Stealing Cherries…

…from the neighbor’s cherry tree

A story from when I was eight or nine years old.

With Raymond or Gilbert

A neighbor’s cherry tree hung over the back fence.

We climbed and ate.

We were chased away.

We got only a growl as punishment.

We convinced ourselves that it wasn’t stealing if the cherries were on branches that hung over the fence.

The Apostles pick some grain on the Sabbath

A story from the gospel.

(The two cases aren’t exactly the same.)

The Pharisees object; Jesus responds.

Jesus defends the Apostles

not by challenging the Pharisees’ legal correctness,

but by objecting to their lack of mercy

and by citing biblical command to be merciful.

In fact Dt 23:25-26 permitted those in need to pick grain as described.

The Apostles may have been pushing the boundaries of a merciful interpretation of Sabbath Laws;

The Pharisees were definitely pushing the boundaries of a strict interpretation.

We can easily get caught up in our work, our lives…

and forget this command

as the Pharisees did in this story.

Jesus reminds us that God’s way is always to forgive,always to yield to the kinder, humanitarian impulse when interpreting the Law & the Prophets, indeed, in all our relationships.

May we always do so and

May Our Lady of Mount Carmel teach us her son's merciful ways.

¹ “What is Work?”, https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/253223/jewish/2-What-Is-Work.htm , copied July 09, 2021.

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