Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we are all reminded that we all exist for God and all the things we do in this life, our every moments, our whole beings, our whole reason for living should indeed be for the Lord, to glorify and to praise Him ceaselessly, for all the great and wonderful things which He had done for us. Each and every one of us have been called to follow the path of the Law, to obey His Law and to do whatever is needed for us so that our lives may truly be holy and worthy of Him. However, at the same time, we are also reminded that we must practice our faith in the manner that is truly embodying our faith, and develop a genuine and loving relationship with God, through those actions and piety which we have carried out in our daily living, or else, we are no better than hypocrites and unbelievers.

In our first reading this Sunday we heard from the Book of Deuteronomy in which Moses reminded the people of Israel, God’s first chosen people to observe the Sabbath day, which is the last or seventh day in the week. The Sabbath is a day of rest in which work and labour, activities that are not focused on the Lord are not allowed and when the people of God were encouraged to spend their time in prayer and devotion to God, firstly in connection with how the Lord Himself also rested on the seventh day when He created the Universe and the whole world. This day of Sabbath rest was also then meant to remind the people that they were truly God’s people and their livelihood, their activities and all their daily living should have God as the centre and focus of all things.

That was the intention and purpose why the Sabbath Law was enacted and imposed by the Lord on His people, the Israelites. As otherwise, it would have been very easy for the people to forget about God, to go on with their daily lives and activities, in their pursuits for glory and wealth, for worldly satisfactions and pleasures. All of these would have drawn the people ever further away from God and His salvation. Throughout time and history, again and again, people have been swayed by the many temptations of worldly glory, forgetting about God and His teachings, His path and truth that they ended up falling ever more and deeper into the path towards their ruin and destruction in sin. This is what the Lord wanted to prevent, and what He sought to avoid by instituting a day dedicated for everyone to keep holy and committed to Him, rather than to their various jobs and preoccupations.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Mark in which the Lord was confronted by the Pharisees who were criticising His disciples for having committed and carried out actions that were supposedly forbidden and outlawed during the Sabbath. Contextually, the Pharisees were those who were very particular about the way how the Law was to be observed and practiced, and they paid close attention to the Sabbath Law as well. To them, who advocated very literal and strict interpretation of the Law, absolutely no activity of all sorts could be done by anyone, not even when those activities were to be done out of necessity and for good and worthy purposes. And this was why they criticised the Lord and His disciples for their works and actions on the Sabbath.

The Pharisees upheld such beliefs and practices because, in opposition to the other dominant group, the Sadducees, representing those Jewish elites who had been exposed and supported Hellenic or Greek influences, the Pharisees wanted to preserve the Jewish ways and customs, practices and other beliefs very closely. However, in their obsession to do so, they became stubborn and selfish in their behaviours and ways, thinking that they alone were able to interpret the Law and their version of the Law and its observances alone could be followed, and anyone else who did not practice the Law in the manner that they had done, all of them had erred and ought to be condemned and criticised. The Lord pointed out to them therefore the folly of their ways and their arguments.

The Lord Jesus healed a paralysed man in the synagogue before those self-righteous and proud Pharisees, pointing out to them the folly of their idea that absolutely no actions could be done by anyone, not even those that brought about good deeds and glorification of God. The Lord wanted to remind all of us through this that the Sabbath was meant to help redirect us and our attention towards God, but was never meant to oppress and chain us with obligations and with restrictions that could even cause harm. For example, when those disciples were hungry, as they had been going from places to places to minister to the people of God, they indeed had to eat, and it was a necessity that they had to pluck the grains and feed themselves even on the Sabbath day.

This is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is imperative that we truly understand and appreciate why God had reached out to us, showing us the path for us to follow Him through His Law and commandments. Such laws and regulations were put in place to help us all, as God’s people to keep our lives centred and focused on God, but not to make our lives and existence difficult and tough. Otherwise, that led to what happened to those Pharisees who took the Law to the other extreme, by focusing so much on the details and the way the Law had to be applied, observed and practiced, that they forgot and overlooked the true intention and purpose of the Law of God, which is to lead mankind back towards God. Instead, through their overly strict application of the Law and their self-righteous and high-handed actions and manners, those Pharisees had done the opposite instead.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we have been reminded by the Lord to turn our attention and focus back towards Him, let us all hence be committed to Him and be truly genuine in following God in all of our words, actions and deeds, and not merely paying lip service to the Lord and yet our hearts and minds are not directed and focused on Him. Each and every one of us should always strive to grow ever stronger in our commitment and faith, and we should do our best so that we may ourselves be good inspirations and strength for one another, at all times. May the Lord continue to encourage and strengthen us all in faith, and may He bless us all in our every efforts, good works and endeavours, to obey Him genuinely and lovingly through His Law and commandments. Amen.