Great Commandment

Today’s Gospel Text:  But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sad'ducees, they came together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets." Matt 22:34-40

Reflection: What do you call this gathering together of the Pharisees as soon as Jesus silenced the Sadducees?

Isn't it this coming together of people against an injustice, apparently, perpetuated by Jesus a great sign of unity and love among these and that too for a cause?

Yes, it can be possible that Jesus was an unjust man, a false teacher according to these highly learned intellectuals, of whom one was a lawyer: which means a man well versed in the scriptures and the law of Moses.

And who will normally challenge known intellectuals and more so if they are in power?

In a way they were the democratic majority against the individual minority of the sacred Word of God; Jesus Christ.  

May be they looked at Jesus as that trickster who deceives the people and indeed they seem to have that special knowledge of the truth but they were not clear about its application.

What a question to ask? Only the intellectual and wise could answer the question?

It was like asking a spiritual question in a science class: what gives life to the body and if you answer it by your knowledge of science, because you are in a science class, you would fail the test, because the answer is never directly in the plane of ordinary thinking.

Similarly, the answer to the lawyers question was never directly in the Ten Commandments which God had given to the Israelites.

Though the Pharisees knew the answer or at least had an inkling of it, yet they did not seem to measure up to it.

This mystery of history keeps repeating itself and we could likewise have modern day Pharisees too, who could be well versed with doctorates and licentiates but may never measure up to the truth of the Gospel. 

Let’s be practical and seek to live out the commandment and not just know the commandment. 

Also let us never be deceived by those who would not like to know the commandment or faith and want to be purely practical and want to live the faith of Christ without knowing it.

Prayer:  Lord, even your foolishness far surpasses human wisdom; teach us to be wise in your ways. (cfr. 1 Cor. 1:25) 

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Good or Bad

Today’s Gospel Text:  "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. 51 "Have you understood all this?" They said to him, "Yes." 52 And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." 53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there. Matt 13:47-53

Reflection: Some hold on to a view that there is no such thing as good or bad, "it is all in your mind", they say.

Some may not hold on to this view consciously but when it comes to daily situations they do propagate this idea, especially those in the teaching profession when they affirm: “feel free to answer; there is no right or wrong views”.

There are many in this world and it is an ever growing tribe, even among the followers of Christ, with whom it a trend to hold on to a purely subjective view of life.

Someone coming to reason out with you because you oppose this view often is pulverized by their reason. Is it because they are reasonable in their arguments?

No, because their reason knows only one argument: “it is all in your mind” and if they do come out with another argument then they will only be contradicting themselves.

Surely, they should take no offence if they look at all things and everything as good and if they do take everything as bad, then, if they are true to their thinking they will never be in this world for a moment more.

This is not how it is for a Christian, where morality is well defined and may be at times carried to extreme levels, which is a sign of its existence and the immoral pull that keep exerting on us proves it all.

There is a good and there is bad, there is that which is holy and that which is evil and to affirm this moral principle God had to give the commandments to the Israelites as a sign of his objective demand.

Hence we have this parable which brings out the significance of the good and the bad, which is a everyday, every moment reality of life.

Life cannot exist without a constant decision making, based on our limited discernment, in making a choice whether while eating or moving or drinking.

Jesus is that first good; a choice that everyone needs to opt for in order to make a constantly good choice in life.

Prayer:  Lord, we know and believe that when we make a choice for you, you give us your Holy Spirit who will lead us into all truth. (cfr. Jn. 16:13)

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Finger of God

Today’s Gospel Text:  but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?" 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again." John 8:1-11

Reflection: What may have preceded this plot of setting this woman, who was caught in the act of committing adultery, before Jesus?

I am sure they may have been culprits themselves who may have not got their pound of flesh. 

How can a woman alone commit an act of adultery? If she was caught in the act then where is the accomplice in such an act?

Jesus must have picked-up the wicked trap of these extra-smart Scribes and Pharisees?

What then did he write on the ground that spoke so loud and clear to their conscience?

The scripture tell us that Jesus wrote twice on the ground with his finger? Did not God write the Ten Commandments with his finger on two different tablets? Which means in two sittings at one time! 

  

"And he gave to Moses, when he had made an end of speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." Ex 31:18 (Dt. 9:10)  

When God’s finger is at work, there is no room for hardening of hearts (cfr. Ex. 8:19)

Jesus action of bending down to write for the first time suggests that they had notoriously broken the first  part of the commandments and it was their blindness and  hardened hearts that persistently kept on prodding him for an answer to their loaded query.

When he bent down the second time, they knew that the second half of the 10 commandments spoke to them loud and clear, they heard what was being written; “And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. But when they heard it … (vss. 8-9a)

God’s finger spoke in the Old Testament and it can speak again too, it speaks to our hearts to set us free from the yoke of the evil one, who keeps oppressing us towards slavery to sin and wrongdoing. (cfr. Luke 11:20)

Prayer: All powerful God, raise thy finger against every power of evil that may be at work in this thy servant so that I may serve you in the freedom of heart.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us