20220119 IS THE SABBATH FOR MAN OR FOR GOD?
19 January, 2022, Wednesday, Week 2 in Ordinary Time
First reading |
1 Samuel 17:32-33,37,40-51 © |
David and Goliath
David said to Saul, ‘Let no-one lose heart on his account; your servant will go and fight the Philistine.’ But Saul answered David, ‘You cannot go and fight the Philistine; you are only a boy and he has been a warrior from his youth.’
‘The Lord who rescued me from the claws of lion and bear’ David said ‘will rescue me from the power of this Philistine.’ Then Saul said to David, ‘Go, and the Lord be with you!’
He took his staff in his hand, picked five smooth stones from the river bed, put them in his shepherd’s bag, in his pouch, and with his sling in his hand he went to meet the Philistine. The Philistine, his shield-bearer in front of him, came nearer and nearer to David; and the Philistine looked at David, and what he saw filled him with scorn, because David was only a youth, a boy of fresh complexion and pleasant bearing. The Philistine said to him, ‘Am I a dog for you to come against me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, ‘Come over here and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.’ But David answered the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have dared to insult. Today the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I shall kill you; I will cut off your head, and this very day I will give your dead body and the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord gives the victory, for the Lord is lord of the battle and he will deliver you into our power.’
No sooner had the Philistine started forward to confront David than David left the line of battle and ran to meet the Philistine. Putting his hand in his bag, he took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead; the stone penetrated his forehead and he fell on his face to the ground. Thus David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone and struck the Philistine down and killed him. David had no sword in his hand. Then David ran and, standing over the Philistine, seized his sword and drew it from the scabbard, and with this he killed him, cutting off his head. The Philistines saw that their champion was dead, and took to flight.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 143(144):1-2,9-10 © |
Blessed be the Lord, my rock.
Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
who trains my arms for battle,
who prepares my hands for war.
Blessed be the Lord, my rock.
He is my love, my fortress;
he is my stronghold, my saviour
my shield, my place of refuge.
He brings peoples under my rule.
Blessed be the Lord, my rock.
To you, O God, will I sing a new song;
I will play on the ten-stringed lute
to you who give kings their victory,
who set David your servant free.
Blessed be the Lord, my rock.
Gospel Acclamation | Heb4:12 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of God is something alive and active:
it can judge secret emotions and thoughts.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.Mt4:23 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and cured all kinds of sickness among the people.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 3:1-6 © |
Is it against the law on the sabbath day to save life?
Jesus went into a synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand. And they were watching him to see if he would cure him on the sabbath day, hoping for something to use against him. He said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Stand up out in the middle!’ Then he said to them, ‘Is it against the law on the sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?’ But they said nothing. Then, grieved to find them so obstinate, he looked angrily round at them, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his hand was better. The Pharisees went out and at once began to plot with the Herodians against him, discussing how to destroy him.
IS THE SABBATH FOR MAN OR FOR GOD?
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 SM 17:32-33,37,40-51; Ps 144:1-2,9-10; Mk 3:1-6]
This is the last of the series of five controversies Jesus had with the religious leaders in Mark’s gospel. In yesterday’s controversy, over His disciples not observing the Sabbath Law, Jesus said, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.” (Mk 2:27f) In today’s gospel, Jesus continued to break the Sabbath by healing the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath. For the strict Jews, that was considered working on a Sabbath. The reply of our Lord was challenging. He said to them, “Is it against the law on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?”
The question about the purpose of the Sabbath is the point of our discussion today. In Jesus’ view, the Sabbath is for man and not man for the Sabbath. In other words, whilst the Sabbath Law is good and should be taken seriously, it must not be taken rigidly. One should observe the Sabbath Law as commanded by God and laid down in the Mosaic Law. We must keep the Sabbath holy. How does one keep the Sabbath holy? According to the religious leaders during the time of our Lord, it means observing to the meticulous details of not doing any kind of work on the Sabbath. But they forgot the reason why work was forbidden on the Sabbath.
