What is lawful? What is God’s Will? Sometimes we can get so caught up in our customs or tradition that we forget these customs, traditions, and even laws should always lead us to knowing and doing God’s Will. Jesus incarnates the one true God of love and compassion, a God who is rich in mercy and who walks with us on the journey of life.
In today’s Gospel Jesus poses a question to the scholars of the law: “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?” God has given the commandment: “Keep holy the Sabbath.” The question Jesus poses to these scholars of the Torah (Law): what does it mean to “keep holy the Sabbath”? Does it mean that no work can be done at all? That is what the law says. What about deeds of mercy? What about the work of curing? Jesus tries to teach them and us that works of healing, mercy and compassion can take precedent over the requirement to refrain from work on the Sabbath. Jesus gives a simple example: one shows compassion to a son or even to an ox that has fallen into a cistern by pulling it out on a sabbath. It is almost like Jesus is saying, “use your common sense,” of course it is lawful to cure on the Sabbath.
Jesus is trying to teach us that God’s laws should always lead us to deeds of mercy and compassion because this is God’s Will and who God is: “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him” (1 John 4:16). Sometimes deeds of mercy and compassion may even require us to break the letter of the law as Jesus shows us by His action of curing on the Sabbath.