THE WORD
Col 1: 21–23 / Lk 6: 1–5
While he was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions.” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”
IN OTHER WORDS
When I was in grade 5, we had a family-neighbor who were Seventh-Day Adventists. Their family life was characterized by strict observance of the sabbath day (for them, Saturday), so that starting on Friday evening there would be no more noise and manual labor in their house.
On one occasion, the mother of that family asked a man who happened to be also our neighbor, “Why don’t you Catholics observe faithfully your Sabbath day (for us, Sunday)? You work and play even on that day! Look at the family whose house is adjacent to ours; they seem to be unmindful of the commandment ‘Thou shall keep holy the sabbath day!’ Are you Catholics like that?” Pragmatically, the man replied: “Manang, that family is poor; hence, they really have to go to work, otherwise they will go hungry the next day!” The man left without further discussion with the woman.
Our gospel of today presents to us that kind of scenario. The Pharisees asked Jesus, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and took and ate the bread, which (was) not lawful…and (he) gave some to his companions?”
For Jesus, observing the law to the letter does not matter much; it is the spirit of it which is important, because the law can kill but the spirit of the law gives life.
Gathering my thoughts on the gospel, I said to myself, “No doubt, the answer of that man - my neighbor - though simple, has sense. Hunger for ordinary food is taken seriously by Jesus so that religious laws may be set aside” (Sacred Space 2010).
- Eliseo Yyance, SVD (DWC, San Jose, Occ. Mindoro)
The Word in other words 2015
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
