Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that the Lord our God is truly a most loving, compassionate and kind God, Who has always been concerned about our well-being and our journey in life, in each and every moments, in good times and in bad times. He does not forget about us or abandon us when times goes bad for us, but He helps us all the more, guiding and strengthening us even through those darkest moments, providing us with what we need and giving us all the means to endure and survive the many challenges in life. 

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Exodus in which the Lord instructed Moses and Aaron on what they ought to do in preparing for the very first Passover in the land of Egypt. It was at that moment when the Israelites were on the verge of being freed from the bondage of their slavery in Egypt, after a long and grueling many years suffered because of the persecution and oppression by the Egyptians and their Pharaoh who exploited them, made them to work very hard to build their cities, temples and monuments, while even trying to eradicate them as a nation through genocidal policies. God remembered His people and sent His deliverance upon them through Moses, who challenged the Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and brought God’s Ten Great Plagues upon Egypt.

And this Passover happened just right about the time when the Tenth and the Last of all the Ten Great Plagues, by which God would send against Egypt to finally liberate His beloved people after the earlier nine plagues had struck Egypt, the Egyptians and their Pharaoh, but the latter still hardened his heart and refused to let them all go. The Pharaoh had intended destruction for all the Israelites, to continue to persecute and oppress them, and hence, God would send death against all the firstborn of the Egyptians, and this Passover from the words being ‘passed over’ or in the ancient Hebrew, Peshach or Pesach, which is translated to Pascha and Easter in our later celebration of the Christian Passover, became the most important of all the celebrations of the Israelites, the people of God.

That is because it marked the moment when the Lord Himself intervened and came to help His people, giving them the exact instructions so that His Angels of Death would pass over them all, by the blood of the Passover lamb, slaughtered for that very Passover, marking their doorposts, to distinguish them all from the Egyptians. The Passover marked the moment when a people who had been enslaved, suffering and without hope, finally met the moment of their breakthrough and reckoning, shown the saving hands and works of the Lord, Who struck the Egyptians and their Pharaoh so terribly that they were finally brought to their long-awaited freedom. And even more importantly for all of us as Christians, this Passover is a prefigurement of the New and Eternal Passover, the Sacrifice of Christ Our Lord and Saviour as our Paschal Lamb, in Him delivering us all from the slavery to our sins and bringing us to freedom and eternal life in God.upt

Then, in our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the moment when the Pharisees who were following and observing the Lord Jesus and His disciples criticised those disciples because they were picking on the grains of wheat in the field as they were hungry during their missions and trips. It happened that it was the Sabbath day and contextually we must understand that back then, and as it still is today, in the Jewish community, the Law of the Sabbath dictated that everyone ought to abstain from any forms of labour or work, and dedicate that day for the worship and glorification of God. And the Pharisees were very particular about enforcing this Law just as any other laws and rules in the Law of Moses.

That was why they were very critical at the Lord and His disciples because to them, those disciples were breaking the Law of the Sabbath and therefore committing sin against God. But the Lord Himself quickly rebuked those Pharisees and their hypocritical attitude, in criticising others simply because they did not align to their preferences and ideals, and thinking that they were better spiritually and more worthy than everyone else, especially those whom they deemed to be unworthy and sinful. But they themselves had not been truly faithful to the Lord, and had been vain, seeking for worldly glory and ambitions, for human praise and adoration rather than truly being focused and centred on God, and truly fulfilling the Law of God in the manner that the Lord had told them all to do.

And the Lord Jesus told those Pharisees that there were circumstances in the past where the Law had been bent and adjusted before to accommodate certain circumstances, as He highlighted the example of King David and his followers, who at that time was fleeing from the persecution by King Saul and his supporters. At that time they took shelter in God’s Temple, and they were very hungry, just as the disciples were very hungry at that time. And King David with his followers took the showbread which according to the Law was reserved only for the priests, and the High Priest, Abiathar at that time, allowed King David and his followers to partake of those showbread. That is because the alternative to this, if they did not eat the bread was that they might die of starvation, and that was clearly not what God intended to happen.

Which is why we are all reminded to put our faith and trust in the Lord, to follow Him in all things and to love Him wholeheartedly through the Law that He has put before us, which we ought to follow with true understanding of His intentions, which is to teach us all how to love Him and to love one another most generously as He Himself has loved us all. We must not be like those Pharisees who were hypocrites in their way of life, and in their sense of superiority, in their rigidity and constant criticism of others simply because they thought themselves as better than everyone else in the matter of the faith and their way of life. Instead, we should continue to put the Lord as the focus of our attention in life, remembering all the generous love and patience we have received from Him all these while.

May the Lord continue to bless each and every one of us in our endeavours and good efforts to glorify Him by our lives. May He empower and strengthen us to remain strong and steadfast in our faith despite the many trials and challenges that we may encounter in our journey and path going forward in life. Amen.