Title: Meditation: Tuesday, January 22, 2002
The Catholic Calendar for Tuesday, January 22, 2002
The Second Week in Ordinary Time
Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Psalm 89:20-22,27-28
Mark 2:23-28
A reflection on today's Scripture
The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. (Mark 2:28)
Jesus was walking and plucking grain with his disciples. The image
itself is beautiful -- a peaceful, quiet Saturday afternoon. Perhaps
there is a little breeze, a few high white clouds, and a wide field
of ripe grain. A field of grain just ripe for the picking, and Jesus
and his disciples grab a few grains and strip them for eating.
Suddenly, from out of the woodwork, a swarm of irate priests descend
upon the little group and demand to know why they are working. "Why
are you profaning the Sabbath?" they ask.
Jesus looks at them, and if they weren't so serious, He would
probably laugh. But he sees that they are utterly serious, and I
imagine that He is deeply saddened by this display. Rather than try
to point out how petty they are being, rather than make them smaller
than they already are, Jesus uses the opportunity to teach an
important lesson. The Sabbath was made for man. The Sabbath was made
to give people an opportunity to stop working and to spend time
loving God. But walking through a field gleaning wheat is not
working, it is a celebration of God's bounty, a way of becoming
closer to God in simple recreation.
Jesus simply says "The Sabbath was made for man. Even David showed
sense when it came to obeying the laws and God did not see fit to
criticize him for it. Jesus simply says to observe the laws well --
not to the letter, but to the spirit. If the law causes you to spend
all your time looking for scandal, perhaps you better think twice
about it. The purpose of the law is to bring all people closer to
God. And Jesus goes on to point out that because He is the Son of
Man, the ultimate person to bring people closer to God, He is Lord
even of the Sabbath. He is Lord of the Sabbath because in Him is
fulfilled the purpose of the Sabbath: closeness to God.
- JuandelaCruz, TOC ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
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All scripture quotes are from the Douay-Rheims edition of the Catholic Bible.
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