Monday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Kings
8:1-7.9-13; Mark 6:53-56)
Once upon a
time a chicken and a pig were planning the farmer’s birthday party. The
chicken suggested to the pig, “Why don’t we give him a breakfast of bacon and
eggs?” The pig flinched at the idea. “Wait a minute”; he said, “for
you, that may represent a token of appreciation. But for me it is
total sacrifice.”
Humans have
sacrificed animals for reasons greater than providing the farmer’s
breakfast. Today’s first reading tells of the people of Israel offering
to the Lord “sheep and oxen too many to number or count.” Because animals are
so vital for human welfare, their offerings may represent the people
themselves. The reading expresses this purpose. The
enormous sacrifice bespeaks the people’s intention to give commit themselves
fully to God with Solomon’s temple.
Often, however,
sacrifices from humans are compromised. We make them to appease God,
not to express the intention of dedicating ourselves to Him. Because
of this pretension as well as our other sins, Jesus handed himself over to be sacrificed. As
the divine Creator and the foremost exemplar of humanity, Jesus makes the
perfect offering to God the Father. Of course, he does not immolate
himself. Rather the world’s egotism condemns him to death on a
cross. His suffering that injustice out of obedience to the Father
redeems us of our sins.
