20180130
THE LOGIC OF THE HEART
30 JANUARY, 2018, Tuesday, 4th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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2 Samuel 18:9-10,14,24-25,30-19:3 ©
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Absalom happened to run into some of David’s followers. Absalom
was riding a mule and the mule passed under the thick branches of a great oak.
Absalom’s head caught fast in the oak and he was left hanging between heaven
and earth, while the mule he was riding went on. Someone saw this and told
Joab. ‘I have just seen Absalom’ he said ‘hanging from an oak.’ Joab took three
lances in his hand and thrust them into Absalom’s heart while he was still
alive there in the oak tree.
David was
sitting between the two gates. The lookout had gone up to the roof of the gate,
on the ramparts; he looked up and saw a man running all by himself. The watch
called out to the king and told him. The king said, ‘If he is by himself, he
has good news to tell.’ The king told the man, ‘Move aside and stand there.’ He
moved aside and stood waiting.
Then the
Cushite arrived. ‘Good news for my lord the king!’ cried the Cushite. ‘The Lord
has vindicated your cause today by ridding you of all who rebelled against
you.’ ‘Is all well with young Absalom?’ the king asked the Cushite. ‘May the
enemies of my lord the king’ the Cushite answered ‘and all who rebelled against
you to your hurt, share the lot of that young man.’
The king
shuddered. He went up to the room over the gate and burst into tears, and
weeping said, ‘My son Absalom! My son! My son Absalom! Would I had died in your
place! Absalom, my son, my son!’ Word was brought to Joab, ‘The king is now
weeping and mourning for Absalom.’ And the day’s victory was turned to mourning
for all the troops, because they learned that the king was grieving for his
son. And the troops returned stealthily that day to the town, as troops creep
back ashamed when routed in battle.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 85(86):1-6 ©
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Turn your ear, Lord, and give answer.
Turn your ear, O Lord, and give answer
for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am faithful;
save the servant who trusts in you.
Turn your ear, Lord, and give answer.
You are my God, have mercy on me, Lord,
for I cry to you all the day long.
Give joy to your servant, O Lord,
for to you I lift up my soul.
Turn your ear, Lord, and give answer.
O Lord, you are good and forgiving,
full of love to all who call.
Give heed, O Lord, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my voice.
Turn your ear, Lord, and give answer.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Jn14:6
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Mt8:17
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Alleluia, alleluia!
He took our sicknesses away,
and carried our diseases for us.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 5:21-43 ©
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Little girl, I tell you to get up
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When Jesus had crossed in the boat to the other side, a large
crowd gathered round him and he stayed by the lakeside. Then one of the
synagogue officials came up, Jairus by name, and seeing him, fell at his feet
and pleaded with him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is desperately
sick. Do come and lay your hands on her to make her better and save her life.’
Jesus went with him and a large crowd followed him; they were pressing all
round him.
Now there
was a woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years; after long
and painful treatment under various doctors, she spent all she had without
being any the better for it, in fact, she was getting worse. She had heard
about Jesus, and she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his cloak.
‘If I can touch even his clothes,’ she had told herself ‘I shall be well
again.’ And the source of the bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt in
herself that she was cured of her complaint. Immediately aware that power had
gone out from him, Jesus turned round in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my
clothes?’ His disciples said to him, ‘You see how the crowd is pressing round
you and yet you say, “Who touched me?”’ But he continued to look all round to
see who had done it. Then the woman came forward, frightened and trembling
because she knew what had happened to her, and she fell at his feet and told
him the whole truth. ‘My daughter,’ he said ‘your faith has restored you to
health; go in peace and be free from your complaint.’
