Isaiah 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8 / Matthew 12:1-8
As we go on day by day, we may feel that life is rather routine and mundane.
We do the ordinary things like waking up, get ready for the day, take our meals and at the end of the day, we rest for the night.
But when this so-called monotony of life is broken by an unexpected mortal illness, then something that seems so abstract will become so real.
And that is, life is fading away and coming to an end, just like the sand in the hour-glass that is trickling away.
In the first reading, king Hezekiah was told to put his earthly affairs in order, for he was going to die.
King Hezekiah was a powerful king but even that could not stop death from coming to take him away.
He pleaded with God in tears, and God heard his prayer and added fifteen years to his life.
And that was because God had a purpose, that through king Hezekiah, the Assyrians will be defeated.
In the gospel, the Pharisees questioned Jesus about His disciples picking and eating corn on the sabbath.
The reply of Jesus can be summed up as this: people eat to live, and hunger is also a sign of the desire for life.
We too desire for life, but let us also hunger for God.
When we hunger for God, then we will give thanks to God for the ability to do the routine and mundane things in life.