Suy Niệm Tin Mừng - Thứ Bẩy Tuần 22 Thường Niên

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng - Thứ Bẩy Tuần 22 Thường Niên Luke 6:1-5

Tin Mừng hôm nay đã cho chúng ta nhìn thấy tất cả những mưu đồ xấu xa của những người Biệt Phái. "giúp người ngày Sa-bát là bất hợp pháp là có tội?" Trong tình hình hiện nay của chúng ta, có phải chúng ta sẽ lãnh đạm với những gì đang xảy ra xung quanh chúng ta, vì pháp luật không cho phép chúng ta phải làm gì?. Đó là tự do???

Nền tảng cho tất cả mọi thứ trong cuộc sống của chúng ta phải là tình yêu của Thiên Chúa. Công lý và lòng nhân từ phải được rộng ban cho tất cả mọi người. Tất cả các luật lệ, hay pháp lệnh phải được dựa trên các điều căn bản, không nên nhỏ mọn, không quá khắt khe, luật lệ cũng không phải là để thống trị. Các nhà lãnh đạo ở trong bất cứ một chế độ chính trị nào cũng cần phải cân nhắc và phát thảo một luật pháp dựa trên căn bản bằng với tình yêu Thiên Chúa. Luật pháp không nên quá mang nặng tính pháp lý, nên đơn giản. Chúa Giêsu đã chữa trị các bệnh nhân trong ngày Sa-bát. David đã vào nhà Chúa đưa bàn tay lấy bánh ăn. Điều quan trọng là hành động của họ đã làm tốt cho người khác. Chúa Giêsu làm cho một người bệnh được chữa lành, David đã có thể dẫn binh ra chiến trận và chiến thắng. Vì thế trong tinh thần này mà chúng ta nên áp dụng cho sống cuộc sống của chúng ta. Tuân theo luật pháp vì chúng được ban ra cho chúng ta với phúc lành của Thiên Chúa. Nhưng, chúng ta cũng nên nhìn vào những cơ bản và lý do tại sao những luật này đã được ban hành.

REFLECTION

Laws are enacted because we need order. They are also enacted to spell out to the people what should and shouldn't be done. There are bases and reasons why laws are written. When the Israelites left Egypt for the Promised Land, they were always griping how life was so hard. Since they had lived a lifetime of bondage, they had difficulty adjusting to a life of freedom. Thus, Moses wrote down laws to make it easier for them. Later on it was these Mosaic Laws that governed the Israelites to the point that their lives were constricted by them. The Pharisees and the Scribes strictly enforced these laws to show their dominance and superiority. But Jesus saw through the motives of the Pharisees. "Is it unlawful to help people on the Sabbath?" In our present situation, are we going to be indifferent to what is happening around us because the law disallows us to do something?

The basis for everything in our life should be God's love. Justice and mercy are ex tended to everyone. All laws and ordinances follow these bases, not pettiness, not superiority, nor dominance. Rulers, whatever their political systems are, should craft laws with God's love wrapped in it. They should not be too legalistic; they should be simple. Jesus lifts his hand to cure the sick on the Sabbath. David picks up grains across a field of wheat. What matters is that their action has done good for others. Jesus makes a sick man well, David is able to lead his men to victory against a despotic ruler.

It is in this spirit that we should live our lives. Follow the laws for they were given to us with God's blessings. But, look to the bases and reasons why they were enacted.

Opening Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, I thank you for the honor of coming before you in prayer. I need you in my life. You are my foundation, my strength, and my joy. Please increase my faith, hope, and love so that I may cling ever more to you in all that I do.

Encountering Christ:

· Simplicity of Heart: There is a strong contrast between the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the simplicity of the apostles. The problem was not the Pharisees’ zeal for the law. In another passage, Jesus himself defended their authority to teach: “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you” (Matthew 23:2-3a). The problem was their disposition. Our Lord continued, “but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens… and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them” (Matthew 23:3b-4). The Pharisees seemed to exercise their authority in a controlling and oppressive manner towards others while allowing themselves much leeway (Matthew 15:3-6). Again in this passage, we see their heavy-handed criticism of the apostles. For their part, the hungry apostles simply reached for some food. While the apostles themselves struggled with ambition and vanity (Mark 9:34), there remained in them a childlike simplicity that was born from sincerity (John 1:47).

