Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
But the LORD said to Samuel: “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27-28
Piety
An Intimate Request
How do you, Lord, look at me?
What do you feel in your heart for me?
-- John Egan, SJ
(From Hearts on Fire: Praying with Jesuits, edited by Michael Harter, SJ.
Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/012208.shtml
“Make it so.” With those words, Star Trek’s Captain Picard would empower his First Officer to get the crew to follow an order. Then the First Officer, Commander Riker, would have the authority to execute the captain’s plan.
In work and in life, we sometimes also need authority before we can get anything done. All of us have responsibilities to get certain tasks completed. However, sometimes, we need others to act in concert with us. In those cases, we also need some authority to confirm our influence of others.
We see David get anointed with such responsibility by Samuel in the first reading. However, David was not Samuel’s first choice. He wasn’t even the sixth choice that Samuel presented. They eliminated all seven other sons of Jesse before they finally called in David from watching the sheep. Samuel did not see how God sees. He had to, by trial and error, come to the right outcome. Man did not choose the same way God chose. Only God could see what was in David’s pure heart.
David gets his authority from the anointing by Samuel. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David. Christ gets his authority from both the baptism by John and some compelling words from God (“This is my beloved son.”). Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Christ.
However, Jesus still finds himself having to defend the root of his authority before the Pharisees. The real issue here is not about eating seeds of grain. The real issue is establishing the diving roots of Christ’s authority as opposed to the interpretation of mere humans. Today’s reading attempts to resolve yet another conflict that crops us between Jesus and the Pharisees, who did not witness his Baptism in the
Action
We got our responsibility and authority to act in our initiation into Christianity, through Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation. Through these sacraments, we take on our mantle as priest, prophet and king. Through these sacraments, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon us. We not only must go out to fulfill our mission, we also must work to spread the word. Once we do that evangelical work, the next step is to encourage others to join us (Make a friend. Be a friend. Bring a friend to Christ.).
Our job is not to fulfill human directives. Instead, we must discern God’s intention for all of us. It is not up to us to pass on work for others to accomplish. It is up to us as followers of Christ and as Cursillistas to accept and complete the tasks assigned.
Imagine that we are in the line-up with Jesse’s sons. How does God look at you? Take some time to listen to the Lord and work on finding out what God has in mind for you. Through this discernment, we can begin to find out what is in the plan for us.
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