Hebrews 7:1-3, 15-17
Psalm 110:1-4
Mark 3:1-6
There is such a contrast today between Jesus, whose life “cannot be destroyed”, who would rather “save life than destroy it”, and the Pharisees who are taking counsel with the Herodians to put him to death. The Herodians were the servants of King Herod, a man whose life consisted of parties and submitting to the Roman conquerors. He and the Herodians are the natural enemies of the Pharisees who are trying to be faithful to the Jewish Law. The only characteristic that these two opposing groups have in common is extraordinary selfishness.
It is so strange to read that their first tactic was to “watch Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath”, like a store security guard watch potential shoplifters, as if Jesus might try to sneak in a healing without being noticed. These Pharisees have hardened their hearts. They refuse to be open to the teaching of Jesus. When he asks them a difficult question, they do not even try and answer.
If we want to understand their position, we could look to the answer given by another at a similar time: “there are six days for healing, come then.” Why did Jesus heal on the Sabbath when he could have simply healed on the next day? Jesus is teaching us not only that healing is permitted on the Sabbath, but that healing is the very thing to do on the Sabbath. The Sabbath should be spent doing good rather than evil, saving life rather than destroying it.
We who are followers of Jesus Christ ought to take this teaching to heart. Our Sabbath must not consist of resting and relaxing ourselves. Sunday is not a day for more selfish indulgence. We should follow Jesus and do good on Sunday, not evil. Sunday ought to be a day where we live life to its fullest, live life as we would if we needed nothing. In a perfect Christian culture, we would spend six days working when we needed and resting when we could, but on the first day of the week we would make provision for the poor and the sick and the lonely, we would go to Mass and pray, we would celebrate with family in a simple way, we would, in short, be completely unselfish. We do not live in this perfect culture, but what is preventing us from beginning?
Daily Homilies
Showing posts with label Rest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rest. Show all posts
January 22, 2013 - Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Hebrews 6:10-20
Psalm 111:1-2, 4-5, 9-10
Mark 2:23-28
Jesus tells us that the “Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” We are all sons and daughters of humans. In this case the example of David and the Apostles means that religious laws are important, but some can be broken for good reasons. If God had not told us “Thou shall not kill”, murder would still be wrong, but if he had not told us to rest on the Sabbath or which bread was special, there would be no reason not to work on the Sabbath or eat the bread. So, since these laws are not intrinsically necessary, it seems that each person, using their conscience needs to decide when to follow them and when to break them.
There is a problem with this interpretation. There is no reason to suggest that the disciples of Jesus were particularly hungry. Were they just so rural that they had no idea that picking heads of grain on the Sabbath would be frowned upon? This seems unlikely. Did Jesus tell them that it was okay? Did he command them to do it? He is the Son of Man. Has he come to change a law? But he says that he will not change any laws.
The real difference is Jesus. His presence changes how to understand the Law. David and his companions did not follow the letter of the Law because they were starving. The disciples do not follow the Law because the point of the Law was fulfilled in their midst. As Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” God did not create us so that someone would be resting once a week. God created the once-a-week rest for us.
Work is a punishment that came after Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden. The Sabbath is a little Eden at the end of the week, but Jesus is our Eden. The Pharisees could only remember paradise because the punishment of work was taken away for one day. We can experience paradise in Our Lord. Jesus was not just a teacher with some good ideas. He is God. We are not supposed to hear his teaching as more work for us to do. We are supposed to take up our Cross and follow him, and come rest in his arms. The taking up the Cross and the resting are one and the same.
Psalm 111:1-2, 4-5, 9-10
Mark 2:23-28
Jesus tells us that the “Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” We are all sons and daughters of humans. In this case the example of David and the Apostles means that religious laws are important, but some can be broken for good reasons. If God had not told us “Thou shall not kill”, murder would still be wrong, but if he had not told us to rest on the Sabbath or which bread was special, there would be no reason not to work on the Sabbath or eat the bread. So, since these laws are not intrinsically necessary, it seems that each person, using their conscience needs to decide when to follow them and when to break them.
