July 18, 2025 - Friday of the 15th week, odd year
Homily
We read Scripture in the light of the interpretation given to it by the entire Christian tradition that has preceded us, and that is normal. However, it is sometimes useful to approach a Gospel text without reference to previous readings and interpretations, trying to ask ourselves what this text might have meant to those who read it first, during the first Christian generation. This is an exercise worth doing for today's Gospel.
On one Sabbath, Jesus' disciples rubbed ears of wheat in their hands and ate them, much to the scandal of the Pharisees, for whom this was a forbidden activity on the Sabbath. Jesus defended them and concluded by saying, "I tell you, there is something greater than the temple here. If you had understood the meaning of this saying, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent people. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
The most popular and frequent interpretation of this text is to understand it as if Jesus were saying: "There is someone here—me—who is greater than the temple. I am master of the Sabbath; therefore, I do what I want, and my disciples do the same." But I do not believe that this is the meaning of the text.
First of all, Jesus does not say, ‘There is someone here greater than the Temple,’ but rather, ‘There is something here—a reality—greater than the Temple.’ He mentions this reality greater than the Temple immediately afterwards. It is ‘mercy.’ The Greek word used is eleos, which means love, more specifically merciful love towards those who are unfaithful or have transgressed. It is this mercy that God prefers to any sacrifice or ritual observance. Why? Because the law and rituals are at the service of human beings in their service to God, and not the other way around.
The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, says Jesus. When we read the expression ‘Son of Man’ in the New Testament, we understand it as simply one of the names of the Messiah. It is indeed one of the names of the Messiah, but the expression has a more general meaning. The expression ‘Son of Man’ refers first and foremost to human beings as such. And if the Messiah is the Son of Man par excellence, it is because he is the full realization of what God had in mind when he created man and woman in His image. When Jesus says that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, He is saying that human beings, in their fundamental dignity, are greater than all the laws established to help them on their journey towards God.
When we see our sister or brother transgressing a law, we do not have the right to ‘condemn’ them, even if we cannot turn a blind eye to the transgression, because God Himself does not condemn. Above all, we must remember that we have before us a human being created in the image of God and therefore greater, in his or her fundamental dignity, than all laws.
Armand VEILLEUX