Reflection
In the first reading today, Paul is addressing converts to Christianity in the large cosmopolitan city of Corinth. He ironically warns them against boasting, pride and conceit. He reminds them that if there is any good in them, they have received it supernaturally. The true lot of the Christian is gratitude for blessings and acceptance of misfortune for their faith. Paul closes the passage, asserting that his chastisements are not to shame or embarrass his listeners, but to encourage them to grow in virtue, also reminding them that as their spiritual father, he has special authority over his children. He, and his fellow shepherds, are stewards of the mysteries of God for the benefit of the mystical body of Christ and the ordinary minister of the sacraments; the channels through which the grace of the Savior flows for the good of humanity.
The Gospel from Luke recounts the first of two controversies regarding the Sabbath. The Sabbath was established in the Old Testament as a day of worship and rest to set God’s chosen, the Hebrews, apart from other peoples. By New Testament times the priestly classes had added a multitude of precepts to Sabbath observance, the slightest infraction of which would call one’s religious commitment in question and, in more severe cases, make one ineligible; ‘unclean’, for communal worship.
In this episode, Pharisees would equate the plucking of grain for food; allowed with harvesting; work prohibited on the Sabbath. Jesus would sarcastically compare it to activity recorded of David’s followers: ‘Have you not read?’ Of course, they would have read and almost certainly memorized large parts of the Old Testament.
Jesus would then give them a clue where His authority to redefine permitted activity on the Sabbath comes from and, as the Son of Man, to His very identity.