Isaiah 38.1-6,21-22,7-8; Psalm 38; Matthew 12.1-8
Religion seems to most observers—and to many of us as well—as a matter of duties we must perform in order to please God. But our religious acts mean little to God; they certainly don’t enrich him, nourish him, or delight him. Our sacrifices (from the Latin words sacrum facere, to make holy) can help turn us toward God, can make us more receptive to the blessings he wills to shower upon us. But the performance of religious duties does nothing to repair our damaged relationship with God; as the epistle to the Hebrews puts it, ‘The law could not make anyone perfect’. [Hebrews 7.19]
God’s intention is to make us flourish; it is the devil who is described as the enemy of human flourishing. [Cf I Peter 5.8] The religious duties we perform, our abstentions and abnegations, are only useful insofar as they drive us more deeply into the heart of God, enable us to see his provision for us, teach us to put our trust in him alone.