January 18, 2005 - Tuesday, 2nd Week in Ordinary Time

Laws Are Servants of People

Readings:
Heb 6:10-20; Ps 111:1-2, 4-5, 9-10
Mk 2:23-28

Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
it is easier for us to seek safety
in observing laws and customs
than to be personally responsible
for the people around us
and to serve you with the freedom of love.
Give us a bit of your own fantasy,
send us the Holy Spirit to fill us
with your own inventive and creative love,
that we may ever seek new ways
to reach out to you and to one another.
Grant this through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading Introduction

Our firm hope, the anchor of our faith, is that God made Jesus our high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, a statement rather obscure for us, which Paul will explain further. In any case, our faith is based on the word of God and of Christ.

First Reading: Heb 6:10-20

God is not unjust and will not forget everything you have done for love of his name; you have helped and still help the believers. We desire each of you to have, until the end, the same zeal for reaching what you have hoped for. Do not grow careless but imitate those who, by their faith and determination, inherit the promise.

Remember God's promise to Abraham. God wanted to confirm it with an oath and, as no one is higher than God, he swore by himself: I shall bless you and give you many descendants. By just patiently waiting, Abraham obtained the promise.

People are used to swearing by someone higher than themselves and their oath affirms everything that could be denied. So God committed himself with an oath in order to convince those who were to wait for his promise that he would never change his mind. Thus we have two certainties in which it is impossible that God be proved false: promise and oath. That is enough to encourage us strongly when we leave everything to hold to the hope set before us.

This hope is like a steadfast anchor of the soul, secure and firm, thrust beyond the curtain of the Temple into the sanctuary itself, where Jesus has entered ahead of us-Jesus, High Priest for ever in the order of Melchizedek.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 111:1-2, 4-5, 9-10

R (5) The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.

I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart
in the company and assembly of the just.
Great are the works of the LORD,
exquisite in all their delights.
R (5) The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.

He has won renown for his wondrous deeds;
gracious and merciful is the LORD.
He has given food to those who fear him;
he will forever be mindful of his covenant.
R (5) The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.

He has sent deliverance to his people;
he has ratified his covenant forever;
holy and awesome is his name.
His praise endures forever.
R (5) The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.

Gospel Introduction

The function of laws is to order relationships within the community so as to safeguard the rights of God and of the people around us, and to make us aware of our social responsibilities. Yet experience tells us that it is a perpetual human temptation to turn laws into absolutes, to make people servants of the law rather than the law a servant of people. Jesus reminds us of the priority of people and the human community over the letter of the law.

Gospel Reading: Mk 2:23-28

One sabbath Jesus was walking through grainfields. As his disciples walked along with him, they began to pick the heads of grain and crush them in their hands. Then the Pharisees said to Jesus, "Look! they are doing what is forbidden on the sabbath!"

And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did in his time of need, when he and his men were very hungry? He went into the house of God when Abiathar was High Priest and ate the bread of offering, which only the priests are allowed to eat, and he also gave some to the men who were with him." Then Jesus said to them, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. So the Son of Man is master even of the sabbath."

Commentary

EVERYTHING that Jesus does is used to teach, to provoke and to re-examine our behavior and ideas about what is religious. As they walk along they pick grain on the Sabbath, technically an infringement of the law. But Jesus knows his scripture! And reminds them of David who did something far more shocking-he took the grain from the storehouses of the priests on the Sabbath so that his men would have something to eat! Jesus is point blank blunt-the sabbath and the law is to serve to make life more livable for human beings and not to oppress them. His interpretations of the law are based on compassion, on need of others and on the truth that is the bedrock foundation of the law.

How do we interpret and obey the law-to honor and worship God alone, not just on the sabbath, but every day of the year? How completely do we love our neighbor-every single man, woman and child, especially those in most jeopardy and need who is our neighbor? Are we always trying to ignore the underlying reality of the law so that we don't have to do anything more than a shallow understanding of it?

General Intercessions

–          That Christians may regard the commandments as doors to freedom from sin and evil and as ways to serve God and people, we pray:

–          That lawmakers everywhere make laws that are humane and serve the good of all, we pray:

–          That Sunday may be for us a special occasion to grow in love of those who are dear to us, to visit the sick and to serve the needy, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

God our Father,
you let the sun shine and the rain fall
over the fields sowed by the farmer
to satisfy his hunger with bread and rice.
Alleviate here our hunger
for goodness and love and things that last
with the bread of eternal life,
Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord,
who lives with you and with us,
now and for ever.

Prayer after Communion

God our Father,
we turn our laws and even yours
into absolutes by which we imprison
ourselves and others.
And then you give us yourself in your Son
to remind us that what counts is
how we live for you and one another
and share ourselves with each other.
Let this eucharist fill us
with the mentality of your Son,
that we may be present to one another
with a liberating love.
For you have set us free from all servitude
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Blessing

Laws are made for people, not people for laws. This applies also to God’s laws. They are guidelines, helps for people, not absolute tyrants. May almighty God bless you and help you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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