Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Surely one reason for reading and reverencing the Scriptures is the attraction to the hint of strong human emotions that sizzle just below the surface. Today we hear the fear in the words of the dying King Hezekiah as he bargains with God. We hear relief behind the words of the Prophet Isaias as he assures the king that God has heard his prayer and it will be proven by a miraculous reversal of the shadows of sunlight. It’s a happy scene as an additional 15 years will be added to his life.
The scene in the Gospel has a very different feel. Jesus and the disciples have walked along a path in a wheat field and stripped some heads of wheat to eat because they were hungry. The Pharisees flared up in public anger and perhaps private revenge. They accused Jesus and his disciples of “manual” labor on the Sabbath. We can imagine the controlled anger of Jesus smoldering below the surface. He answered their objections by using the example of King David, who fed his troops on the Sabbath by using the sacred bread supply from the temple.
On this occasion Jesus contained his anger, but later in the Gospel the conflicts over genuine Sabbath observance brought his righteous anger to the surface. His words in Matthew 23:24 are a very pointed gem: “Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!” Who of us, after examining our priorities, must not start over again to “put first things first?”
Reflection by Fr. Daniel Petsche, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections