The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to interact with our environment with faith, hope, and charity that reflect the Presence of God.
The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews proclaims the Certainty of God’s Promise.
* [6:12] Imitators of those…inheriting the promises: the author urges the addressees to imitate the faith of the holy people of the Old Testament, who now possess the promised goods of which they lived in hope. This theme will be treated fully in Heb 11.
* [6:13] He swore by himself: God’s promise to Abraham, which he confirmed by an oath (“I swear by myself,” Gn 22:16) was the basis for the hope of all Abraham’s descendants.
* [6:15] He obtained the promise: this probably refers not to Abraham’s temporary possession of the land but to the eschatological blessings that Abraham and the other patriarchs have now come to possess.
* [6:18] Two immutable things: the promise and the oath, both made by God.
* [6:19] Anchor…into the interior behind the veil: a mixed metaphor. The Holy of Holies, beyond the veil that separates it from the Holy Place (Ex 26:31–33), is seen as the earthly counterpart of the heavenly abode of God. This theme will be developed in Heb 9. (Hebrews, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB, n.d.)
Psalm 111 offers praise for God’s Wonderful Works.
* [Psalm 111] A Temple singer (Ps 111:1) tells how God is revealed in Israel’s history (Ps 111:2–10). The deeds reveal God’s very self, powerful, merciful, faithful. The poem is an acrostic, each verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. (Psalms, PSALM 111 | USCCB, n.d.)
The Gospel of Mark, presents Jesus' pronouncement about the Sabbath.
* [2:23–28] This conflict regarding the sabbath follows the same pattern as in Mk 2:18–22.
* [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.
* [2:27] The sabbath was made for man: a reaffirmation of the divine intent of the sabbath to benefit Israel as contrasted with the restrictive Pharisaic tradition added to the law.
* [2:28] The Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath: Mark’s comment on the theological meaning of the incident is to benefit his Christian readers; see note on Mk 2:10. (Mark, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB, n.d.)
Mike Cherney comments that in today’s Gospel, Jesus disciples pick grain while walking through a field on the Sabbath. Jesus is confronted by a group of Pharisees who interpret these actions as a willful disregard for the law of God.
If I imagine myself as an onlooker to this Gospel event, I see Jesus as inviting me to reconsider the nature of religious observance. I hear Jesus teaching that God’s laws were not made as impediments, but rather they exist for the betterment of humanity. In this contemplation, I experience a call to better embody the deeper values of my faith: mercy, justice, inclusion, and compassion. In contrast to the legalistic, rule-bound faith of my childhood, I find myself drawn to live out a faith that is centered on the humanity of those around me, particularly the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed. I am moved to believe that this is the true “sabbatical” rest God desires for us, a rest that restores us to one another and to the heart of God’s loving purpose for the world. (Cherney, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “The Lord of the Sabbath,” by John Chrysostom, 547-407 A.D.
"Doubtless he speaks of himself when he mentions the 'Lord of the sabbath' (Mark 2:28, Matthew 12:8, Luke 6:5). Mark relates a complementary saying about our common human nature, that "the sabbath was made for humans, not humans for the sabbath" (Mark 2:27). Why then should someone who gathered sticks on the sabbath be censured? The law that was established earlier could not be scorned without jeopardizing the law to be given later.
"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."(excerpt from THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 39.3) (Cherney, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Hebrews 6:10-20 comments that the love of God is stable and unchanging like a rock, but it is also active and dynamic like the wind.
You may feel today that you need to be anchored safely to the Lord as storms rage around you. Or you may need a fresh wind from the Spirit to enliven you and help you get unstuck. Or you may need a mixture of both. Whatever your situation and whatever your need, keep your heart fixed on the Lord! Place your hope in his promises, because hope doesn’t disappoint (Romans 5:5)!
“Lord, fill me with hope that helps me to stand firm when I need to—and to run toward you when I need to!” (Meditation on Hebrews 6:10-20, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the interspersing of exhortation and dogmatic instruction in the passage from Hebrews. The mystical dimension of what we do where we change reality through our prayer is celebrated by Jesus' opening of the Holy of Hollies. Friar Jude knows how the humanity of Jesus is presented in the factual error about the priest who ministered to David with the Bread of Presence.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces spiritual teacher Mirabai Starr who considers how our imperfect families and relationships are opportunities to practice divine love, acceptance, and compassion. Through accepting reality, we find a greater capacity to love what is.
Chances are, if you are a parent, whether adoptive or biological, you too have experienced the collapse of your parenting fantasies. You also have received an open invitation to accept the kids you have and forgive the parent you are, with a degree of humility bordering on humiliation and a dash of humor that can sometimes carry maniacal overtones….
This is the human condition. And at the very center of your own shattered dream, the face of the sacred flashes and glimmers. The holy disaster is a beckoning. Come. Enter the fire of love and let it remake you again and again. To be an ordinary, everyday mystic is to take your rightful place on the throne of what is. (Rohr, n.d.)
We are consoled by our faithful God as we seek to celebrate the gift of our humanity and find hope in our resolve to be workers in the vineyard of Christ.
References
Cherney, M. (n.d.). Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries. Creighton University's Online Ministries. Retrieved January 21, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=jan21
Hebrews, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 21, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/hebrews/6?10
Mark, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 21, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/2?23
Meditation on Hebrews 6:10-20. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved January 21, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/01/21/1184295/
Psalms, PSALM 111 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved January 21, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/111?1
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Our Families Are Teachers. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved January 21, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/our-families-are-teachers/
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