There is a problem with this interpretation. There is no reason to suggest that the disciples of Jesus were particularly hungry. Were they just so rural that they had no idea that picking heads of grain on the Sabbath would be frowned upon? This seems unlikely. Did Jesus tell them that it was okay? Did he command them to do it? He is the Son of Man. Has he come to change a law? But he says that he will not change any laws.
The real difference is Jesus. His presence changes how to understand the Law. David and his companions did not follow the letter of the Law because they were starving. The disciples do not follow the Law because the point of the Law was fulfilled in their midst. As Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” God did not create us so that someone would be resting once a week. God created the once-a-week rest for us.
Work is a punishment that came after Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden. The Sabbath is a little Eden at the end of the week, but Jesus is our Eden. The Pharisees could only remember paradise because the punishment of work was taken away for one day. We can experience paradise in Our Lord. Jesus was not just a teacher with some good ideas. He is God. We are not supposed to hear his teaching as more work for us to do. We are supposed to take up our Cross and follow him, and come rest in his arms. The taking up the Cross and the resting are one and the same.
August 19, 2012 - Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Proverbs 9:1-6
Psalm 34:2-7
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58
All throughout the Old Testament, the theme of redemption through eating is present. We repeated in our psalm today, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Did the psalmist even what they meant when they wrote that? But eating leads to seeing the goodness of the Lord. In the first reading today, Wisdom has prepared a meal for us to eat: “Come, eat some of my bread. Drink some of the wine which I have mixed!” And these things were written almost a thousand years before Jesus Christ came and fulfilled them.
Have you ever noticed that the original sin was eating, and that the greatest sacrament is eating? It was by eating that we were kicked out of the garden. It is by eating that we are restored to heaven. The first words which it is recorded that God spoke to man were “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.” Now Jesus says, “"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” This new meal will restore what that other meal took away.
After Adam and Eve ate the fruit they got kicked out of Eden. Why? God tells us why. There was another tree there, the tree of life. God said, “‘Now, lest he put forth his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...’ Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden.” So God sent us out of Eden in order to save us from the curse of living forever. It would be a curse to live forever in this current state of sinfulness. We are so cruel to each other. Torture, war, and all the other evils we inflict on each other be so much worse without death to put an end to it.
Now, however, Jesus says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” This eternal life is not simply living forever; it is a participation in the life of God. It restores us to the blessed life before sin and even beyond that, for if 99 sheep stay in fold and 1 runs away and the shepherd goes and carries that 1 back on his shoulders, that 1 will be more in love with the shepherd than the 99 who never strayed.
The sin of Eden was so bad. We had everything we needed provided for us by the same one who gave us life itself, but we insisted on reaching out and taking more. Enough was not enough. We had everything we could ever want, but we insisted on wanting what we did not have. How ungrateful! So Jesus Christ, in order to restore us to grace, gave us the greatest gift that we could possibly have. What more could we want, now that we have God himself? But people doubt the gift. They say that the bread is nothing but bread and the wine is nothing but wine. We say that the bread is the Body of Christ and the wine is the Blood of Christ. We believe in the simplicity of taking Jesus at his word: “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” Trying to take that metaphorically requires a too complicated, convoluted way of thinking.
It is difficult to understand how what looks like bread is actually the Body of Christ. We have to choose to be humble and say that there are more things in this world than we know. I cannot say how it is that a piece of bread, while retaining the physical aspects of bread, is no longer bread but the Body of Christ, but Jesus Christ, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, blessed it and said, “Take this all of you and eat it. This is my Body”, and who am I to doubt Jesus Christ?
I also want to also speak a little about the second reading today. The translation we have here is very unfortunate: trying to make things clearer, they made it more difficult to understand. What St. Paul actually says here is “watch carefully that you walk not as the foolish but as the wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” This line speaks to us today. Evil means empty, lacking in some good that should be there. When Jesus Christ redeemed us, we were lacking in something and he gave it to us. We were lacking life, and he gave us the life that he has with the Father and the Holy Spirit. So the days are evil, and St. Paul tells us that it is our responsibility to redeem them. These days are lacking something, and it is our responsibility to fill them.
