Mark 2:23-28

To understand the Gospel for today, there is a need for us to understand first the culture of the Jews.

For the Jews, the Sabbath is the holiest day of the week. For them, Sabbath is a rest day. This tradition that has become a law is deeply rooted on two biblical accounts: first, from the Exodus, in the first commandment of God to keep the day of the Lord holy; and second, in the Genesis creation account that tells us that after God created the universe for six days, God rest on the seventh day. Actually, the Hebrew word “Sabbath” is literally translated as REST. From these two biblical traditions, we can now understand that for the Jews, Sabbath is a day of rest and the only thing that an ordinary Jew can do is to participate in the worship of the Lord. This tradition that was adopted and prescribed by the Pharisees has become a law of which every pious Jew should follow. The Pharisees are members of an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law, and commonly held to have pretensions to superior sanctity. They interpreted the ten commandments wherein they had derived 613 Rabbinic laws, which include the Sabbath law. These laws often confused and hindered the people on doing personal judgement of doing what is really pleasing to God and thus, they burdened the people.

Now with Jesus and his disciples, like any other ordinary Jews, it is also a rest day for them that day. Actually they are going to the synagogue to participate in the Jewish worship. For us, we can say that they followed the Sabbath law but for their opponents, the Pharisees, they violated it. 

Ano nga ba ang akusasyon ng mga Pariseo sa mga disipulo ni Hesus? On their way to the synagogue which is their place of worship, they started picking grains and started to chew them. Bakit? Kasi malayo ang lakarin, nakakapagod at pwedeng nakakaboring ang maglakad, kaya ang pwedeng gawin para maibsan ang gutom kahit paano ay ang ngumata ng kung ano man ang meron sa daan. But for the Pharisees, this is not justifiable. Ang pagpitas ng kahit anong pwedeng ngatain ay paglabag sa pagpapahinga. Dahil sa simpleng gutom na ito ng mga alagad ni Hesus ay gusto na nilang tuluyang sirain ang reputasyon ni Hesus. 

Ano ang ibig sabihin ng pagsira sa reputasyon ni Hesus?--Gustong palabasin ng mga Pariseo na si Hesus ay hindi sumusunod sa batas. Tandaan natin na ang pagsunod sa batas ay pamantayan ng kabanalan para sa mga Pariseo. But this strict and rigid way of following the law was merely  external manifestations. Deep within the heart of the jealous Pharisees was their uncanny desire to really discredit and, eventually, harm Jesus.

In my reflection of the Gospel for today I realized that pride leads to anger and misinterpretation. First, anger change us, anger makes us a very difficult person. The Pharisees became so jealous and so biased with Jesus that’s why they started to accuse him even on a senseless basis. Second, Jesus, who is the God who gave the ten commandments was judged by the Pharisees who misinterpreted God’s law. The Pharisees failed to see Jesus as the Son of God and they misinterpreted the law of God.

Bawat institusyon ay may sinusunod na batas o by-laws. Bawat tahanan ay may kanya-kanyang sinusunod na pamantayan. Ganun din, ang bawat isa sa atin ay may mga pinanghahawakang prinsipyo sa buhay. Ang laging tanong sa lahat ng mga ito, mas nangingibabaw po ba ang pagmamahal kaysa sa inaakala nating tama?

Kaya pala noong ako ay nagwo-work pa sa isang construction firm, kapag ang boss ko ay may extra na utos sa akin at sa aming mga tauhan ay nagpapa-meryenda siya. Kapag kami ay may malaking kinita ay nagpapameryenda siya. Kapag may nangailangan na worker ay nagpapahiram siya kasi isini-share niya ang biyaya sa kanya ng Diyos. Kahit maraming deadline, requirements, at kinakailangang quota na kailangang ma-achieve ay hindi nawawala sa boss ko yung “usap tayo, magplano tayo” habang nagmemeryenda. Sabi ng boss ko sa akin, matuto kang makiramdam at matuto kang makinig sa mga sinu-supervised mo kasi marami kang matututunan sa mga workers natin.

