HOMILY FOR 2ND TUESDAY OF THE ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A
HOMILY THEME: SABBATH FOR MAN
BY: Fr Paul Karabari
Hebrews 6:10-20, Psalm 110:1-2,4-5,9,10, Mark 2:23-28
‘So the Son of man is lord even of the Sabbath’.
In the Old Testament, there were more religious laws than anybody could possibly keep: over six hundred. One of the chief areas of conflict between Jesus and his opponents was in keeping the Sabbath. In the Gospel of today, Jesus is criticized by religious leaders for allowing his followers to pluck and eat grain on the Sabbath. The Pharisees regarded this as work, which was forbidden on the Sabbath. Jesus dismisses both their interpretation and their motivation. He argues that plucking just enough grain to satisfy immediate hunger does not break the Sabbath because both King David and the temple priests did so without incurring God’s rebuke (Mark 2:23-28).
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Moreover, true adherence to the Law of Moses should be motivated by compassion and mercy (Matt. 12:6). God’s love of mercy (allowing hungry people to pick grain to eat) is higher than God’s desire for sacrifice (following Sabbath regulations), as had already been revealed in Micah 6:6-8. The gift of a day of rest each week is a promise from God that we do not have to work incessantly just to make ends meet. It is not a judgment against relieving someone’s hunger or need on the Sabbath.
The lack of compassion shown by the Pharisees reminds me of the words of Pope Francis:- ‘If our heart is closed, if our heart is made of stone, then the stones will end up in our hands and, then, we will be ready to throw them at someone’.
The consecrated bread consisted of 12 loaves placed on the golden table outside the most holy place in the tent of meeting. It was a special offering to God, and was set out fresh every Sabbath. It was to be eaten only by the high priest and his sons (Leviticus 24:5-9).
Nevertheless, in the absence of any other food, David and his men ate it (1 Samuel 21:1-6). Jesus cited this incident as an example of how rules, even God-given ones, are not intended to take precedence over human need. In this way, Jesus tells us something important about divine rules: God made them, and he made them to serve humans, not to rule humans.
In Jesus, God shows us that the core of authentic human life is love. The person who loves, Paul wrote, fulfills the law. We could say that the only reason the law of God exists is to point us toward the life of love. To love is to enter into the divine fellowship of the Holy Spirit, to dwell in the eternal love of the Father for the Son and of the Son for the Father.
People are more important than systems and programs. People are more important than rituals and religion. John wrote that if a person loves God, then that person will love his brother (1 John 4:20). William Barclay wrote: “The best way to worship God is to help men.” And It might be easy to think that loving God and loving one’s neighbour are two different things. They are not. Our love for God is expressed precisely in how we treat others. If we are mean, hateful, cruel, and inconsiderate of others, that is a demonstration of how devoted (or not devoted) we are to God.
God loves all people, even the ones we have no use for, the ones we treat as though they don’t matter. When we behave poorly toward the people God loves, then we are behaving the same way toward God. God is interested in people, not in rituals for rituals’ sake.
Lastly, Jesus here doesn’t just desire that those who go hungry should have something to eat, thereby inviting us to the mission of eradicating hungry in the world. He also defends His disciples against attack from the religious authorities. Those who serve that Lord and have taken refuge in His love have the assurance of God’s defence against the assault of forces and powers outside them. GOD IS STILL ON THE THRONE. May God have mercy on us, heal our world, bless and protect us all through Christ Our Lord Amen.
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