Jesus here emphasizes people over the law. The prohibitions against working on the Sabbath didn't trump the need for people to eat, or to be restored. The Pharisees, of course, stand up for the law. How often do people stand up for ideologies or "entities", rather than other people?
I was thinking about "the economy", and how we put so much emphasis on "it", like it's actually something we should "care" for. Or businesses. How many business decisions are made based on what's good for "the company" rather than the people who work at it, or buy the products, or are affected by the process of manufacturing those products, or any host of other people. Companies and "the economy" don't matter when it comes down to it, other than the fact that they impact the lives of people. In and of themselves, they don't matter. I think it's the same with "the law". It's about people. That's why it made total sense for Jesus to over rule the traditionally held prohibitions about the Sabbath, because keeping the Sabbath was about making things better for us. That's why the Pharisees missed the boat. They treated the law as an entity in and of itself that needed to be heeded and protected. You see it over and over again in how they react to different situations. And you see over and over again how Jesus sees things fundamentally different, putting people first.
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