1 Sam 16:1-13 / Mark 2:23-28
Very often things are not really what they seem. There is usually something more than what is just the obvious.
Detective stories like Sherlock Holmes often have this point when one minor detail yields up more evidence, or what is often overlooked becomes the critical factor.
It does not just happen in detective stories. Even prophets and seers may not immediately understand the ways of God.
In the 1st reading, the prophet Samuel had expected the first few sons of Jesse to be the one that God had chosen, because of the appearance or other qualities.
But in the end, the one that God had chosen was totally out of expectation.
Yes, man looks at appearances but the Lord looks at the heart.
Similarly, in the gospel, the Pharisees looked at the law of the Sabbath and picked on what is forbidden.
Yet Jesus looked at the law of charity in the Sabbath, and it was this law that gave and even saved lives, as it was in the case of David that Jesus recalled.
Whether it is the law of the Sabbath or the law of charity, it is certainly much more than what we see or understand.
May Jesus our Master lead us to a deeper vision and understanding of the law of love.