Why is work not allowed on the Sabbath? It is in order that we might recognize that God is the author of life and that everything we have is dependent on the grace and mercy of God. Otherwise, we think that everything is the work of our hands and not the work of God and His grace. We set ourselves up against Him. Instead of being stewards of His creation, we think we are the creator. We begin to work ourselves to death, becoming ambitious, lacking time to look after our health and be with our loved ones and with people. We can be so obsessed by our insecurities, working harder to acquire more wealth, power and status. This is manifested in workaholism. Of course, some are obsessed with their health and external beauty, spending so much time and money beautifying themselves and making their body attractive through excessive exercise so that people will admire them.
Today’s passage of the gospel must be seen in the context of Isaiah 58. The Lord laid down through the Prophet what it meant to keep the Sabbath holy. “If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honourable; if you honour it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs, then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isa 58:13f)
However, under the pretext of keeping the Sabbath holy, and since the Sabbath is made for man, isn’t this what we do today? We take the Sabbath as a day of rest by sleeping in late, exercising, going for long walks, lazing around with our loved ones, spending time on our hobby like photography, shopping or eating and fellowship. So much so, we have no time to go to Church, to read the bible, to listen to the Word of God, to pray, or to be with the family, because we want the time for ourselves, for a well-deserved rest after a long week. Can we truly say therefore that we are fulfilling the Sabbath Law since Jesus said, the Sabbath is made for man, not for God? Such an interpretation would be a gross manipulation of Jesus’ saying rooted in self-centeredness and selfishness. The truth is that the Sabbath cannot be for man unless the Sabbath is first for God.
Indeed, to avoid such a self-centred understanding of life, we are called to make time for God before everyone else. In this sense, we must say that whilst the Sabbath is for man, it is also for God because we are called to honour Him, give Him praise, recognize His presence in our lives. What better way to honour God than to worship Him and offer sacrifices whenever possible? So for Catholics, it is attending Mass on Sundays. For the Jews, it is to worship at the Synagogue. Putting God as the centre of our life is what matters primarily in the observance of the Sabbath.
When we put God as the centre of our life, then we need to see the practical implications of what this really means. It is not enough to praise and worship Him in words but also in our lives. In other words, observance of the Sabbath Law is to imitate the God of creation in giving life to others through our life-giving words and actions. This explains why the Lord asked the religious leaders who were keepers of the Sabbath Law, whether it is “against the law on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill.” The answer is obvious. To observe the Sabbath means that we must show ourselves to be life-giving like God. This is why, performing essential services including public services does not break the Sabbath Law. On the contrary, it is for the greater glory of God.
Again, God said through the prophet Isaiah about the practical consequences of honouring Him. “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. (Isa 58:6,7,9,10)
This was what David did in fighting with the Goliath. He was not focused on himself but he sacrificed his life for his people and for the greater glory of God. He did not rely on himself. He relied only on God’s strength. He was incensed at Goliath for insulting his God. David said to Goliath, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have dared to insult. Today the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I shall kill you; I will cut off your head, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord gives the victory, for he is lord of the battle and he will deliver you into our power.”
Ironically, the religious leaders, thinking that they observed the Sabbath Law for God, was observing it more for themselves. They were resentful of Jesus for applying the Sabbath Law in its entirety for the sake of man. They even wanted to kill Jesus. “The Pharisees went out and at once began to plot with the Herodians against him, discussing how to destroy him.” Such thought totally contradicts the Sabbath Law because if one observes it truly, one should become more life-giving like God in promoting life and not death. To plan destruction on the Sabbath goes against the Sabbath Law, which is a celebration of creation and life. And the most hypocritical action of the Pharisees was to work with the Herodians, a political party that supported Herod to be the King of Palestine, since southern Judea and Jerusalem came under direct control of the Romans. The Jews had no love for Herod but it was a political marriage not based on truth but on selfish interests.
Let us therefore, on the Sabbath, give glory and honour to God by giving Him the first hour in worship or even spend a longer time praying the Word of God; and then make time for our loved ones, and where possible, reach out to those who need our help, those who are sick, elderly, abandoned at home. Let us make the Sabbath truly holy for God and for man.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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