Jesus Is Lord Of All

𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐘 𝟏𝟖, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐄𝐱𝐨 𝟏𝟏:𝟏𝟎-𝟏𝟐, 𝟏𝟒

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟏𝟔:𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟖 “𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝟏𝟐:𝟏-𝟖  

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒉.” (𝒗.8) 

𝐉𝐄𝐒𝐔𝐒: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐋𝐋

         The Gospel reading today brings into focus the intensity with which the Pharisees observe their religious laws and beliefs. To the Jews the Sabbath is a holy day in which everyone is commanded to take the day off, but they are not to do anything that would require some effort or a burden on the part of the person.

         The Jews equate burden with the weight of at least two dried figs which means that to pick up two dried figs in your front yard or back yard can be considered a violation of the Law of the Sabbath. But what the Jews aren’t aware of was that these set of Laws are also beginning to become a burden to the people and Jesus is primarily being blamed for bringing to light the burdens the people carried.

         The question in this Gospel passage is did the Apostles violate the Law of the Sabbath when they plucked the ears of the corn as they passed by the ripened field. They rubbed it in their hands to clean it and eat it raw. To the Pharisees who saw it this was a violation of the Law.

         And Jesus responded by asking the Pharisees “𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅?” quoting from 𝟏 𝐒𝐚𝐦 𝟐𝟏:𝟏-𝟔 where it is written that David entered a Temple and partook of the consecrated bread because he was hungry. The Apostles too were hungry following a day of following Jesus who said that to pluck the ear of a corn was not a violation of the Law and again Jesus bluntly told the Pharisees using the words in 𝑯𝒐𝒔 6:6 “𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑰 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒚, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔.”       

         What Jesus was saying was that religious laws must be able to bring people closer to God and not to the rituals that accompany worship. Even in the prayer meetings of charismatic communities, if the people become more concerned with the means of worship than with the one they worship, they will miss the real presence of God in their lives believing that they are worshiping Him.

         Remember too that the Sabbath was never given to the church. The Sabbath is given to the people as a day of spiritual blessing. For us believers in the present day, our covenant day is the first day of the week which we now know as the Lord’s Day, the day of the resurrection.

         In quoting from 𝐇𝐨𝐬 𝟔:𝟔, Jesus emphasizes that God is more interested in the heart than in empty outward observances and he boldly stated that He, not the Pharisees, was the Lord of the Sabbath “𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒉” (𝒗.8) which was another way of Him claiming to be God, since it was God who had ordained the Sabbath.

         What Jesus said drew even more criticisms from the Pharisees because to them this was blasphemous but what they did not understand at the time was that Jesus had all the right to say it because He is the Lord who made the Sabbath and this was a fact that the Pharisees refused to accept.

         To Jesus, far more important than the ritual of worship is the need to serve those in need and this is an area that we need to ask ourselves. Have we become so enamored by the rituals in our church or community that we try to become excellent in the conduct of our prayer meetings but neglecting the more important aspect of worship which is to evangelize? Where is worship in that?

         A whole compendium of Papal Encyclicals provide us with the mission of the Catholic Church that is anchored not on the rituals of our worship but in our getting involved in all the problems and demands of the world and the people around us especially those who have been deprived of their share in the wealth of the earth and the need to bring the Gospel message to the oppressed and the marginalized.

         And most often this is where worship begin to diminish as we replace our mandate to evangelize with projects and programs which are also good but which must be treated as the fruit of evangelization rather than regard these as the main preoccupation of every Christian.

         As we go through life, we will definitely come face to face with life’s standards – the human standard and God’s standard – and never the twain shall meet. Just as with the Apostles who were plucking the ears of the corn on a Sabbath, we too are sometimes judged in accord with human standards. 

         This is the same with how the charismatic renewal is related to the conversion experience of a person. The encounter with Christ that is at the heart of the Life in the Spirit seminar is an opportunity through which the conversion of a person is achieved.

         There are times, however, when conversion takes a different path. Some will emerge from the experience as a new person, humbled by his nothingness before Christ who died that we may live. But there are some who will step out of the LSS with an attitude that is worse than when they came in. Being created in the image and likeness of God means we can be like God but we cannot be God.

         When Jesus said “𝑰 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆” he was simply saying that the object of worship should be the focal point of worship and not the rituals. In the same way, to spread the Gospel of Christ should be the goal of every church or community over and above whatever projects and programs there are.

         At the end of the day, what Jesus is telling us is what the Psalmist said in 𝑷𝒔𝒂 40:8 “𝑰 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍, 𝑶 𝒎𝒚 𝑮𝒐𝒅; 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒘 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕.” The Sabbath indeed, if we are to take the words of Jesus to heart, should be used not only for our own human development as a disciple but to be used to bring God to the world. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 18, 2025)