While he was
still speaking some people arrived from the house of the synagogue official to
say, ‘Your daughter is dead: why put the Master to any further trouble?’ But
Jesus had overheard this remark of theirs and he said to the official, ‘Do not
be afraid; only have faith.’ And he allowed no one to go with him except Peter
and James and John the brother of James. So they came to the official’s house
and Jesus noticed all the commotion, with people weeping and wailing
unrestrainedly. He went in and said to them, ‘Why all this commotion and
crying? The child is not dead, but asleep.’ But they laughed at him. So he
turned them all out and, taking with him the child’s father and mother and his
own companions, he went into the place where the child lay. And taking the
child by the hand he said to her, ‘Talitha, kum!’ which means, ‘Little girl, I
tell you to get up.’ The little girl got up at once and began to walk about,
for she was twelve years old. At this they were overcome with astonishment, and
he ordered them strictly not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give
her something to eat.
THE LOGIC OF THE HEART
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [2 SM 18:9-10,14, 24-25, 30-33, 19:1-3; PS 86:1-6; MK 5:21-43 ]
In the first
reading, we read of the death of David’s son, Absalom. On the level of
justice, it seems that he received his just deserts. For the crime of
treason and rebellion, he deserved death. And as if by divine justice,
his head was caught between the thick branches of a great oak. “He was
left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule he was riding went
on.” This gave David’s men a great opportunity to kill him. And
that was what Joab, the commander of the army did. “Joab took three
lances in his hand and thrust them into Absalom’s heart while he was still alive
there in the oak tree.”
Logically,
that was the right thing to do to our enemies. This was his
retribution for causing so many to die in the battle. We read how “The
men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the slaughter
there was great on that day, twenty thousand men. The battle spread over
the face of all the country; and the forest claimed more victims that day than
the sword.” (2 Sm 18:7f) Even though Joab went against the wishes of
King David to spare the life of Absalom (cf 2 Sm 18:5),
strict justice demanded that Absalom be adequately punished for his heinous
crime against the king and the kingdom.
But this is
not the way God would have dealt with us. God considers everyone of us as
His sons and daughters. It is true that perhaps if Absalom were not David’s son, he
might not have considered sparing his life. However, Absalom was his
son. This is where the heart has its own logic apart from the head!
No matter how evil a son or daughter is, he or she remains the daughter of his
or her parents. It is said, with our loved ones, we apply the law of
love, but with our enemies, we apply the law of justice. When there
is love, we regard the person, even when he has wronged us, with
compassion. This is the way God deals with us, because He loves us.
David’s
attitude towards the death of Absalom prefigured the story of the Prodigal
Father in the gospel. Like the Father, he did not wish the death of his son.
Like the Prodigal Father, “David was sitting between the two gates” waiting for
the son to return back safely and restored. Like Jesus who grieves for us
at our sinfulness and destruction, as in the case of Judas and the stubbornness
of the Jewish religious leaders, David too wept when he was told that Absalom
was killed. “The king shuddered. He went up to the room over the
gate and burst into tears, and weeping said, ‘My son Absalom, my son, my son!'”
Just like David, God weeps over us as Jesus did over Jerusalem. (cf Lk 21:41-44)
Only those
who love others as if they are their own will learn how to feel with the Father
and with King David. The trouble is that most of us do not see others,
especially our enemies, as our loved ones, or better still, as our own
children. Hence, the approach is hard justice, an eye for an eye.
So we can understand the disappointment of Joab and his men when they heard how
David mourned for his son. They felt betrayed and angry that David did
not also consider how many gave up their lives to protect him from his
enemies. Joab reprimanded the king and said, “Today you have covered with
shame the faces of all your officers who have saved your life today, and the
lives of your sons and your daughters, and the lives of your wives and your
concubines, for love of those who hate you and for hatred of those who love
you. You have made it clear today that commanders and officers are nothing to
you; for I perceive that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today,
then you would be pleased.” (2 Sm 19:5f)
Indeed, we can understand where Joab was coming from. Hence, he said, “So
go out at once and speak kindly to your servants; for I swear by the Lord,
if you do not go, not a man will stay with you this night; and this will be
worse for you than any disaster that has come upon you from your youth until
now.” (2 Sm 19:7)
This same
response to the law is played out again in the gospel. The first was the
case of Jarius, one of the synagogue officials. He came up to Jesus, “fell
at his feet and pleaded with him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is
desperately sick. Do come and lay your hands on her to make her better
and save her life.’” As a synagogue ruler, he would have known that the
Pharisees and the Scribes considered Jesus a deviant Rabbi and should not be
welcomed or even acknowledged, much less given so much reverence. But in
the face of the imminent death of his daughter, the father would do anything,
even sacrificing his honour, dignity and position as a synagogue leader to have
his daughter healed. Any parent would do anything to save his son or
daughter.
