Lord of the Sabbath

Tuesday, January 17, 2017
2nd Week
in Ordinary Time
1st Reading:
Heb 6:10-20
Gospel: Mark 2:23-28
One Sabbath he 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.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The Sabbath Law was the bone of contention between Jesus and the Pharisees. To the Pharisees, the spirit behind the Sabbath Law is respect for the Creator. Since the Creator rested on the seventh day, man should likewise rest. But they expanded the concept of work to extend to menial tasks. This led to ridiculous conclusions such as in today’s Gospel reading.
To the Pharisees, the disciples who were picking the heads of grain and crushing them in their hands were already harvesting and milling the grains. The Lord took them to task for their literal understanding of the Law. “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath”, He said. Jesus’ preferential option for man takes us back to Genesis when God installed man as lord of creation. Not only the Sabbath Law but also the whole creation is subject to man’s dominion.
God has allocated so much dignity to human nature. Why then do we invoke being human in justifying our moral obliquity? “Sapagkat kami ay tao lamang” – a justification of man’s submission to carnal dictates – summarizes this erroneous paradigm. Yes by nature we are weak but we grace abounds to those who would like to live their lives to the full.
Let’s revise this slogan so that it would reflect our real nature as redeemed. By shifting the accent of the word “lamang” to the last syllable we’d be saying “Sapagkat kami ay tao, LAMANG”. Because we are human beings, we are better off”. O what an honor to be human! Of all modes of existence it is closest to being divine. Remember that God created man in his own image and likeness.
When God rested on the Seventh Day it was because he was satisfied with his project when Adam finally came into being. On this basis, the oppressive interpretation of the Sabbath Law counters the true spirit of the Sabbath, which is joy over man’s coming into being. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM.
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