(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
Once upon a time, when I was much younger, we adults were taking part in an exercise we could use with youth as well. We each were given a blank sheet of 81/2 x 11 paper and divided into three groups. We were told to imagine the bare floor before us was filled with a very powerful acid and that the sheets we had would protect us from the acid. We were told to use our sheets to cross to the other side. The distance we had to travel was some fifteen feet. Each set about trying to beat the other groups, but no one group could accomplish the task. Finally the leaders suggested that we look at the rules for the exercise. The rules were that we should use the sheets to cross the acid stream”. The rules said nothing of finishing first. When we pooled our resources, the task was easy. We had made it complicated by adding our own interpretation to them.
So, the Scriptures told us to keep the Sabbath holy. The Pharisees had added rules to help people keep the Sabbath holy, but unfortunately the rules often blocked the keeping of the Sabbath. Jesus challenged this.
The purpose of the Sabbath is to take leisure time for God. We are not slaves that we must work every day. We are human and we have a right to take time for God. We are human and we are allowed to do human things on the Sabbath, such things as eating and preparing meals. God gave us the Sabbath for our benefit; God did not make us for the Sabbath: it is God’s gift to us.
Have we understood this? No and yes. We still have a tendency to ritualize our lives. This helps us get through the day. We have morning rituals that help us navigate from bed to breakfast and beyond. With these rituals, we would probably forget some important things every day. We even have rituals for worship, which help us order our lives to God. It is only when ritual interferes with our purpose that it becomes a problem.
God wants our hearts, our mercy, not our so-called sacrifices. We have much to learn.