Gospel in Art: Jesus took a walk one sabbath day through the cornfields

Wheat Fields, by Jacob van Ruisdael, 1670 © Metropolitan Museum, New York

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 19 July 2024
Matthew 12:1-8

Jesus took a walk one sabbath day through the cornfields. His disciples were hungry and began to pick ears of corn and eat them. The Pharisees noticed it and said to him, 'Look, your disciples are doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath.' But he said to them, 'Have you not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry - how he went into the house of God and how they ate the loaves of offering which neither he nor his followers were allowed to eat, but which were for the priests alone? Or again, have you not read in the Law that on the sabbath day the Temple priests break the sabbath without being blamed for it? Now here, I tell you, is something greater than the Temple. And if you had understood the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the blameless. For the Son of Man is master of the sabbath.'

Reflection on the painting

When Jesus quotes the Jewish Scriptures, it is often because he finds a message or word that aligns with his own teachings and vision. At the end of today's Gospel reading, he quotes the prophet Hosea: "What I want is mercy, not sacrifice." For both Hosea and Jesus, what mattered more to God than the sacrifices offered in the Temple was an attitude of mercy. Jesus demonstrated mercy by bringing life to the dying and healing to the sick, by forgiving sinners and offering loving acceptance to the excluded. At the start of mass, we ask for exactly that, three times: "Lord have mercy".

At the beginning of today's Gospel reading, set within cornfields, Jesus' disciples were hungry and picked ears of grain to satisfy their hunger, a legitimate action at the time. However, the Pharisees judged them for doing this on the Sabbath, accusing them of breaking the Sabbath law of rest. The Pharisees' response lacked mercy, failing to understand the disciples' need for food. In contrast, Jesus revealed God's merciful love and called us to embody that same love. By quoting Hosea, Jesus emphasises that this is what God always desires throughout all time - a compassionate, understanding, and merciful heart.

All this takes place, as the beginning of our Gospel reading states, in the midst of cornfields. Twenty-seven views of fields by Jacob van Ruisdael survive today. In our example, the artist masterfully uses land, sky, and sea to create an impressive vision of cultivated nature. In the foreground, a man with a traveler's pack approaches a woman and child on the road, while the dramatic cumulus clouds overhead add a sense of grandeur to the scene. To the far left, boats at sea hint at the connection between this quintessentially Dutch landscape and the wider world beyond.

LINKS

Gospel in Art: https://christian.art/
Today's Reflection: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/matthew-12-1-8-2024/