21 January 2020
Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
The Pharisees sometimes ask obvious questions. Today, they ask “why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” The unlawful activity in this case is picking heads of grain to eat. There are a finite number of reasons why one might pick and eat grain. Nearly all of them have to do with hunger, the simple needs of the physical side of human nature. Why do they gather food? To eat. The answer to their question is obvious—unless, of course, they have a blind spot.
The Pharisees have forgotten that human nature is to be nurtured, and genuine needs (not merely strong wants) are to be satisfied. Eating grain does this. So, too, does obeying the Sabbath, if you do it properly. Humans need leisure, they need to remember that work is not the sole purpose of life, they need time to cultivate a relationship with God. Without this, we lose what is truly human in life. God knows this, but the Pharisees have forgotten. The demands of the Sabbath are not a mere endurance test, they (like the grains of wheat for eating) are given to us to satisfy our very nature as humans.