To simply say, God is a God of love and the law of God is to love. To understand God, the only way is to listen to Jesus who is the Son of God and who came from God. As persons created in the image of God, we are persons of relationship. As we relate with others, let us communicate to one another a culture of love.

When I was studying moral theology, my ethics professor told us that the manifestation of the human law is justice. But, he also told us that justice is only the minimum of love. I asked him why, and my professor told me, “kasi kung gusto natin ng justice, lagi nating gagawin ang an ‘eye-for-an eye and a tooth-for-tooth’ way of justice’ lagi lang tayong gaganti. But if we know how to love, we can really forgive others without even counting the cost.” Sinabi pa niya sa akin, "We cannot be wrong if we decide on the side of authentic love... with this idea, we can give more and we can truly love more even our worst enemies.”

This authentic love will teach us to feel one another. Tingin pa lang, alam mo na ang pangangailangan ng iyong kapwa. Kasi, this time, ang puso sa puso na ang nag-uusap.  Kapag nakita natin ang ating sarili sa ating kapwa na nakakaramdam ng gutom, pag-iisa, pangungulila, kawalang katarungan, ng ginaw, ng awa... ay doon na natin nasisimulang makita ang Diyos na sumasaatin. Ang authentic love na ito ay mula sa Banal na Espirito na nagbibigay pag-asa at kalakasan para sa atin na unawain ang ating kapwa upang maintindihan at masamahan siya. Natututo tayong magparaya dahil sa pag-ibig na nagpapatibok ng ating puso. Kapag natuto na tayong magparaya ay nagiging mas mapagmahal na tayo bilang tao kasi kaya na nating isuko ang mga personal nating kagustuhan para sa ikabubuti ng ating kapwa.

Last December 25, maraming doktor, nurses at medical staff ng FEU ang nagpasko sa hospital. Pagkatapos ng ating Christmas Eve Mass ay may mga nakita akong mga nurses na nag-ambagan sa kanilang pang Noche Buena. Niyaya nila ako na saluhan ang simpleng salo-salo nila na pizza at softdrinks at naramdaman ko na hindi naman sila nakaramdam na malayo sila sa kanilang pamilya. Sa ilalim ng malaki nating Christmas tree sa lounge ay nagpicture taking sila na parang isang malaking pamilya. Kanya-kanya silang tawag sa bahay ng may ngiti na para bang kung madadala lamang nila ang kanilang mga pamilya rito ay nais nilang iparamdam at sabihing, "Nanay, Tatay... okay lang po ako... huwag na po kayong malungkot... sa susunod na araw naman ay makakauwi rin naman ako pagkatapos ko magduty dito sa hospital." Natatandaan ko, noong mga bata pa kami, pangarap ng bunso kong kapatid na maging isang nurse. Pero ngayong malaki na kami, sinabi niya sa akin na, "Kuya, ang hirap pala maging nurse kasi mawawalay ka pala sa pamilya mo kahit na may malalaking okasyon." Ito yung sinasabi kong pagmamahal na ginagawa po ninyo... na sa halip na unahin natin ang sarili natin ay mas inuuna natin ang kapakanan ng ating kapwa na may sakit at naghihingalo dito sa ating ospital. Mapalad po kayo sapagkat ngayon pa lang ay nakikibahagi na kayo sa healing ministry ng ating mahal na Panginoon.

Brothers and sisters—pride leads to anger and jealousy which could enslave us. To be truly free we need to forgive and also ask the forgiveness of others. This is the real Sabbath, the feeling of rest in our life when we find peace deep within because we could always feel the love of God within us. In this life, to understand the teaching of Jesus regarding authentic love, we need first to let go of our own selves so that we can become an authentic person of love for the others.

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There was a time when I went to a Focolare School of Oriental Studies at Tagaytay. The Focolare, which is translated as “People of the Fire”, is a congregation of laypeople who propagates the love of God by loving our neighbor. There at the Folocolare community, we were with other students from other countries. They observed that Filipinos like me loves to eat almost six times a day which include our three main meals and in-between meriendas plus our midnight snacks. They asked me why so I told them that, we Filipinos loves to bond and eating together is one of our expression of loving one another. I was actually saddened when they told me that in their country, they would not eat if they don’t work.