He Is Lord Of Heaven And Earth

𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐓. 𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐂𝐨𝐥 𝟏:𝟐𝟏-𝟐𝟑

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟓𝟒:𝟑-𝟒, 𝟔-𝟖 “𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟔:𝟏-𝟓

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒉.” (𝒗.5)

         Many times, in our lives we become preoccupied with the very bad habit of finding fault in others and this is especially true for those who have been brought to the renewal movement or even among those who have become active in church work.

         Experiencing a spiritual high after our Baptism in the Spirit we at times move about as if we are floating on air and worse there may have been instances when we tend to separate ourselves from the rest of the world especially those whom we see as unrighteous.

         Most often time we feel that we alone have been given the privilege to enter into the sanctuary of Our Lord and unlike those still in the world, we praise God with all our might believing that the manner in which we praise God in our prayer meetings is the right way.

         Believing that we were given new eyes we tend to overemphasize the spirit that is within us such that we oftentimes verbalize the difference between the right and wrong that we see. The slightest mistake won’t escape our attention and we try to correct the imperfections we see in the Name of the Lord.

         In other words, many of us may have become like the Pharisees without our even knowing it. We are carried by the strong undercurrent of our newfound faith that it is possible that we are creating a new spiritual dimension that is opposed to the teachings of Jesus.

         The political, economic and social disequilibrium that we are experiencing today  gives us enough reason to spend some quiet time and listen to the teachings of Jesus because when we do things in our own way we alienate ourselves from the Church. Doing so may delude us into thinking that this is coming from our faith but what we may not be aware of is that this may be the work of the devil whose sole objective is to divide the Church.

         There may be times we open the Scriptures, and we may be reading it but the fact is we remain oblivious to the truth that is hidden in the written Word. We marvel at the beauty of the sea and the expanse of the ocean not knowing that the real beauty is in the pearl that lies on the ocean floor.

         We are awed by the majesty of the mountain before us, yet the real treasure lies deep beneath what we see. And we can only savor the beauty of the pearl and or the gold if we try to go deeper into the ocean and or the mountains and extract it.

         This is the same with the Scriptures. We need to go beyond and beneath what is written and what our eyes see. What we see must trigger our other senses so that we can extract what Our Lord is telling us. This is where the Pharisees erred, and today’s Gospel clearly shows us that we need to be attentive to what Our Lord is telling us.

         Here we see the Pharisees finding fault at the disciples of Jesus who plucked the ears of the corn as they passed by the cornfields. Traditionally during the time of Jesus, it was not a crime to pluck the ears of the corn to be eaten by those who may be hungry and who may be passing through the cornfield.

         What the Pharisees are complaining about was that the disciples plucked the corn on the day of the Sabbath and for the Jews there are 39 types of activities that are forbidden on the Sabbath and harvesting is one of these.

         But Jesus countered by citing the Words of the Scriptures during the time of David when 12 loaves of bread representing the 12 tribes of Israel are placed at the Temple and the priests are allowed to eat it. Jesus also narrated the story about David who was fleeing from Saul who partook of this bread at the Temple as their physical sustenance was more important than the rituals.

         What Jesus was trying to imply was that if the Pharisees will condemn him and his disciples for violating the Sabbath, they should also condemn David and, Jesus went on to say at the end of this Gospel story that: “𝑰, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒂𝒏, 𝒂𝒎 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒉.” (𝒗.5) This simply means that it was God who created the Sabbath and that the Creator is always greater than what was created.

         The point of this Gospel is the Pharisees missed the message in what the Scriptures said about David in 𝟏 𝐒𝐚𝐦 𝟐𝟏:𝟏-𝟔. Like some of us, the Pharisees have closed their minds and have used the Scriptures to find fault in others but not to know what God is saying in the Scriptures.

         We too can miss the mark if we come to the Scriptures by simply reading it and trying to find a passage, a verse or a word that we can use to sustain that which we have already formed in our minds. We miss the mark, and it removes our eyes on Jesus when we use the Scriptures to find fault in others. In other words, we may be reading the Scriptures for the purpose of validating what we have formed in our minds and not knowing what the Lord is telling us.

         We must come to the Scriptures not only to understand what the writers of the Bible meant for which we need to arm ourselves with the Concordance, Bible Commentaries, Bible Dictionary, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Papal Encyclicals especially those written by Saint John Paul II during his Papacy, and for those who are really serious in getting steeped into their Catholic Faith, the 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒂 of St. Thomas remains on top of the book shelf and I am recommending this for everyone who are interested to know the theological principles of the Catholic faith.

         All things considered, what we all need to do before we open the Holy Scriptures is simply pray and invite the Holy Spirit to move in our hearts and our minds, to provide us with the divine light to help us see through what is written and to know what the Lord is telling us.

         We must all come and approach the Word of God that has been captured by the authors of the 72 Books who were all inspired by the Holy Spirit with a mind that is predisposed to understanding what is before us as well as the need to know the Will of God for us.

         I heard Mark Nimo, a Catholic Evangelist from Chicago, speak at an international convention of charismatic leaders that Malou and me attended some years back and he said that there are two important dates in our lives – the day we were born and the day we found the Will of God for us. And this is what we will find in the Scriptures – the purpose and the reason why we were born and, the Will of God for us. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵. 6, 2025)