Word to the Wise
Saturday, July 16, 2016 - Saturday in the 15th Week in Ordinary Time
[Mic 2:1-5 and Matt 12:14-21]The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place. Many people followe him, and he cured them all but he warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet...[Matthew]
The Lectionary is designed to give as much of the Gospels as possible over a two year cycle for daily scriptures (Years I and II) and a three year cycle for Sunday scriptures (Cycles A-B-C). This means that there will be some "hop-scotching' or "digesting," which can result in some parts of the bigger story being skipped over in the interest of broader coverage. An example of that occurs today when we go from grain picking on the Sabbath to plotting by the Pharisees against Jesus. There is an intervening incident between the two that is omitted in which Jesus cures a man with a withered hand in a synagogue on the sabbath. There he accuses the Pharisees of taking better care of their farm animals than their fellow Jews because they will lead their animals to water on that day but will forbid healing human being! So, the grain-picking and the hand healing go together to aggravate the Pharisees to the point of plotting to kill Jesus.
However, the evangelist has a longer (16 more chapters) and bigger story to tell, so he reminds us that even if the Pharisees are plotting, we need to remember just who they are plotting against. As he did during his infancy narrative about Jesus origins, he makes sure that we know that all of this is in fulfillment of what was prophesied long ago by Isaiah and other prophets. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. So, the plotters play their part but there is a bigger plan in motion as well.
Along the way there are wonderful lessons in priority-setting. Does worship trump human need? Shouldn't the former reflect what we do for the latter? The prophets certainly say so. Micah the prophet in today's first reading goes after predatory and greedy powers. As we make our way through Matthew's story of Jesus, we keep the big picture in mind but we don't ignore all the lessons and warnings that have great relevance for us in our day. AMEN
config
view
logs
4096.0 KB
86 ms
4