It is possible in our culture to get obsessed with our rights and our freedom. People say, “I am free to do whatever I want. I have the right to do whatever I want.” But what about responsibility? Who cares what I have a right to do; what do I have a responsibility to do? What should I do with my time? We do not have a right to kill time. We have a responsibility to redeem it.
Please understand that this does not mean that we cannot rest. Real rest, a good night’s sleep, reading a good book, watching well written television is a necessary part of life. Real rest is one of the things lacking in our world. Real rest redeems the time. But, I tell you, Angry Birds?! I do not think that the time has ever been redeemed by Angry Birds. Facebook can redeem the time if it is building human relationships, but Farmville? If you do not know what any of these things are, congratulations. They are pointless games that waste hours upon hours, but we all have our own Angry Birds: certain books of no redeeming value, soap operas, game shows, endless hours of sports. It would be good to stop ourselves constantly and ask, “How is the thing I am doing right now redeeming the time?” If the answer is that it isn’t, stop doing it. It is not enough that we have a right to do whatever we want each day. Life only has a meaning if we redeem the time.
Psalm 34:2-7
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58
All throughout the Old Testament, the theme of redemption through eating is present. We repeated in our psalm today, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Did the psalmist even what they meant when they wrote that? But eating leads to seeing the goodness of the Lord. In the first reading today, Wisdom has prepared a meal for us to eat: “Come, eat some of my bread. Drink some of the wine which I have mixed!” And these things were written almost a thousand years before Jesus Christ came and fulfilled them.
Have you ever noticed that the original sin was eating, and that the greatest sacrament is eating? It was by eating that we were kicked out of the garden. It is by eating that we are restored to heaven. The first words which it is recorded that God spoke to man were “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.” Now Jesus says, “"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” This new meal will restore what that other meal took away.
After Adam and Eve ate the fruit they got kicked out of Eden. Why? God tells us why. There was another tree there, the tree of life. God said, “‘Now, lest he put forth his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...’ Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden.” So God sent us out of Eden in order to save us from the curse of living forever. It would be a curse to live forever in this current state of sinfulness. We are so cruel to each other. Torture, war, and all the other evils we inflict on each other be so much worse without death to put an end to it.
Now, however, Jesus says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” This eternal life is not simply living forever; it is a participation in the life of God. It restores us to the blessed life before sin and even beyond that, for if 99 sheep stay in fold and 1 runs away and the shepherd goes and carries that 1 back on his shoulders, that 1 will be more in love with the shepherd than the 99 who never strayed.
The sin of Eden was so bad. We had everything we needed provided for us by the same one who gave us life itself, but we insisted on reaching out and taking more. Enough was not enough. We had everything we could ever want, but we insisted on wanting what we did not have. How ungrateful! So Jesus Christ, in order to restore us to grace, gave us the greatest gift that we could possibly have. What more could we want, now that we have God himself? But people doubt the gift. They say that the bread is nothing but bread and the wine is nothing but wine. We say that the bread is the Body of Christ and the wine is the Blood of Christ. We believe in the simplicity of taking Jesus at his word: “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” Trying to take that metaphorically requires a too complicated, convoluted way of thinking.
It is difficult to understand how what looks like bread is actually the Body of Christ. We have to choose to be humble and say that there are more things in this world than we know. I cannot say how it is that a piece of bread, while retaining the physical aspects of bread, is no longer bread but the Body of Christ, but Jesus Christ, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, blessed it and said, “Take this all of you and eat it. This is my Body”, and who am I to doubt Jesus Christ?
