We know sacrifices were offered - in the case of burnt offerings, put on the fire- in the Beit HaMikdash on Shabbat and Yom Tov, in fact extra ("Mussaf") offerings were made on such days. In addition to the melacha of bishul performed by the Kohanim setting the offerings on the fire, they presumably also ritually slaughtered the animals on Shabbat itself. Clearly this was permitted. What halachic mechanism allowed them to perform this melacha on Shabbat, when our very notion of melacha comes from an equally sacred task, the building of the Mishkan? Please note that at issue here is a source providing halachic justification for offering korbanot on Shabbat, not the underlying reasoning or philosophical underpinning of such justification (though the latter is certainly welcome).
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1Related: judaism.stackexchange.com/q/29775/15256– Kazi bácsiCommented Nov 2, 2018 at 6:15
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2A short philosophical answer: Judaism values sanctity of time over sanctity of space. (This is why thinking I will freeze this sacrifice and eat it next year is worse than thinking I will eat it tonight in Honolulu.) Creating a Mishkan is sanctity of place; Shabbat is sanctity of time, which overrides it; but the ongoing routine of daily korbanot is also sanctity of time.– ShalomCommented Nov 2, 2018 at 9:24
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This is derived in Pesachim 77a from the use of the word במועדיכם - in your appointed times (Bamidbar 29:39). This is taken to imply that sacrifices tied to a particular time (e.g. temidim umusafim) are always offered at that time, even when it falls on shabbat.
