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Defying The Law

"While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath,his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said,“Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” Jesus said to them in reply,“Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.” [Last Saturday's Gospel reading]

There are many things we like about Jesus. His attitude towards the poor and the suffering give us examples to follow; his parables giving us food for thought and lessons aimed to make us better people; his anger at the domineering and oppressive Romans; and his urging that we use nonviolence to confront the powers controlling us – ruling us.

What should strike us as worthy of our applause is Jesus’ use of David as his way of defying authority when that authority turns a blind eye to doing what is right and especially when it means our doing right by God.  Jesus and his disciples are eating raw, uncooked grain from a field.  They were hungry, but more notable – they were working on the Sabbath and defying the law as stated by some Pharisees who confronted him.

So what does Jesus do?  He states that David and those with him were hungry so David went right into the house of God where he took the bread of offering and shared it with his companions.  That defied the law prescribing that only priests could eat that bread.  David was bold and so was Jesus who put feeding the hungry above the law – man-made law.

Laws are important of course.  They are made to give us rules to live by.  But they are still man-made and can be the result of lobbying by one influential group or another in support of their own interests.  This is why as concerned citizens, followers of Jesus, and faithful Catholics concerned about social justice, we are charged by Jesus to challenge and work to change the laws that trample the poor and favor the rich and powerful.

We are to work in the fields of wheat on the Sabbath.  In other words, we are to urge our political leaders to pick the heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and then give them to all people in need through laws favoring not just a few – but many in need of justice and help.

Some of us may say the Church must stay out of state affairs.  Really!?  Jesus didn’t and neither should we because the poor and hungry cry out to us.  God watches and waits for our response.

Deacon David Pierce
  

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