We should not let mere church laws keep people from being happy and healthy.

Tuesday, 1/19/16

God gave us the Third Commandment that states, “Remember you keep holy the Sabbath.” Then, he left it up to religious people to make the rules for what kind of work people could do while still keeping holy the Sabbath; and their leaders decided that they could not grind grain on the Sabbath 

So, when Our Lord’s hungry disciples hand-ground grains of wheat on the Sabbath, the Pharisees accused them of breaking the Commandment that tells us to keep holy the Sabbath.  Jesus defended his disciples, saying “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

He might have backed up that assertion by quoting God’s words in Exodus, Chapter twenty-three, verse 12. It states, “On the seventh day you must rest, that your ox and your ass also may have rest, and the son of your maidservant and the alien may also be refreshed.” 

Jesus, by saying the Son of man is lord of the Sabbath tells us he had the authority to switch the Lord’s Day from Saturday to Sunday.

This would be a good reading for the “Year of Mercy” that Pope Francis is calling for. We should not let mere church laws stand in the way of people’s health and happiness.