As Preached by Sister Cecelia
Holy Wisdom Church
The two incidents we
heard in this morning’s Gospel show the Pharisees coming out into the open in opposing
Jesus. In one story, they clearly charge Jesus that he and his disciples are
breaking the Sabbath laws. But they were not breaking any law against stealing
or theft, because one of the merciful laws of the Hebrew testament is that anyone
was free to pluck the grain from the fields, provided they did not use a sickle,
except on the Sabbath.
Jesus and his disciples
had broken four Sabbath laws. They were guilty of reaping by plucking the
grain. Guilty of threshing by rubbing the grain in their hands. Guilty of
winnowing by flinging away the husks. By eating the grain, supposedly they had
prepared the food.
Jesus defended his
followers by using an example the Pharisees all knew quite well from their
education in the Hebrew testament: David provided his hungry followers with the
sacred bread, which generally only the priests were allowed to eat. Jesus asked
the Pharisees: “Have you not read what David did?” Their answer was “yes,” but
it seems they never knew what that action meant. The Pharisees considered that
their codes of conduct and rituals were essential to the daily life of religious
observance. Jesus’ real concern was not the external behaviors but what is in
the heart.
We also have codes of
conduct and our rituals, so in many ways we are like the Pharisees: we have
prescribed rituals for how to celebrate the Eucharist, how to pray the liturgy
of the Hours or other devotions, how to live as a Christian, layperson, or
professed religious. Many of these codes and rituals can be readily seen when
they are carried out or when they are broken. Most of these rituals are based
on our Scriptures. It is possible to know the scriptures from cover to cover
and be able to quote from them verbatim, but completely miss the real meaning
of any of it.
When we read Scripture we
must not say, “Listen, Lord, for your servant is speaking” but rather, “Speak,
Lord, for your servant is listening.”
In listening, what do we
understand about the rituals surrounding the Eucharist? The Eucharist is not
only the center of our worship, but the center of our concern for our quest for
the value and meaning of human life. What we need is to see in Christ the model
of what it means to be a human person, fully alive, and to recognize in others
the image of God.
In the next story we
heard this morning, Jesus knew he was being watched. Without hesitation, he
beckoned the man with a withered right hand to come to the center for all to
see. What do we see in the heart of Christ, and what do we make of the hatred
in the hearts of the Pharisees? The absence of love is the greatest poverty.
Jesus asks, “Is it a good thing to do good on the Sabbath? Is it good to save
rather than to destroy?” Luke points out that it is the right hand of the man
that is withered. Perhaps the man is a right-handed stonemason who cannot work because
of to his withered hand. Kindness and goodwill are indispensable attributes of
the heart that human beings need to be fully alive. The absence of love is the
greatest poverty.
The need for all of us to
pray is clearly indicated by this morning’s Scripture. Jesus frequently went to a mountain and prayed.
After one particular night spent in prayer, Jesus chose his twelve apostles
from his many disciples. These were ordinary men, not an influential person
among them. In fact, they were quite diverse in their occupations and
personalities. Peace and harmony are attainable if we look to Jesus to lead us.
In Christ even the most opposite people may be united in their love for him. If
we really love Christ, we learn to love one another.
Christ is in our midst!