I also want to also speak a little about the second reading today. The translation we have here is very unfortunate: trying to make things clearer, they made it more difficult to understand. What St. Paul actually says here is “watch carefully that you walk not as the foolish but as the wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” This line speaks to us today. Evil means empty, lacking in some good that should be there. When Jesus Christ redeemed us, we were lacking in something and he gave it to us. We were lacking life, and he gave us the life that he has with the Father and the Holy Spirit. So the days are evil, and St. Paul tells us that it is our responsibility to redeem them. These days are lacking something, and it is our responsibility to fill them.
It is possible in our culture to get obsessed with our rights and our freedom. People say, “I am free to do whatever I want. I have the right to do whatever I want.” But what about responsibility? Who cares what I have a right to do; what do I have a responsibility to do? What should I do with my time? We do not have a right to kill time. We have a responsibility to redeem it.
Please understand that this does not mean that we cannot rest. Real rest, a good night’s sleep, reading a good book, watching well written television is a necessary part of life. Real rest is one of the things lacking in our world. Real rest redeems the time. But, I tell you, Angry Birds?! I do not think that the time has ever been redeemed by Angry Birds. Facebook can redeem the time if it is building human relationships, but Farmville? If you do not know what any of these things are, congratulations. They are pointless games that waste hours upon hours, but we all have our own Angry Birds: certain books of no redeeming value, soap operas, game shows, endless hours of sports. It would be good to stop ourselves constantly and ask, “How is the thing I am doing right now redeeming the time?” If the answer is that it isn’t, stop doing it. It is not enough that we have a right to do whatever we want each day. Life only has a meaning if we redeem the time.
Triduum Message
This was a message for the parish bulletin:
What a delightful opportunity it is to go on a retreat! We fight the battle every day: at work, at home, with ourselves; how essential it is to retreat periodically. No one can keep fighting continuously. We retreat to the loving embrace of our God and Father, and he gives us energy and will to fight again. A retreat is different from a vacation because the object is not merely a break from the usual course of things but to return to the one who loves us, whose love is the reason we continue to fight the good fight.
A retreat can involve going away to a quiet place, a place apart from the causes of stress, but even without the ability or need to change our location, a retreat is about changing our mindset. If a person climbs to the top of mountain, they may find God there, but he was just as present at the bottom of the mountain. A retreat means simply deciding to live life differently for a little while; how differently depends on the situation of each person. A retreat is about living, for just a little time, in a way that has the power to transform the rest of the time.
Holy Week is the most important week of the Church year. Holy Week begins with Palm or Passion Sunday, where we remember the triumphant entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem and his passion and death, and ends with the Easter Triduum, the three days of remembrance. These three days are the yearly retreat of every Christian.
The Easter Triduum, though three days long, is one act of remembering the central mystery of salvation history. On Holy Thursday evening, we recall how Jesus, on the night before he died, ate supper with his disciples, how he washed their feet, how he gave us his Body to eat and Blood to drink in the form of bread and wine, and how he prayed all night. On Good Friday, we remember how Jesus was betrayed and arrested, and we make the journey recorded in the Stations of the Cross with Jesus, our beloved Savior, and stand at the foot of the Cross with Mary. On Holy Saturday, we begin, seemingly without hope, with Jesus in the tomb, but after the sun has set, we light the Easter fire and celebrate the Easter Vigil: the Resurrection of Jesus that is the proof of our future resurrection. It is most fitting that this night, the greatest of all nights, is the occasion to welcome new Christians into our community and reunite with Christians who desire to join visibly with the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Then on Easter Sunday morning, we rise up in joy because our Savior has risen from the dead.
These three days, this Triduum, become an opportunity to be immersed in the Mysteries we proclaim. Though we go home between the parts of the one liturgy, though some may have to return to their work each day and all deal with everyday concerns and the preparations for Easter, we are anchored in this act of remembrance that we keep returning to. By participating in the Triduum, we are conforming ourselves to the actions of our Savior: we die with Christ and rise with him.
By means of the Triduum, we step out of the present moment with all its worries and anxieties, and return to a moment of history, 2000 years ago, that is the central moment of history. Then, by means of remembering, we bring the truth of that moment into our present lives, where it transforms the events we are experiencing in the present moment.
