Sparkles of Light (Mk 2:23-28)

17 January 2012, Tuesday, 2^nd Week of the Year

TAKE TIME TO REST, TAKE TIME TO PRAY

As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?" He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?" Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."

                                                                                                                                                                Mk 2:23-28

Sabbath for the Jews is a very sacred day.  It is a day of rest.  Therefore on that day, no work was permissible, not even medical care could be given.  A wound or fracture, for instance, could not be attended to.  It was even a big debate among the Jewish religious leaders whether on that day a knot could be tied or untied.  An egg laid by a hen on that day, for example, could not be eaten, because the hen in her effort to lay the egg, violated the law of that day.  Not even self-defence was permissible on that day.  Violation of the law of that day was liable to punishment with death.  This was the law and this was instructed by God to the people of Israel to rest from “work” on the seventh day of every week.  No wonder that in our Gospel, the Pharisees reacted, and perhaps were so angry at Jesus and his disciples for picking grains.

                Did the disciples really break Sabbath?  The answer is no.  The disciples of Jesus didn’t break the Sabbath rule.  The people were not allowed to “work” on the Sabbath Day.   This means that the people of Israel were forbidden from labor that brought them a profit on that day.  The disciples were not working; they were simply meeting a pressing need. They were hungry and they were simply doing what the Law gave them permission to do.  The Pharisees acted this way simply because they were judging according to the teachings of the rabbis and the elders.  The disciples had not violated God’s Law; they had violated the traditions of men and the Pharisees are upset about it.  As Jesus reminded us, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  That why the Son of man is lord even of the Sabbath.” 

                When I was a young seminarian, our seminary life was tight.  Everyday we follow a certain schedule.  There is time for everything – a time to pray, a time to eat, a time study, a time to work and a time to play.  This tight schedule helped us to discipline ourselves to live a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience.  However, there is one unwritten rule, an unofficial exception.  And this unwritten rule is: we can ask to take a rest, an afternoon or even a day-off, if we feel we needed it.  This unwritten rule is not made for us to escape our responsibilities in the seminary, but hopefully through this rest we may be able to perform much better with our different tasks and responsibilities.  Take time to rest, take time to pray.  Jesus invites us to do what is necessary for us to have some time to rest, reflect and recharge ourselves.  Thus, for us Catholics, Sunday is our Sabbath.  It is our day of rest.  But most of all, it is our day we celebrate the Eucharist, that God came through Jesus Christ to free us from sin and death.        

                Work is important for many of us.  We need to work in order to provide for our needs and the needs of our family, and even the needs of others.  But many times we tend to intoxicate ourselves with work.  So we give time to ourselves to rest and reflect.  In our reflection, hopefully earthly things will assume their true size.  In our prayerful reflection we will be able to see that in the wilderness of perplexity and affliction of this life, it is God who is guiding us to new life, and that will give us strength.  We give significance to the Lord’s day so that we may be recharge to respond to the needs of people in the world which we express in the prayers of the faithful at Mass. 

                St. Anthony, pray for us.