Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Friday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB
In our gospel for
today we see the Pharisees, as usual, looking for a way to catch Jesus in
breaking the Jewish Laws and Customs. The Pharisees were so wrapped up and concerned
about anyone deviating from the Law that they forgot why these laws were put in
place to begin with.
In other parts of
scripture, when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He responded
that we are to love God with our whole mind, heart, and soul, and we are to
love our neighbor as ourselves. This is the heart of the Law that the Pharisees
seem to be missing: love of God and love of neighbor. The laws were put into
place to show us how to live a life pleasing to God and to show this love of
God to our neighbor.
Further, in living
out that love of neighbor, we are to be there for them in their time of need.
No law of God would ever be in the way of doing good for someone in need.
Christ in this gospel saw someone in need of healing and proceeded to heal this
man. What was more important to Jesus was the well being of the person that
needed to be cured, not the fact that it was being done on the Sabbath.
The Pharisees had allowed regulations and
propriety to take over; they had become institutionalised. Jesus showed them
that they had lost sight of the dignity of the people they claimed to lead.
Jesus challenges us to respond to those in need, to think less of ourselves
than of those whose need is greater than ours.
Further, as with the Pharisees towards Jesus,
there are those in our lives that may look at us to see how we may be living
out our lives as Christians. The Pharisees were looking for ways that Jesus may
have been breaking the Sabbath law, and there are people in our lives who may
be looking at us to see if we are falling short in our following of Christ.
They will be quick to point out our alleged hypocrisy. So, it’s always
important to carry ourselves in a way that is pleasing to God by showing Him
the love and respect He is deserved as God, and to show love & respect to
those in our lives who are made in His image. We need to do this with all
sincerity and honesty. This would even mean being there to lend a helping hand
to someone in need even when it may be inconvenient to do so.
Mother St. Teresa of Calcutta once said, “Never worry about
numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest
you.” Let us continue to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ by loving God
and those in our lives.
Amen. Very good point that no law of GOD would ever prevent us from helping someone in need. Our obligation to attend & participate in Sunday liturgy (from which we were released during the quarantine due to COVID-19) is a very serious one. But it is waived if our reason for missing Mass is because we are needed to care for a sick person. During the 3 years my Mom was sick I missed one Sunday Mass & one holyday of obligation because I needed to stay with my Mom. Most other times I was blessed that one of our wonderful aides was able to stay with her.
ReplyDeleteIn Old Testament times & during the time Our LORD JESUS walked the earth, religious people got so caught up with rules, regulations & rituals that they added more rules & regulations to try to protect themselves from breaking GOD'S laws. They got so caught up with rules, regulations & rituals & were so afraid of messing up & so proud of their performance that they totally lost sight of GOD Himself, Who is LOVE. Besides coming to save us from sin, JESUS, the Incarnate Son of GOD came to show us Who GOD really is. It is ironic that in their attempts to "strain a gnat" by their fastidious keeping of rules, regulations & rituals they "swallowed a camel" by murdering the very Son of GOD. We must be careful to put the greatest commandments of love of GOD & neighbor first so that our practice of our faith flows from our love of GOD & neighbor & from our personal relationship with GOD instead of seeing the rules, regulations & rituals as ends in themselves.