You are invited to the communal celebration of the Triduum here and whether you are able to join us for some or all of the Triduum services, I encourage everyone to participate in the Triduum as much as they are able. Let these three days, that will soon be here, be in your homes and workplaces a time for silence and prayer and remembering and then the shout and celebration of Easter joy.
What a delightful opportunity it is to go on a retreat! We fight the battle every day: at work, at home, with ourselves; how essential it is to retreat periodically. No one can keep fighting continuously. We retreat to the loving embrace of our God and Father, and he gives us energy and will to fight again. A retreat is different from a vacation because the object is not merely a break from the usual course of things but to return to the one who loves us, whose love is the reason we continue to fight the good fight.
A retreat can involve going away to a quiet place, a place apart from the causes of stress, but even without the ability or need to change our location, a retreat is about changing our mindset. If a person climbs to the top of mountain, they may find God there, but he was just as present at the bottom of the mountain. A retreat means simply deciding to live life differently for a little while; how differently depends on the situation of each person. A retreat is about living, for just a little time, in a way that has the power to transform the rest of the time.
Holy Week is the most important week of the Church year. Holy Week begins with Palm or Passion Sunday, where we remember the triumphant entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem and his passion and death, and ends with the Easter Triduum, the three days of remembrance. These three days are the yearly retreat of every Christian.
The Easter Triduum, though three days long, is one act of remembering the central mystery of salvation history. On Holy Thursday evening, we recall how Jesus, on the night before he died, ate supper with his disciples, how he washed their feet, how he gave us his Body to eat and Blood to drink in the form of bread and wine, and how he prayed all night. On Good Friday, we remember how Jesus was betrayed and arrested, and we make the journey recorded in the Stations of the Cross with Jesus, our beloved Savior, and stand at the foot of the Cross with Mary. On Holy Saturday, we begin, seemingly without hope, with Jesus in the tomb, but after the sun has set, we light the Easter fire and celebrate the Easter Vigil: the Resurrection of Jesus that is the proof of our future resurrection. It is most fitting that this night, the greatest of all nights, is the occasion to welcome new Christians into our community and reunite with Christians who desire to join visibly with the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Then on Easter Sunday morning, we rise up in joy because our Savior has risen from the dead.
These three days, this Triduum, become an opportunity to be immersed in the Mysteries we proclaim. Though we go home between the parts of the one liturgy, though some may have to return to their work each day and all deal with everyday concerns and the preparations for Easter, we are anchored in this act of remembrance that we keep returning to. By participating in the Triduum, we are conforming ourselves to the actions of our Savior: we die with Christ and rise with him.
By means of the Triduum, we step out of the present moment with all its worries and anxieties, and return to a moment of history, 2000 years ago, that is the central moment of history. Then, by means of remembering, we bring the truth of that moment into our present lives, where it transforms the events we are experiencing in the present moment.
You are invited to the communal celebration of the Triduum here and whether you are able to join us for some or all of the Triduum services, I encourage everyone to participate in the Triduum as much as they are able. Let these three days, that will soon be here, be in your homes and workplaces a time for silence and prayer and remembering and then the shout and celebration of Easter joy.
November 26, 2011 - Saturday of the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
Jesus does not want us to burden ourselves with the anxieties and stresses caused by useless tasks. Consider how much stress has been experienced over trifles: that a game is won, that many people come to a party, that a television program not be missed. Consider the tears that have been shed since the creation of the earth over party dresses and other amusements.
Recreation is supposed to refresh us, but we modern people are worn out by our recreations. Video games are hard work. Television keeps us up at night. Sports involve crowds and expense. We would be happy to avoid all the trouble, but we have come to believe that the trouble makes us happy.
Whenever the thought occurs that we ought to be less of this world, less devoted to its distractions, the tempter asks, “What is the harm in a little television? Why not spend a night partying and drinking?” Jesus tells us why not. Our lives were not meant to be wasted. Time does not exist to be killed. We are servants of the Most High, and we ought to have a purpose to our lives so definite that we know what we want to do with every minute.
