First Reading - Colossians 1:21-23
Gospel - Luke 6:1-5
In the first reading, Paul unravels the mystery of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. He asserts that it's through this mystery, Jesus has won salvation for us and reconciled us to God. The reconciliation of us by Jesus to God is an allusion to the fall of Adam which distanced us from God. It's because of the obedience of Jesus, we are once again reconciled to God. Paul also exhorts the Christians in Colossae to persevere in this faith which has been won by Jesus for them. He means to say that the faith in Jesus should be the priority of life for them. Let this faith be not lost by their sins. He also emphasizes that it's this faith which instills in them hope for the salvation and the coming of Jesus.
Today’s Gospel passage gives Jesus’ teaching on the purpose of the Sabbath and on its proper observance. This was Jesus’ response to a criticism and a silly accusation made by some Pharisees against the apostles who, to satisfy their hunger on a Sabbath, had plucked ears of grain from a field for their snack, removed the husks by rubbing the grain between their palms and blowing away the chaff. The Pharisees accused them of violating Sabbath laws by performing three items of work forbidden on Sabbath, namely, harvesting, threshing and winnowing.
Jesus gives two counterarguments from Holy Scripture defending the apostles. (1) Basic human needs, like hunger, take precedence over Divine worship and Sabbath observance. Jesus cites from Scripture the example of the hungry David and his selected soldiers. They approached Abimelech, the priest of Nob, who gave them for food the “offering bread” which only the priests were allowed to eat (Samuel 21:1-6). (2) No law can stand against Divine worship. That is why the priests are not considered as violating Sabbath laws, although they do the work of preparing two rams for sacrifice in the Temple (Numbers 28:9-10). Further, Jesus, as Son of Man (a Messianic title), claims Lordship over the Sabbath itself. Jesus indeed is the Lord of everything. Hence, he deserves our priority in our lives. He also underlines that the purpose of the observance of Sabbath is to connect us to God, hence it freed every person from other occupations. The observance of Sabbath also meant to relate to one another rather than constraining others by ignoring their needs.
Dear friends, it's possible that we can get entrapped with the rigidity of our lives that we may ignore essential things of our lives. Every Sunday observance for us is equal to Sabbath of Jews, which is meant to draw us closer to God and one another but sometimes our coming to the Church remains to the celebration of mass alone but fails to extend to one another. We manifest faith by observing the Sunday obligation but the purpose of it remains incomplete because the second part of it is ignored that is knowing and meeting our other fellow brothers and sisters.
The readings also invite us to never compromise with our faith we have received in Jesus because this gives us hope for our salvation in him. It's this faith which leads us to observe our obligations to God and our fellow brothers and sisters.
The readings also teach us that it's God who should be acknowledged as the Lord of our lives. As St. Paul exhorted the Christians to persevere in faith, which also means to give faith their primary place. Hence, our faith in Jesus should become the goal and the first choice of our lives.
May God guide and rule our lives.
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