What is lawful? This question is asked today in both our civil and religious society. What does the law require and even demand? We see this same debate between Jesus and the Pharisees in today’s Gospel. The Pharisees were a Jewish lay reform movement. Jews who were zealous followers of the one true God and strove to live righteous lives. Sometimes zealous reform movements be they Jewish or Christian can become self-righteous and overbearing. While some of the Pharisees in today’s Gospel show this self-righteous legalism, we need to remember that most of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day were compassionate, good, and religious people. We also see among Christian zealous reform movements in our own day pious and sincere people but also some have become self-righteous and overbearing.
So, Jesus debates with some of the Pharisees about what the Torah, the Law requires. The Torah commands: “Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.” Therefore, work is forbidden on the Sabbath. Jesus asks the simple question: “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” The answer seems obvious: God’s will, is to do good, to save life.
Jesus taught that God’s will is fully revealed through the twofold commandment of love of God and love of neighbor. Every law, tradition, and custom needs to be interpreted through the lens of this twofold commandment. What this means in concrete cases Jesus shows us by His words and actions. While we need laws, we need to always interpret them through the eyes of Jesus. So, it is always lawful to do good and to save life even if this goes against a particular law, tradition, or custom.