Our purpose is two-fold: to love and to be strengthened. We are strengthened, as Jesus says, by praying constantly. Every moment is an opportunity either to pray or to love. If we consider the world in this way, there is no time for drunkenness or entertainment. We know this, but we are afraid; we are afraid of wasting our lives. We are afraid that the whole world will be having fun, and we will miss out.
Jesus does not make a new commandment here against fun. Instead, he tells us to guard ourselves lest our hearts be burdened. Happiness does not come from indulging boredom. We know how our hearts are lightened by love and prayer. It is a wonder that the tempter is able to convince us that we want anything else.
Yet he does convince us. We fall over and over again, choosing the pretty fruit and forgetting that paradise is all around us. It is not that these things Jesus mentions and I mention are sins exactly. Rather, they are lost opportunities. It would be a sin to miss too many opportunities. We are afraid of missing out on fun, but then we miss out on life. Do not be afraid to do great things for God!
Jesus does not want us to burden ourselves with the anxieties and stresses caused by useless tasks. Consider how much stress has been experienced over trifles: that a game is won, that many people come to a party, that a television program not be missed. Consider the tears that have been shed since the creation of the earth over party dresses and other amusements.
Recreation is supposed to refresh us, but we modern people are worn out by our recreations. Video games are hard work. Television keeps us up at night. Sports involve crowds and expense. We would be happy to avoid all the trouble, but we have come to believe that the trouble makes us happy.
Whenever the thought occurs that we ought to be less of this world, less devoted to its distractions, the tempter asks, “What is the harm in a little television? Why not spend a night partying and drinking?” Jesus tells us why not. Our lives were not meant to be wasted. Time does not exist to be killed. We are servants of the Most High, and we ought to have a purpose to our lives so definite that we know what we want to do with every minute.
Our purpose is two-fold: to love and to be strengthened. We are strengthened, as Jesus says, by praying constantly. Every moment is an opportunity either to pray or to love. If we consider the world in this way, there is no time for drunkenness or entertainment. We know this, but we are afraid; we are afraid of wasting our lives. We are afraid that the whole world will be having fun, and we will miss out.
Jesus does not make a new commandment here against fun. Instead, he tells us to guard ourselves lest our hearts be burdened. Happiness does not come from indulging boredom. We know how our hearts are lightened by love and prayer. It is a wonder that the tempter is able to convince us that we want anything else.
Yet he does convince us. We fall over and over again, choosing the pretty fruit and forgetting that paradise is all around us. It is not that these things Jesus mentions and I mention are sins exactly. Rather, they are lost opportunities. It would be a sin to miss too many opportunities. We are afraid of missing out on fun, but then we miss out on life. Do not be afraid to do great things for God!
July 15, 2011 - Memorial of St. Bonaventure, bishop and Doctor of the Church
Compared to what most of our society does on Sunday, walking through a field on the Sabbath, occasionally picking some heads of grains and chewing on them is a pretty restful activity. So we are inclined to think that the disciples are just being reasonable and the Pharisees are being, well, pharisaical, but Jesus’ answer is more complex than that. He does not merely say, “Seriously! Loosen up guys.” He puts forward an argument that is not easy for us modern Americans to follow.
First he reminds the Pharisees of how David made an exception to the Law in time of need. David and his men were starving, so they ate some bread that they were not supposed to eat. The Gospel says that the disciples were hungry, but it does not tell us how hungry. If they were fainting with hunger that would fit with what Jesus says later: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” The Pharisees’ first fault was preferring their own interpretation of God’s law to the lives of human beings. There certainly is nothing in the law specifically about picking a handful of grain to eat. The law only says: rest on the Sabbath; do no work.