· Defending His Own: The Pharisees and scribes frequently attacked Jesus, accusing him of being possessed or mad, setting verbal traps for him, and the like (Matthew 12:24; Mark 12:14). In such instances, he bore it with great patience, although he would correct their errors and call out their hypocrisy. However, when the Pharisees attacked his apostles, Jesus never failed to come quickly and firmly to their rescue. Here he defended their simply satiating their hunger. In another passage, Jesus quickly clarified Peter’s confusion about Jesus’s payment of the temple tax by working a miracle (Matthew 17:24-26). When Judas brought the temple guard to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Our Lord said that he was the one for whom they came, so that they should let the apostles go (John 18:8). Jesus will allow us to suffer in following him, but he will also protect and strengthen us on our journey. Our Lord looks after his own.

· Lord of the Sabbath: “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” Throughout his public life, Jesus frequently affirmed his authority. More than once, Jesus said or implied this: “Moses said… but I say to you” (Matthew 5:21-22; Matthew 5:27-28; Matthew 19:7-9). He unambiguously declared that he is a greater authority than Moses. So too, in this passage, Jesus’s ultimate argument in defense of his apostles was his own authority. The same relationship holds between Jesus and his Church. The Church has authority and power from its union with the Lord, and Jesus promised to uphold that union until the end of time (Matthew 28:20). Our confidence in the Church is rooted in our confidence in Jesus and in his promises.

Conversing with Christ: Dear Lord Jesus, I thank you for your protective and provident love in my life. You never allow me to be tempted beyond my ability to resist. You have frequently come to my aid. Please help me to grow in simplicity of heart so that I may avoid the pitfalls of hypocrisy and insincerity. I realize that I am in need of purification, and I will entrust myself to your loving hands.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will try to grow in simplicity by learning to laugh at myself and not take myself too seriously when the occasion arises.

Meditation:

An anonymously given pearl of wisdom says: “Observance without reason is not worship, but idolatry.” Sometimes the practice of our religion can become so convoluted that we lose sight of what is truly important. All our rules, laws and commandments are important! They are necessary guideposts to help us make good choices and decisions so we may truly live as children of the light. But they are a help, a means, and not our goal or the endpoint. Like the Pharisees in today’s Gospel passage we can sometimes be more concerned that all the proper forms are correctly completed than we are with feeding the hungry!

Jesus came among us so that whatever might have separated us from God could be eliminated. As his disciples, we are called to be ministers of reconciliation and not busy ourselves in erecting barriers between God and us or between one another. Some say that William Tyndale fabricated the word “atonement” while he struggled to translate the New Testament into English. He could not adequately find a word to express the reconciliation wrought for us by Christ’s life, death and resurrection and so created “atonement” from “at” and “ornament.”

All of our faith practices, all of our words and deeds should seek to increase our ornament or oneness with God. When they do not, perhaps we, like so many others, so often, have fallen into idolatry.

Lord God, with Your grace may we acknowledge Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath and Lord of our lives and always, seek to make Jesus known, loved and served.

Meditation:

What does the commandment "keep holy the Sabbath" require of us? Or better yet, what is the primary intention behind this command? The religious leaders confronted Jesus on this issue. The "Sabbath rest" was meant to be a time to remember and celebrate God's goodness and the goodness of his work, both in creation and redemption. It was a day set apart for the praise of God, his work of creation, and his saving actions on our behalf. It was intended to bring everyday work to a halt and to provide needed rest and refreshment. Jesus' disciples are scolded by the scribes and Pharisees, not for plucking and eating corn from the fields, but for doing so on the Sabbath. In defending his disciples, Jesus argues from the scriptures that human need has precedence over ritual custom. In their hunger, David and his men ate of the holy bread offered in the Temple (1 Samuel 21:2-7). On every Sabbath morning twelves loaves were laid before God on a golden table in the Holy Place. Each loaf represented one of the twelve tribes of Israel. No one was allowed to eat this bread except the priests because it represented the very presence of God. David understood that human need took precedence over rules and ritual regulations.

Why didn't the Pharisees recognize the claims of mercy over rules and regulations? Their zeal for ritual observance blinded them from the demands of charity. Jesus' reference to the bread of the Presence alludes to the true bread from heaven which he offers to all who believe in him. Jesus, the Son of David, and the Son of Man, a title for the Messiah, declares that he is "Lord of the Sabbath." Jesus healed on the Sabbath and he showed mercy to those in need. All who are burdened can find true rest and refreshment in him. Do you seek rest and refreshment in the Lord and in the celebration of the Lord's Day?

"Lord Jesus, you refresh us with your presence and you sustain us with your life-giving word. Show me how to lift the burden of others, especially those who lack the basic necessities of life, and to refresh them with humble care and service."