SPEAKER_00: One of the greatest spiritual dangers is that we can become more concerned with the rules than with the reason the rules exist.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what Jesus confronts in today's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees see the disciples plucking grain because they're hungry.
SPEAKER_00: They do not see hungry men, they only see a violation.
SPEAKER_00: They're so focused on the law that they completely miss the people standing right there in front of them.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus responds with one of the most important lines I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Notice that he does not reject sacrifice, he does not abolish the Sabbath, he simply restores its proper purpose.
SPEAKER_00: God never gave his commandments to burden his children.
SPEAKER_00: He gave them so that his children could flourish.
SPEAKER_00: The law was always meant to lead us to love.
SPEAKER_00: That's the lesson the church has had to remember in every age.
SPEAKER_00: Rules do matter, discipline matters, truth matters.
SPEAKER_00: But whenever the application of a rule becomes detached from law, something has gone terribly wrong.
SPEAKER_00: The first reading gives us this beautiful example of what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_00: King Hezekiah is told that he's going to die.
SPEAKER_00: There's no argument, no negotiation.
SPEAKER_00: Yet instead of falling into despair, what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He turns his face to the wall and prays.
SPEAKER_00: He pours out his whole heart before God.
SPEAKER_00: He cries.
SPEAKER_00: He's honest.
SPEAKER_00: He places himself entirely in God's hands.
SPEAKER_00: Then something remarkable happens.
SPEAKER_00: God hears his prayer.
SPEAKER_00: God sees his tears.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture does not simply say that God heard his words.
SPEAKER_00: It says he saw his tears.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord responds by granting him fifteen more years of life.
SPEAKER_00: That should give every single one of us tremendous hope.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is not informing God of something he does not already know.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer opens our hearts to the God who already knows us completely.
SPEAKER_00: Our tears are never wasted before him.
SPEAKER_00: Now there's another detail that's easy to overlook.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah tells the king to apply a poultice of figs to the boil.
SPEAKER_00: God performs the miracle, but he also uses ordinary means.
SPEAKER_00: Divine grace and human action work together.
SPEAKER_00: God could have healed Hezekiah instantly, but instead he chose to work through a simple remedy.
SPEAKER_00: That is how God often works in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: He heals us through doctors, through medicine, through wise counselors, through faithful friends, through the sacraments and through daily acts of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: We should never oppose faith and ordinary means.
SPEAKER_00: God is often working through both.
SPEAKER_00: When we place today's readings together, one theme emerges.
SPEAKER_00: God is not distant.
SPEAKER_00: He is not cold.
SPEAKER_00: He's not looking for technical violations so that he can condemn us.
SPEAKER_00: No, he is a father who sees our tears, hears our prayers, feeds the hungry, heals the sick, and teaches us that mercy is the deepest expression of his law.
SPEAKER_00: The challenge for us is simple.
SPEAKER_00: Do I look at people the way the Pharisees did?
SPEAKER_00: I first notice where they fall short?
SPEAKER_00: Or do I look at them the way Christ does, first noticing their hunger, their wounds, and the need for mercy?
SPEAKER_00: Because in the end, holiness is not measured by how well we can quote the rules.
SPEAKER_00: Holiness is measured by how much our hearts have begun to resemble the heart of Jesus, a heart who is full both of truth and mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.