Reflection on Today's Readings, Tuesday of 2nd Week in Ordinary Time, Year 11, January 18th, 2022
Texts: 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 89:20-22.27-28; Mark 2:23-28
Today's gospel reading is a testimony that man often turns the instruments of life into the weapons of death, instruments for peace into the weapons of war, instruments of empowerment into weapons for destruction, etc. Today, guns and other weapons, which should be used to defend ourselves against animals or to hunt them for food and money, are now used to kill one another. Cutlass, vehicle, motor cycle etc, which should empower us, are now used to kill one another. Social media and GSM, which should break communication barriers, are now sources of fake news, disinformation and misinformation. With GSM lies have become easy; the rate of lying has increased exponentially.
Jesus, in the gospel reading, stands against the abuse of Sabbath. He says, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath; so the Son of man is lord even of the Sabbath.” To say that Sabbath is for man is to say that it is meant to help man attain the purpose of his life on earth; it is meant to help man to attain the fullness of life. Sabbath was created to enhance man's relationship with God; it is meant to sustain and strengthen the communion between man and God. Sabbath is made to serve man and make him remember his creator from time to time. Sabbath is a time to remind ourselves the commandments of God and resolve to be more faithful in keeping them. However, Sabbath became, in the hand of man, a burden and a weapon of death. Man turned Sabbath against himself; he raised Sabbath above himself. Man made himself subservient to the Sabbath. To say that man was made for the Sabbath is to say that man was made to fulfil the purpose of Sabbath. What did the people consider to be the purpose of the Sabbath? It was rest from work. Once you do no work, you have fulfilled the purpose of Sabbath. Even to go a far distance to worship God was a transgression against the Sabbath. Hence, because priests did travel far distance to conduct services on Sabbath, they considered them the only people who transgressed the Sabbath without being guilty. We could see that, in the hand of man, the purpose of Sabbath, which is to enhance communion with God, was defeated. The purpose of Sabbath was lost in the hand of man. Sabbath, therefore, became sterile, unproductive. Sabbath became instrument of torment and weapon of death. Life-saving activity was prohibited; rest was considered more important to life. Who rests, if not one who is alive? Why do we rest, if not to stay alive? We rest to live, we do not rest to die.
In today's first reading, it is said, "The Lord said to Samuel, 'How long will you grieve over Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.'" Just like Samuel, some of us grieve over things that we cannot undo. Some of us grieve over the lost of our loved ones. Some of us grieve over our past mistakes and failures. Some of us grieve over the past, what should have been done but was not done. Some of us grieve over our sins. Whenever we grieve, we lose the opportunity of seeing the new thing God is doing. Let us stop grieving, for God has moved past it. Then, let us stop grieving over Saul of our lives and look up to God to see the hope He is offering us in David. Just as Saul is no longer the concern of God, so also those things we grieve over are no longer His concern; He has moved on. Just as God has moved on to a new thing, let us also move on with Him to a new thing.
Samuel, in the reading, tells God his fear. He says, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” Our fears could stand as barriers, preventing us from moving on to the new hope God has for us. Let us also learn to tell God our fears. Hardly do we tell God our fears. What we do is to tell God to prosper us, to make us progress, to kill our enemies, to bless us, etc. We do not say, "God, I fear I might lose costumers if I say the truth"; "God, I fear I might not get enough money to cater for my needs if I do not syphon resources in my care or if I do not collect bribe"; "God, I fear I will not pass if I do not cheat in exams"; "God, I fear my friends may abandon me, if I'm not indecent like them or drink and smoke like them"; etc. We tend to hide our fears, even from God, while they motivate our actions daily. Let us be sincere with God, telling Him our fears, and He will help us. Hiding our fears is not good for us, they can damage our relationship with God and man. There are some of our fears we are not aware of any longer because they have gone into our subconscious minds; let us reach out for them and present them before the Lord for healing and freedom. Until then we are the slaves of those fears.
We must also learn not to judge people by appearance, for appearance is deceptive. In the first reading, it is said, "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.'” There is a saying that goes thus: "Not all that glitter are gold". We should learn to judge people by the content of their character and work. If we choose friends by appearance, we may end up having wrong people around us. If we look on appearance to choose life-partners, we may end up sharing our lives with wrong partners forever.
Lord Jesus Christ, true light of the world, enlighten our minds to know the truth, so that we might not misuse those things you have made for our benefits but use them for Your glory and salvation of mankind. Amen.
Fr. Andrew Olowomuke
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