St. Apollinaris

Matthew 12:1-8

This extreme position of the Pharisees in today’s gospel can be a warning to us of the danger of religious observance without love of God and of our sisters and brothers being at the heart of it. Jesus reverses all these accepted laws which no one has ever challenged and makes people and their freedom the focus of our relationship with God. Sometimes laws have to be broken. It is this new identity that led the Christians to be less scrupulous about the observance of the Sabbath than were the Pharisees. While careful observance of the Sabbath is commendable, it is not what makes a Christian acceptable before God. Be aware of today’s Pharisees!