NOTES for Mat 12:1-8
Sometimes one hears from very intelligent and educated people that ritual is a kind of injection of faith for the uneducated, for simple people, for the average person. That through such injections some healing substance enters the body of society. It seems that Christ says "No" today to exactly this kind of reasoning.
Let us think once more about the position of the guardians of ritual purity. They can be understood, because there are things before which they feel sacred awe, and that is not alien to us. But is God there? Or is there only our habit of worshiping Him? When you love a person, you carefully keep everything connected with that person; some funny, unnecessary little trinket given many years ago can become ritual, can inspire awe, and that is beautiful.
Of course, the same is true in relation to God... on the personal level. But there is one essential addition here: the Lord is one, and there are many of us. Then the Savior's words are simple to understand, for what did Christ command us? He commanded unity: that they may be one (John 17:22). And what unites us, people of different confessions, and what divides us? On what ground can we seek ways to fulfill what God has commanded? We have one God, our Lord Jesus Christ, one word of God, the Bible, but we have completely different rituals. So where should we seek unity? After all, what matters is not the house, and even less its load-bearing structures, but the one who lives in it, although everyone loves his own home dearly and with trembling. It can even be said more sharply: remember how Christ does not share the disciples' admiration at the sight of the Temple.
So can ritual be a bearer of faith, as medicine brings health? Perhaps for someone, under some conditions... But it seems to us that only God heals.