry over any situation that he perceived to be unjust or simply “not right.” I experience such situations similarly – when I encounter a person who, objectively, is behaving unjustly or a situation of injustice, I feel it viscerally in my body. My heart rate increases, often my gut churns, I feel a rising anxiety and a desperate need to “fix it” or make it right. I notice myself becoming especially frustrated when the situation is beyond my ability to control. Like the Pharisees, my Dad was not wrong in his desire for justice and neither am I. But I must ask myself, what is in the driver’s seat of my heart, justice or mercy?
In today’s passage, “Many [people] followed him [Jesus], and he cured them all.” Picture that scene and the overwhelming display of merciful love. The text doesn’t make it clear, but it seems that this healing miracle for the many also took place on the sabbath. The passage continues with Jesus quoting from Isaiah, part of which states, “A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory . . .” I interpret that verse to mean that any person is not beyond the mercy of God – some may be “bruised” in sin and their faith “smoldering,” but God is the God of second chances, and he withholds his mercy from no one. Justice comes to victory when people surrender to the merciful, saving love of God.
Recently, the Lord has convicted me of my Pharisaical attitude toward some family members who have hurt me. I have been sitting in judgment on them for their unholy behavior and holding onto a critical spirit toward them. The Holy Spirit showed me that they are unable in this moment to love and reconcile and that I must have mercy toward them in my heart. Their offense against me is real, and like the Pharisees, I have the right to critique the behavior. The Pharisees observed Jesus’ disciples picking and eating grain on the sabbath. Their first thought was “that’s a violation of God’s law!” How different would the situation have been if their first thought was “how hungry these men must be if they resort to harvesting grain on the sabbath.” Their first thought led them to criticism and judgment; the alternative thought would have led them to compassion and mercy. So it must be with me. I’m asking God, by his grace, to help me see beneath the behavior to hearts that are hurting and to let go of judgment and move to a place of mercy and compassion. I’m praying that I and these family members will be perfected in love by the Holy Spirit and drawn more deeply into the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
May we each experience conversion this day so that we more fully radiate the love and light of Christ and do our part to establish unity in the Body of Christ.
In the Body and Blood of Christ,
Elizabeth Wells