Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel16:1-13; Mark 2:23-28)

Orthodox Jews celebrate every Sabbath as if it were Christmas Day for Christians.  No one does any work.  People go to the synagogue to hear the word of God with comments by a well-educated rabbi. Families come together to talk, eat, perhaps sing, and play together. It is a day to imagine what heaven will be like.

Jesus, a good Jew, also celebrated the Sabbath.  By no means did he want to forbid its rituals, joys, and demands.  But he does see the need at times to dispense with some of the rules.  In today’s gospel he tells the Pharisees that because his disciples need to eat, he gives them permission to pick grain on the Sabbath.

Christians have transferred the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week.  But we are urged not to let go of the religious, celebrative, or communal nature of the day.  For us Sunday is the day of the new creation.  We have been remade, free from sin and destined for eternal life.  Contemplating what this means is an activity worthy of the Sabbath.

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