Word to the Wise
Saturday, July 18, 2020 - Saturday in the 15th Week in Ordinary Time
[Mic 2:1-5 and Matt 12:14-21]Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles..He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.....[Isaiah, as quoted in Matthew]
The evangelist Matthew invokes the prophet Isaiah to describe the ministry of Jesus. The quotation is taken from one of the "Songs of the Suffering Servant" in Isaiah that we heard during Holy Week! The context here is the confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees over his disciples' pulling grain on the sabbath and Jesus healing on the sabbath. Human need for food and healing takes precedence over Sabbath observance in Jesus' ministry. The opposition from the Pharisees is becoming lethal, as the beginning of today's gospel indicates: The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death!..
.Hatred born of religious motives is very dangerous because those who harbor it are convinced that God is on their side! Social media right now is filled with some blogs that continually attack Pope Francis and his ministry, as well as any bishop that models that ministry!! The Pharisees have given their name to the English language in the term "pharisaic!" This describes such antipathy and opposition well. In the Gospel According to John [16:2}, Jesus warns "The time is coming when those who kill you will think they are offering worship to God!"
Jesus' ministry includes gentle but firm and blunt challenges to both behavior and motives. He can heal the inside as well as the outside if only a heart is open to him. The Pharisees' hearts were closed. How open are ours? AMEN