Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
This is a story about the yoke of Jesus being light. The disciples are hungry. They glean some grain in the field: they took and ate. They were technically not allowed to harvest on the Sabbath. They did what king David once did when he was hungry: he ate the loaves of offering which were restricted to the priests. The yoke of Jesus says, “mercy, not sacrifice” or “mercy is sacrifice.”
When we do not like a person or a group of people, it is easy for us to find fault. We readily excuse our friends and family from condemnations; we quickly blame our opponents.
The story also raises a question, “What is the something greater than the temple,” to which Jesus refers. The answer could be one of two things or both of them. Jesus is greater than the temple; in fact, he owns the temple by every right. It is also true that the Kingdom is greater than th temple. The temple will disappear, but Jesus and the Kingdom will both remain.
Whom do we not like? The foreigner, the migrant, the other political party, the one who sexual expression is different from ours? Remember that we are harder on opponents than of family and friends. Remember that God wants mercy, not sacrifice. Remember that God wants to judge us mercifully and therefore desires us to be merciful to others.