Lord of the Sabbath!

Saturday, September 5, 2026

1 Cor 4: 6b-15; Lk 6: 1-5

Today’s Gospel highlights what happens when religious observances assume greater importance than people.

The Pharisees find fault with Jesus’ disciples for disobeying a Sabbath law by plucking heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. For them, these three acts put together amounted to ‘work,’ which was forbidden by law. Such a law, which God did not give, was meant to bring people closer to God and not to oppress them in the name of religion.  

While they were engrossed in evaluating the rightness and wrongness of the action by Jesus’ disciples, they were not bothered if the law they meant had any room for justice towards those who were hungry. This is where they forget that the law was ultimately meant for a real person. 

This is precisely where Jesus intervenes to make sense to them. We must note that Jesus does not teach people to disobey the Sabbath laws. He only defends the hungry. Because the religious leaders were good at the Scripture, he cites a Scriptural example to help them understand that God does not desire a religion that sacrifices human beings to meaningless rules and regulations. 

In his argument, Jesus explains the real purpose of God’s law. When God intended the Sabbath to give people rest and restoration, the hypocritical religious leaders found a way to use it against people. Jesus condemns such hypocrisy through his teaching. 

Jesus also claims to be the ‘Lord of the Sabbath.’ But we should not mistake that Jesus’ statement aims at glory. Instead, Jesus wants to reinstate humanity. Jesus teaches that God’s law can never be separated from God’s mercy. For Jesus, since the Sabbath belongs to God, it must reflect His very character, which is mercy and compassion.

Let us pray that we may always discern God’s will to practice it in love and freedom. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar