Sunday: 9 TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME Date: March 5, 2000 Year: B The readings: [Dt. 5:12-5; 2 Cor. 4:6-11; Mk. 2:23-3:6] The message: SHINING IN THE GLORY OF GOD. Prepared by: CATHOLIC DOORS MINISTRY Total words: 1680 |
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"Shining in the glory of God!" is the message that the Lord is relating to us today. Each of the three readings that we have just heard echo this beautiful message.
In the First Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, God commanded His people to observe the Sabbath Day and to keep it holy. God reminded His people of the days when they were slaves in the land of Egypt and when by His mighty hand, He freed them from slavery.
From this command, we are able to focus our hearts on two factors. First of all, the holiness of the Sabbath Day is associated with the seventh day of creation. [Gen. 2:2] Secondly, the Sabbath Day is associated with the people being freed from slavery, [Dt. 5:15] they being told to now rest in the land that the Lord had given them.
When applying a spiritual approach and combining these two factors, we are able to perceive that in the days of the Old Testament, the obedience of the children of God to His Commandments was the proof of their living faith, that they were shining forth in the glory of God as a holy people.
Itemizing the outcome of these important factors, we have:
1) God's children were free.
2) They rested in the Promised Land that the Lord had given them.
3) They obeyed the Commandments which came from the Old Covenant of the Law.
4) Through their obedience, their testimony of their living faith, God's children shined in His glory.
Hearing of these factors, using a spiritual approach, have any of you made the connection? Can you see the parallel between the Old Covenant of the Law and the New Covenant of grace?
Today, it can be said that:
1) We as God's children are free. We have been freed by the Blood of Christ.
2) We also find rest in the land that the Lord has given us. Our land is the growing spiritual Kingdom of God on earth to which we belong as baptized members of the Body of Christ.
3) We obey the new Commandments that Jesus has given us through the New Covenant of grace. The first and greatest is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with your soul, and with all your mind." The second is," You shall love your neighbour as yourself." [Mt. 22:38-9]
4) And finally, through our obedience to the Commandments of love, it is the testimony of our living faith, that we do shine forth in the glory of God.
Reviewing the Second Reading from the Second Letter to the Corinthians, we are spiritually enlightened as to how we happen to shine forth in the glory of God.
St. Paul begins by telling us that the God who at creation said, "Let light shine out of darkness," [Gen. 1:3] is the same God who shines in our hearts to give us the necessary light to perceive the Heavenly Father's glory that is found in Jesus Christ.
Through our hearts, we are able to perceive the glory of God the Father in Jesus. We are able to perceive that Jesus and the Father are One. [Jn. 10:30] We are able to perceive that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. [Col. 1:15] We are able to perceive that in Jesus, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell bodily. [Col. 1:19, 2:9] Through our hearts, we are able to perceive that Jesus is the reflection of God the Father's glory and the exact imprint of His very being. [Heb. 1:3]
St. Paul proceeds by telling us how this happens. It is because we have this treasure in clay jars that makes it possible for us to perceive that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.
What is this treasure in clay jars? It is the fruit of the Sacrament of Baptism. It is the fulfillment of God's promises of the New Covenant that are found in the Old Testament. It is the gifts of the indwelling Holy Spirit over and above us receiving a new heart and a new human spirit. [Ezek. 11:19-20; 18:31; 36:26-7; Jer. 31:31, 3; 1 Cor. 3:16]
Through the spiritual nature of our new creation, we are being taught and guided by the indwelling Holy Spirit who inspires us in the truth. We are able to spiritually elevate our minds by giving credit where it belongs. We are able to acknowledge the supreme power and infinite glory of God.
As St. Paul says, we may be tormented, but we are not defeated. We may be confused, but not driven to hopelessness. We may be persecuted, but not forsaken. No matter what is done to us, we have this living hope in Christ in who we find our rest. When we are tormented, confused or persecuted, we know that we can turn to Jesus for spiritual support, to find that inner peace and joy that uplifts the believers in Christ, encouraging them to persevere to the end.
And, if we are struck down while testifying for Christ, we are not destroyed. We have that assurance of salvation through our faith in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit that is manifested through the Sacraments of the Holy Catholic Church. As new creations, we shall live on. Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we resurrected with Christ through His Blood.
In our bodies is manifested the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible. In our bodies dwells the gift of the Holy Spirit, our hope and our strength. Our new creation is proof that our old self that was stained by the Adamic seed, it has died with Christ. Now, in our new holy nature, by the grace of God the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit, we shine forth in the glory of God.
While we live, we are always being given up as dead for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. While we are in this world, we are not of this world. Within us dwells a new heart that is called to mature in Christ. We are called to obey the Lord and to serve Him in humility. We are dead to the world but we are alive in Christ!
Today's Third Reading from the Gospel of Mark is a perfect example of how we are dead to the world and alive in Christ. Christ Himself is our perfect example. Being dead to the world for the glory of the Heavenly Father, He obeyed God the Father until the end, even unto death. Jesus shined forth in the glory of God, the fullness of the Heavenly Father being found in Him.
Jesus teaches us a lesson. At times, the needs of the people takes over the strict observance of the Law so that God may be glorified.
Knowing that His disciples were hungry, Jesus allowed them to pluck heads of grain on the Sabbath. Jesus knew that the body must be fed in order for the mind to function spiritually. How could the disciples of Jesus do the Lord's work to glorify God the Father if they were suffering from hunger? They could not do it!
In the same Reading, Jesus healed the man with the withered hand, again disregarding the Law of the Sabbath.
Through those acts of Divine love and goodness, Jesus attempted to give those who were present a spiritual message. "The sabbath was made for people, and not people for the sabbath." In other words, thinking spiritually, the Sabbath is the fulfillment of God's promise to rest in the Promise Land. It is a time of joy and peace, when one, through his words and actions, should be glorifying the Lord God in spirit. God set the Sabbath aside for the people! The spiritual well-being of the people is what is more important. It is not the strict obligation to observe the Sabbath, such thinking being worldly minded.
Those who are spiritually minded live by the two Commandments of love that were previously mentioned. They seek to glorify God in all things. By the grace of God the Father and the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, they shine in the world. Perceiving the Divine Presence of Jesus in others, they overlook the ceremonial obligations when the physical and spiritual needs of others must be met.
Now, please do not get me wrong in what I am saying here. I am not saying that it is more Christian to visit someone on Sunday then it is to participate in the celebration of the Holy Mass where you receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the Living Bread.
What I am saying is, go forward with a spiritual attitude and help the others who's physical and spiritual needs are not being met on Sundays. If you know someone who is handicap and cannot get to Church, reach out to that person and provide transportation if you have the means.
If you know someone who is dying in the hospital on a Sunday, in that unique situation, it is more important to be by his bedside than being in the Church. The dying person needs your spiritual support to persevere to the last moment.
If your child is sick at home with measles, it is more important for you to be at home to provide tender loving care to your child than being in Church where you might contaminate others with a communicable virus.
In other words, embracing a spiritual way, do what Jesus would do if He was faced with the unique situation that you might be faced with.
As you reflect over today's Word of God, may the glory of God shine through you this week as you go forward to do His glorious work by the power of His Spirit in the Most Holy Name of Jesus.
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The readings...
[The readings were taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (C) 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America.]
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First Reading...
"The Lord says this: 'Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work - you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you.
Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.'" [Dt. 5:12-5]
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Second Reading...
"It is the God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.
For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh." [2 Cor. 4:6-11]
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Gospel Reading...
"One sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, 'Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?'
And Jesus said to them, 'Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.'
Then he said to them, 'The sabbath was made for people, and not people for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.'
Again Jesus entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched Jesus to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, 'Come forward.' Then he said to the Pharisees, 'Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?' But they were silent.
Jesus looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against Jesus, how to destroy him." [Mk. 2:23-3:6]
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