Matthew 12:1-8

Isaiah 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8

Isaiah 38:10, 11, 12abcd, 16

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 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.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I will imitate your merciful love and offer you the pleasing sacrifice of a life lived in communion with your Son. Accept my offering today, purify it with your Spirit, and unite it to the sacrifice of your Son. 

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Prophet Isaiah and King Hezekiah: When Isaiah counseled Ahaz, a wicked king of Judah, not to form an alliance with Assyria and become Assyria’s vassal, Ahaz did not listen. A similar situation occurred thirty years later with King Hezekiah, one of the two good kings of Judah. In 703 B.C., Isaiah counseled Hezekiah to not enter into an alliance with Tyre, Philistia, and Egypt against the Assyrians. The prophet thought that this action was comparable to renouncing faith in the Lord. “Isaiah was proposing a strategy of faith such as he might have learned from the witness of Moses commanding the Israelites of the Exodus to remain calm and steadfast as they stood on the shore of the Sea while their enemies descended on them (see Ex 14:14). The prophet insisted that faith, not force, would lead to freedom from Assyrian oppression: ‘Your salvation lay in conversion and tranquility, your strength in serenity and trust’ (Is 30:15)” (Duggan, The Consuming Fire, 268). As the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, marched toward Judah in 701 B.C., Hezekiah began to fortify the city of Jerusalem and protect the water supply. “Although Isaiah had protested Hezekiah’s folly in drawing the Assyrian wrath upon Jerusalem, he supported the king and encouraged the people when the enemy surrounded the city. The prophet declared that [the Lord] would still preserve his city by terrifying the Assyrians with the authority of his presence (30:27-33)” (Duggan, The Consuming Fire, 268). Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled: the angel of the Lord slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp and Sennacherib retreated back to Nineveh (2 Kings 19:35-37). 

2. Hezekiah Continued to Learn to Trust in the Lord: The Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from Sennacherib and gave them rest on every side (2 Chronicles 32:20-23). Hezekiah, though, became very sick and was at the point of death. His heart was proud and he still had to learn how to experience personal healing through prayer and repentance. God saw Hezekiah’s repentance and heard his prayer and added fifteen years to his life. The Lord gives him a sign: the sundial moved back ten steps. Today’s Psalm is Hezekiah’s prayer of petition and trust in the Lord. He asks the Lord to restore his health so that he may live. Despite his faults, Hezekiah was a good king. In fact, the Book of Chronicles presents Hezekiah as a new Solomon. He restored the worship of the temple, rebuilt the sanctuary, and reestablished it as the spiritual center of the kingdom. Hezekiah’s father, King Ahaz, had closed the Temple and extinguished its lamps. Hezekiah sought to reunite the kingdom through liturgical renewals centered on the Passover. Hezekiah made atonement for all Israel and renewed the covenant. “For the Chronicler, the root sin of the people is their failure to set their hearts to seek God, and that sin is expressed in both idolatry and their failure to worship him in the place he has established for his name to dwell. Thus the king urges the people to come back to the ‘sanctuary, which he has sanctified for ever, and serve the Lord your God’ (2 Chr. 30:8). [...]. For the Chronicler, the temple is the source from which the living waters of God's blessings and mercy flow. The temple is the hope of all Israel. In his temple, Solomon had promised, God will hear the prayers of his people and forgive their sins, ‘for there is no man who does not sin’ (2 Chr. 6:36)” (Hahn, The Kingdom of God as Liturgical Empire, 180).

3. Greater than the Temple and Lord of the Sabbath: In today’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims that he is greater than the temple (Matthew 12:6). The tension between Jesus and the Pharisees reaches a new level: “The Pharisees accuse Jesus of working with Satan and begin plotting his death (12:14). As Jesus defends himself, he reveals more of his true identity: he is greater than the prophet Jonah (12:41), King Solomon (12:42), and even the temple (12:6). At the same time, Jesus reveals the true nature of his adversaries: they are collaborators with Satan, since they oppose Israel’s Messiah (12:33-37)” (Mitch and Sri, The Gospel of Matthew, 162). When the Pharisees accuse Jesus’ disciples of violating the Sabbath rest, Jesus reminds them of the story of David and his men, who entered the temple and ate the Bread of the Presence, the twelve loaves prepared every Sabbath on a table in the temple sanctuary. Jesus, then, is comparing himself to David and his disciples to the priests of the temple, who do many things on the Sabbath. Jesus uses the criticism of his disciples’ Sabbath observance to reveal his true identity. “For Jesus to speak of himself as being greater than the temple was to imply that he himself is the new focal point for Israel’s worship - and that his disciples are ministers serving in this new temple” (Mitch and Sri, The Gospel of Matthew, 164). Jesus also proclaims that he is Lord of the Sabbath. In doing so he reveals that, as God’s only-begotten Son, he is equal to God the Father and has authority over the observance of the Sabbath.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are my true King. I am your loyal subject. I know that you defend me and protect me from evil. I have no reason to fear with you at my side.

Living the Word of God: How do I live my Sundays? How are they special? Are they a time of prayer, worship, family, and joyful rest? What can I do better?