New Obedience

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to explore questions on the boundary between human desire and Divine action.

“Obedience is better than sacrifice.” 1 Samuel 15:22

King Saul had to learn the hard way that God was displeased with him because of his disobedience. In Deuteronomy 8, a chapter in the Old Testament Jesus liked to quote from, we see a picture of what w… https://t.co/wwoJwGnUeD pic.twitter.com/S1zqdLJjms

— papemelroti (@papemelroti) January 14, 2018

 The passage from the First Letter of Samuel tells of the displeasure of Samuel at the actions of Saul that deviated from the will of God in his battle with the Amalekites.

* [15:22] Samuel’s reprimand echoes that of the prophets. Cultic practice is meaningless, even hypocritical, unless accompanied by an attentiveness to God’s will.

 In the Gospel from Mark, Jesus explains that His disciples do not fast when the bridegroom of Israel is among them.

* [2:19] Can the wedding guests fast?: the bridal metaphor expresses a new relationship of love between God and his people in the person and mission of Jesus to his disciples. It is the inauguration of the new and joyful messianic time of fulfillment and the passing of the old. Any attempt at assimilating the Pharisaic practice of fasting, or of extending the preparatory discipline of John’s disciples beyond the arrival of the bridegroom, would be as futile as sewing a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak or pouring new wine into old wineskins with the resulting destruction of both cloth and wine (Mk 2:21–22). Fasting is rendered superfluous during the earthly ministry of Jesus; cf. Mk 2:20.

Beth Samson recommends Centering Prayer as an aid to discernment of the question of; What are we called to reconsider in light of Jesus?

As a way to experience God's immanent presence with us and how we may be called to live a new way, I invite us to take some time out of our day to pray with Centering Prayer - a form of prayer that offers a way to grow in intimacy with God, moving beyond conversation to communion.

Don Schwager quotes Bede the Venerable, (672-735 A.D.) on the consequence of the presence of the Bridegroom, through the mystery of the Incarnation, joining Himself to the Church.

"From the time that the incarnation of our Savior was first promised to the patriarchs, it was always awaited by many upright souls with tears and mourning - until he came. From that time when, after his resurrection, he ascended to heaven, all the hope of the saints hangs upon his return. It was at the time when he was keeping company with humanity that his presence was to be celebrated. Then it would have been unfitting to weep and mourn. For like the bride, she had him with her bodily whom she loved spiritually. Therefore the bridegroom is Christ, the bride is the church, and the friends of the bridegroom (Matthew 9:15, Luke 5:34) and of the marriage are each and every one of his faithful companions. The time of his marriage is that time when, through the mystery of the incarnation, he is joining the holy church to himself (Revelation 19:7). Thus it was not by chance, but for the sake of a certain mystical meaning that he came to a marriage ceremony on earth in the customary fleshly way (John 2:1-12), since he descended from heaven to earth in order to wed the church to himself in spiritual love. His nuptial chamber was the womb of his virgin mother. There God was conjoined with human nature. From there he came forth like a bridegroom to join the church to himself." (excerpt from HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.14)

Friar Jude Winkler initiates exploration of the nature of “herem” in the Bible as the complete destruction of a people “under the ban” and odious to God. Mark makes the sayings of Jesus about old wine and new patches “fit” with the marriage theme associated with not fasting at the beginning of the passage.

Rev. Lars Haukeland comments that the “herem” in Israelite warfare strikes many readers as cruel, but it is helpful to keep three factors in mind:

The Israelites were executing divine judgement on Canaan specifically; they were not called to wage holy war on the nations around them in order to create an empire.The herem was intended to remove permanently the pagan influence from the Israelite vicinity.The herem was meant to remind the Israelites that their warfare was not for the purpose of acquiring slaves and booty, but was meant to secure the land as their inheritance. When the Israelites failed to carry out the herem, the reason was often not mercy on their part, but greed (1 Samuel 15:9).

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares the view of St. Francis that Incarnation was already redemption. He notes that just giving people commandments on tablets of stone doesn’t change the heart. It may steel the will, but it doesn’t soften the heart like an I-Thou encounter can. Many of the Christian mystics talk about seeing the divine face or falling in love with the face of Jesus. We are mirrored into life, not by concepts, but by faces delighting in us, giving us the beloved self-image we can’t give to ourselves. Love is the gaze that does us in! How blessed are those who get it early and receive it deeply.

In Jesus, God was given a face and a heart. God became someone we could love. While God can be described as a moral force, as consciousness, and as high vibrational energy, the truth is, we don’t (or can’t?) fall in love with abstractions. So God became a person “that we could hear, see with our eyes, look at, and touch with our hands” (1 John 1:1). The brilliant Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas (1905-1995) said the only thing that really converts people is “an encounter with the face of the other,” [1] and I think he learned that from his own Hebrew Scriptures.

 From the need to ponder the difficult texts in Samuel through prayer we are led to the proclamation of the power of the loving face of Jesus that we are called to share with others.