Gospel (Mk 2:23-28)
One sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; so the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath.”
Commentary
Following Jesus and sharing their days with Him meant that the apostles had to go through moments of hardship. For “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Mt 8:20). But this doesn’t mean that they felt overwhelmed or oppressed by circumstances, as we see in the Gospel scene for today’s Mass.
Jesus' companions are walking through fields filled with ripe grains of wheat. Acting spontaneously, the apostles accept what nature is offering them and begin to pick the ripe grain, satisfying the hunger they may have felt at that moment. The disciples don’t think twice about doing so, since they know they are with the Master and they do everything under his gaze. It is easy to imagine Jesus’ joy when he saw how his closest followers felt free and knew how to enjoy the simple things in life.
The Pharisees, in contrast, do not act under the loving look of our Lord, but under the shadow of the law. They apply the letter of the law without taking into account people’s specific needs. And thus it becomes an oppressive burden. Therefore Jesus tries to expand the Pharisees’ outlook by giving them the example of the freedom with which King David acted many years ago and telling them that “the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
Being with Christ leads to living with a deep interior freedom. He helps us value rightly our opinions and ideas about how we should live one or another aspect of our faith. And he always puts before our eyes the primacy of the real needs of others.