Homily on Matthew 12:1–8 : MERCY ( 18-7-25)

Mercy Over Ritual – A Powerful Homily on Matthew 12:1–8 : Christian Mercy and Legalism ( 18-7-25)

Praise be to Jesus Christ 

One rainy evening many years ago, a group of weary travellers knocked on the doors of a small Christian monastery. Their clothes were soaked, their feet swollen, and their faces carried the fatigue of long hours on a muddy road. The monk who opened the door hesitated. According to the strict rules of the monastery, no guests were to be received after nightfall. But the old abbot, seeing the exhausted faces, quietly said, “Let the rule sleep tonight. Let mercy stay awake.” He welcomed them in, dried their feet, gave them warm food, and a place to rest. The next day, one of the travellers, with tears in his eyes, said, “Yesterday, we did not meet a law; we met Christ.”

In today’s Gospel from Matthew 12:1–8, Jesus speaks a powerful sentence that cuts through all appearances of religious correctness: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” It’s a verse that we may have heard often, but perhaps we have not really allowed it to touch our way of living. The Pharisees were quick to quote rules. They were watching Jesus and his disciples, not with open hearts, but with pointed fingers. The disciples were hungry and they plucked heads of grain and ate. But to the Pharisees, this simple act of  eating few grains in order to alleviate  hunger became a violation of Sabbath law.

Jesus does not dismiss the Sabbath moreover, He lifts it higher. He brings it back to its heart. He does not break the law; he opens its meaning. “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” And even more, he says that mercy is greater than ritual. The key word here is mercy, a word that sounds soft, but carries the weight of heaven. In Greek, the word is eleos, a tender love that bends down, that sees suffering and does something about it.

In our day-to-day life, we often see people more eager to correct others than to understand them. Someone comes late to Mass, and we frown. A neighbour doesn’t know a prayer by heart, and we judge. But do we ever pause to see the hunger in their soul? The wound they carry? Are we offering them the Bread of Life or the bitterness of our criticism?

Saint John Vianney, the humble Cure of Ars, once said, “The soul hungers for God, but it may come to Him limping, late, broken. Do not shut the door.” That’s mercy. And this is what Jesus wanted the Pharisees to learn. He even reminded them of David, a man after God’s heart,  who once ate the consecrated bread not meant for ordinary men. Was it wrong? by the law, yes. But in the eyes of God, it was life that mattered more than the law.

In the early centuries, during the Roman persecutions, Christians would secretly celebrate the Eucharist in underground catacombs. Sometimes, they were caught. Sometimes, a child or a mother had received Holy Communion and ran to hide. The Roman soldiers, finding them, would demand, “What did you eat?” And one woman said, “I ate the mercy of God.” She was later martyred. But what she said still speaks today — the mercy of God is not just what we receive. It’s what we are called to become.

We can become Pharisees with rosaries in our hands. We can bow our heads in Church and yet raise our eyebrows at the poor. Jesus is not asking us to throw away our practices, but to make sure that love breathes inside them. Mercy gives life and sacrifice without love becomes noise.

In our families, we can choose to shout or to listen. In our workplaces, we can hold grudges or forgive. In our parishes, we can exclude or embrace. Every day, we have the chance to be either Pharisees or followers of Jesus. The difference lies in one word, MERCY.

Let us not forget what Jesus says today, “If you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” This is not just a correction. It is an invitation to see as God sees, and to love as He loves.

Lord, give me a heart that chooses mercy, even when the rules shout louder.

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God Bless…