How to see Jesus

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge how we see our relationship with God and others in obvious and not so obvious ways.

"Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David... and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him from that day forward" (1 Sam 16:13). Window by Charles Connick, one of my favourite American stained glass artists, illustrating today's 1st reading.https://t.co/IdtjG7hqwq

— Fr Lawrence Lew OP (@LawrenceOP) January 16, 2018

The anointing of David in the passage from the First Book of Samuel resonates with the familiar wisdom of not judging a book by its cover. The example given by Jesus about the role of Sabbath observance in the Gospel from Mark invites us to a deeper appreciation of the humanity of Jesus

* [2:25–26] Have you never read what David did?: Jesus defends the action of his disciples on the basis of 1 Sm 21:2–7 in which an exception is made to the regulation of Lv 24:9 because of the extreme hunger of David and his men. According to 1 Samuel, the priest who gave the bread to David was Ahimelech, father of Abiathar.

Steve Scholer comments that we can learn to first look inside the book before we judge the cover by following a daily discipline.

So how do we learn to not only see with our eyes but also with our hearts? How do we let the invisible shine through and take center stage?
Today, as we spend our allotted time in our Examen of Consciousness, we can focus on how to become better at letting our eyes see the invisible - before we see the visible. We can be skeptical and not let our biases skew our impressions of someone we do not know, or our need to acquire a new and shiny possession

Don Schwager quotes a sermon on The Lord of the Sabbath, by John Chrysostom ( 547-407 A.D.) that declares the sabbath trained Israel by degrees to abstain from evil and disposed them to listen to the things of the Spirit.

"The sabbath did confer many benefits, great blessings in the earlier dispensation. It made people more gentle toward those close to them. It guided them toward being more sympathetic. It located them temporally within God's creation and providence, as Ezekiel knew (Ezekiel 20:19-20). The sabbath trained Israel by degrees to abstain from evil and disposed them to listen to the things of the Spirit.    "They would have stretched the law out of shape if, when he was giving the law of the sabbath, Jesus had said, 'You can work on the sabbath, but just do good works, do nothing evil.' This would have brought out the worst in them. So he restrained them from doing any works at all on the sabbath. And even this stricter prohibition did not keep them in line. But he himself, in the very act of giving the law of the sabbath, gave them a veiled sign of things to come. For by saying, 'You must do no work, except what shall be done for your life' (Exodus 12:16), he indicated that the intent of the law was to have them refrain from evil works only, not all works. Even in the temple, much went on during the sabbath, and with great diligence and double toil. Thus even by this very shadowy saying Jesus was secretly opening the truth to them. Did Christ then attempt to repeal a law so beneficial as the sabbath law? Far from it. Rather, he greatly magnified the sabbath. For with Christ came the time for everyone to be trained by a higher requirement."

Today's #Reflection... by Rev. Fr. Vincent Chukwujekwu
Lord of the #Sabbathhttps://t.co/EBX6mjYeAf

Prayer; Help me O Lord, to make a proper observance of the Sabbath and Holy days of Obligation in the way and manner that is pleasing to you. Amen. pic.twitter.com/Dx3Spv15im

— Archdiocese of Lagos (@Lag_archdiocese) January 16, 2018

Friar Jude Winkler provides some background to the need for Samuel to anoint David king while Saul was still alive. The passage from Mark provides an example of Jesus ignorance that is congruent with His humanity and still He does the Will of God. Friar Jude notes that Matthew and Luke changed the text containing this error.

Perhaps we might consider how this is a way of shaping Jesus in our image. Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, reminds us that the biblical authors, disciples, and church founders were also ordinary humans. Understanding these people and their world will help us see who Jesus really is and what his mission always will be. Today he quotes a description of Jesus by Marcus Borg and offers an observation on our usual use of Biblical texts.

Most Christians preconceive Jesus as “the divine Savior of our divine church,” which prematurely settles all the dust and struggle of his human experience. Such a predisposition does not open us to enlightenment so we also can have the mind of Christ, but in fact, deadens and numbs our perception. Too often we read the Bible with an eye to prove this understanding of “our” Jesus so that our ideas and our church are right—and others are wrong. If we are honest enough to admit this bias, we may have a chance of letting go of it for a richer understanding of the Gospel.

The tension between how we perceive God and the reality of the Spirit of God working within humanity invites us to contemplation and openness to the views of others.