The second
instance was the woman with the hemorrhage due to her menstrual discharge and
uterine disorder. According to the law of Leviticus, “when
a woman has a discharge of blood that is her regular discharge from her body,
she shall be in her impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be
unclean until the evening.” (Lev 15:19)
Consequently, she should not be in social contact with anyone, lest she makes
them unclean. Yet in her desperation, she came up behind Jesus
“through the crowd and touched his cloak. ‘If I can touch even his
clothes,’ she had told herself ‘I shall be well again.’ And the source of
bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her
complaint.”
What was the
response of Jesus to both of these incidents? It is the way of love, the
logic of the heart. Faith was lacking among the people except perhaps
Jairus, because they told him, “’Your daughter is dead: why put the master to
any further trouble?’ But Jesus had overheard this remark of theirs and
he said to the official, ‘Do not be afraid; only have faith.’ And he
allowed no one to go with him except Peter and James and John the brother of
James.” As far as Jesus was concerned, “’The child is not dead, but
asleep.’ But they laughed at him. So he turned them all out and,
taking with him the child’s father and mother and his own companions, he went
into the place where the child lay.” In Jesus’ definition, the dead
are those who have no faith and are deep in sin. The child was just
asleep. “And taking the child by the hand he said to her, ‘Talitha, kum!’
which means, ‘Little girl, I tell you to get up.’ The little girl got up
at once and began to walk about, for she was twelve years old.”
Jesus felt for Jairus in his pain of losing his daughter. His only
concern was to relieve the pain of the little girl’s parents.
Similarly,
even though Jesus felt the touch of someone who was unclean, He was able to
transcend the laws. “Immediately aware that power had gone out from him, Jesus
turned round in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ His
disciples said to him, ‘You see how the crowd is pressing round you and yet you
say, ‘Who touched me?’ But he continued to look all round to see who had
done it.” His disciples could not see who was unclean, unlike
Jesus. This showed the weakness of the law in itself. Without
someone telling them that he or she was unclean, they who touched them would be
unclean without knowing it. So does it matter in the end? Jesus
knew the woman was unclean, yet He allowed her to touch Him because He put the
well-being of the woman before such rituals. The woman was suffering from
embarrassment, inconvenience and unable to be socially connected with others
because of her illness. But she was freed by the Lord. “Then the
women came forward, frightened and trembling because she knew what had happened
to her, and she fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. ‘My
daughter,’ he said ‘your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be
free from your complaint.’”
Furthermore,
like Jairus, even though the woman’s faith was weak, the Lord took her at her
level.
The woman might have superstitiously touched the cloak of Jesus, like many of
our devotees. They would touch statues and use handkerchiefs to touch
healers and sacred items, believing that they would be healed of their
illnesses or be protected from harm. Some of the practices of popular
religiosity seem to be superstitious in nature, and are often frowned upon by
supposed intellectuals and great theologians who know the bible very well.
But Jesus did
not stop her. He allowed her little faith to grow by letting her know
that it was not His cloak that healed her but the power that went out of Him. Jesus is the one who
heals, not some superstitious piece of clothing or item. We need to help
our naïve devotees to go beyond the sacramental to the Lord who is our
healer. Yet, we cannot just stop such expressions of faith and love
because they are the means that speak to the ordinary and simple people.
We need to educate them but we should not dismiss or prevent them from
encountering the Lord in this manner. We too must be patient and not be too
judgemental on the simple faith or our lay people. What is important is that
they are brought to faith in Christ.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