Yet there is more here. Mixed in with this argument are some very impressive statements. Jesus claims to be “greater than the temple” and “Lord of the Sabbath”. Who is greater than the temple? Only God. Who is Lord of the Sabbath? Only God. The priests serving in the temple work on the Sabbath because the work they are doing, worshipping God is more important than the Sabbath. So Jesus is saying that the work the disciples are doing, walking with him, is more important than the Sabbath. Jesus is claiming to be God.
We no longer celebrate the Sabbath. Saturday is just another day for us Christians, and Sunday is our day of rest when no one rests. We could do better at resting on Sunday; it is not really a good day for going to the zoo or going to a ballgame, if only for the sake of those who have to work at the zoo and the stadium. In a Christian culture, stores would be closed on Sunday. But what we do not do on Sunday is not as important to the Christian life as what do do: go to Mass; spend time with Jesus. He is our Sabbath; he is our rest.
January 19, 2011 - Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
There is such a contrast today between Jesus, whose life “cannot be destroyed”, who would rather “save life than destroy it”, and the Pharisees who are taking counsel with the Herodians to put him to death. The Herodians were the servants of King Herod, a man whose life consisted of parties and submitting to the Roman conquerors. He and the Herodians are the natural enemies of the Pharisees who are trying to be faithful to the Jewish Law. The only characteristic that these two opposing groups have in common is extraordinary selfishness.
It is so strange to read that their first tactic was to “watch Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath”, like a store security guard watch potential shoplifters, as if Jesus might try to sneak in a healing without being noticed. These Pharisees have hardened their hearts. They refuse to be open to the teaching of Jesus. When he asks them a difficult question, they do not even try and answer.
If we want to understand their position, we could look to the answer given by another at a similar time: “there are six days for healing, come then.” Why did Jesus heal on the Sabbath when he could have simply healed on the next day? Jesus is teaching us not only that healing is permitted on the Sabbath, but that healing is the very thing to do on the Sabbath. The Sabbath should be spent doing good rather than evil, saving life rather than destroying it.
We who are followers of Jesus Christ ought to take this teaching to heart. Our Sabbath must not consist of resting and relaxing ourselves. Sunday is not a day for more selfish indulgence. We should follow Jesus and do good on Sunday, not evil. Sunday ought to be a day where we live life to its fullest, live life as we would if we needed nothing. In a perfect Christian culture, we would spend six days working when we needed and resting when we could, but on the first day of the week we would make provision for the poor and the sick and the lonely, we would go to Mass and pray, we would celebrate with family in a simple way, we would, in short, be completely unselfish. We do not live in this perfect culture, but what is preventing us from beginning?
January 18, 2011 - Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus tells us that the “Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” We are all sons and daughters of humans. In this case the example of David and the Apostles means that religious laws are important, but some can be broken for good reasons. If God had not told us “Thou shall not kill”, murder would still be wrong, but if he had not told us to rest on the Sabbath or which bread was special, there would be no reason not to work on the Sabbath or eat the bread. So, since these laws are not intrinsically necessary, it seems that each person, using their conscience needs to decide when to follow them and when to break them.
There is a problem with this interpretation. There is no reason to suggest that the disciples of Jesus were particularly hungry. Were they just so rural that they had no idea that picking heads of grain on the Sabbath would be frowned upon? This seems unlikely. Did Jesus tell them that it was okay? Did he command them to do it? He is the Son of Man. Has he come to change a law? But he says that he will not change any laws.
The real difference is Jesus. His presence changes how to understand the Law. David and his companions did not follow the letter of the Law because they were starving. The disciples do not follow the Law because the point of the Law was fulfilled in their midst. As Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” God did not create us so that someone would be resting once a week. God created the once-a-week rest for us.
Work is a punishment that came after Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden. The Sabbath is a little Eden at the end of the week, but Jesus is our Eden. The Pharisees could only remember paradise because the punishment of work was taken away for one day. We can experience paradise in Our Lord. Jesus was not just a teacher with some good ideas. He is God. We are not supposed to hear his teaching as more work for us to do. We are supposed to take up our Cross and follow him, and come rest in his arms. These are not two sides to Christianity that must be balanced. They are one and the same.
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