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“The Temptation of St Anthony Abbot”
by Annibale Carracci, 1597-98 |
Readings for Monday of the
Second Week in Ordinary Time [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem
Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading I: 1 Samuel 15:16-23
Samuel said to Saul:“Stop! Let me tell you what
the LORD said to me last night.”Saul replied, “Speak!” Samuel then said: “Though
little in your own esteem,are you not leader of the
tribes of Israel?The LORD anointed you king of
Israel
and sent you on a mission, saying,‘Go and put the sinful
Amalekites under a ban of destruction.Fight against them until you
have exterminated them.’Why then have you disobeyed
the LORD?You have pounced on the
spoil, thus displeasing the LORD.”Saul answered Samuel: “I did indeed obey the LORDand fulfill the mission on
which the LORD sent me.I have brought back Agag, and
I have destroyed Amalek under the ban.But from the spoil the men
took sheep and oxen,the best of what had been
banned,to sacrifice to the LORD
their God in Gilgal.”But Samuel said:“Does the LORD so delight in
burnt offerings and sacrificesas in obedience to the
command of the LORD?Obedience is better than
sacrifice,and submission than the fat
of rams.For a sin like divination is
rebellion,and presumption is the crime
of idolatry.Because you have rejected the
command of the LORD,he, too, has rejected you as
ruler.” -------------------------------------------Commentary on 1 Sm 15:16-23
Saul had been sent by God through Samuel to destroy utterly the
Amalekites. However, Saul did not do so; rather his forces did not wish to
destroy the wealth and slaves they might take and so they despoiled the
Amalekites and spared the life of King Agag. In doing this, Saul committed the
sin of “divination” (predicting the will of God without authority).
An important distinction is made in this discourse regarding what
God desires from his children. God desires an attitude of love and obedience
rather than simply rituals of sacrifice. (See also Psalm 51:19-21.)
As a consequence of this disobedience (and in spite of Saul’s
apparent repentance), God decrees that he is to be rejected as ruler and king
of Israel. This opens the way for the appointment of King David and the
messianic dynasty
-------------------------------------------Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23
R. (23b) To the upright I will show the saving power
of God.
“Not for your sacrifices do I
rebuke you,for your burnt offerings are
before me always.I take from your house no
bullock,no goats out of your fold.”R. To the upright I will
show the saving power of God.
“Why do you recite my
statutes,and profess my covenant with
your mouth,Though you hate disciplineand cast my words behind
you?”R. To the upright I will
show the saving power of God.
“When you do these things,
shall I be deaf to it?Or do you think that I am
like yourself?I will correct you by drawing
them up before your eyes.He that offers praise as a
sacrifice glorifies me;and to him that goes the
right way I will show the salvation of God.”R. To the upright I will
show the saving power of God.
-------------------------------------------Commentary on Ps 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23
Psalm 50 has what is known as a “prophetic liturgy” structure. It
was probably used as part of one of the Hebrew feasts (most likely dealing with
the renewal of the covenant, possibly the Feast of Tabernacles). It is also
considered a “covenant lawsuit,” that is a lament against those who have
violated God’s law and the covenant made with the Lord upon which the law was
based. Echoing the charges leveled against Israel by the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 1:10-17), the
psalmist condemns empty ritual and sacrifice not reflective of external actions
and internal faith.
The psalm is didactic. Although sacrifice is mentioned, it is more
the sincerity of those offerings in homage to God that is in question: “Why
do you recite my statutes, and profess my covenant with your mouth, though you
hate discipline and cast my words behind you?” The psalmist calls the
people to authentic action that will merit God’s salvation. God wants genuine
obedience and sincere praise. He rebukes the hypocritical worshiper. Used in
conjunction with 1
Samuel 15:16-23, we can see this as a pronouncement against Saul’s
rationalization about the will of God.
-------------------------------------------Gospel: Mark 2:18-22
The disciples of John and of
the Pharisees were accustomed to fast.People came to Jesus and
objected,“Why do the disciples of John
and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,but your disciples do not
fast?”Jesus answered them,“Can the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?As long as they have the
bridegroom with them they cannot fast.But the days will come when
the bridegroom is taken away from them,and then they will fast on
that day.No one sews a piece of
unshrunken cloth on an old cloak.If he does, its fullness
pulls away,the new from the old, and the
tear gets worse.Likewise, no one pours new
wine into old wineskins.Otherwise, the wine will
burst the skins,and both the wine and the
skins are ruined.Rather, new wine is poured
into fresh wineskins.”-------------------------------------------Commentary on Mk 2:18-22
Jesus is confronted by “some of the people”
about why his disciples do not fast as the disciples of St. John and the
Pharisees do. Ritual fasting is done as a sign of mourning or repentance,
which is why Jesus makes the remarks he does; the time for mourning had not yet
come.
In response to the question by the Pharisees,
Jesus uses an Old Testament metaphor in which God’s relation to his covenant
people is a marriage (see Hosea
2:16-20, Isaiah
54:5-6, Jeremiah
2:2, Ezekiel
16:32 ff) “Can the wedding guests fast? The bridal
metaphor expresses a new relationship of love between God and his people in the
person and mission of Jesus to his disciples. It is the inauguration of the new
and joyful messianic time of fulfillment and the passing of the old. Any
attempt at assimilating the Pharisaic practice of fasting, or of extending the
preparatory discipline of John's disciples beyond the arrival of the
bridegroom, would be as futile as sewing a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old
cloak or pouring new wine into old wineskins with the resulting destruction of
both cloth and wine (Mark 2:21-22). Fasting is
rendered superfluous during the earthly ministry of Jesus; cf. Mark
2:20.” [4]
CCC: Mk
2:19 796
-------------------------------------------Reflection:
As we listen to St. Mark’s
Gospel we find Jesus doing his best to use human language to explain the new
revelation he brings. Before Jesus came
there was always difficulty in understanding what God wanted from his people. Even those early servants of Israel, as we
see in the reading from the First Book of Samuel, had difficulty in
understanding what God wanted from them
In the story of Saul and
Samuel, Saul was clearly instructed by Samuel, who carried prophet-like status,
to destroy the enemy of the people, the Amalekites. This was to be done because of the sinful
nature of that nation. But Saul
interpreted Samuel’s instructions differently and greed caused him to
rationalize that God didn’t really want all that the Amalekites owned
destroyed. He would want the soldiers to
reap the benefit of their effort (not to mention Saul’s personal fortune). So when he was confronted, he first said that
the spoils were taken to be ritually sacrificed to God, thinking that would
deflect the Lord’s anger. For his
duplicity and disobedience to God, Saul loses God’s favor.
In the Gospel, the Jews,
using rituals and fasting, have also failed to understand what God wants from
his people. Something new has been added
and the Jews have failed to grasp it.
Jesus, who is God, is among them and they expect his disciples who
recognize this fact to fast as Moses taught because they needed to sacrifice to
God, in atonement for their sins. Jesus
tries to explain in parables that the old sacrifices are counterproductive. That kind of sacrifice is not needed while
God walks in their midst. Further, using
the analogy of the wineskins, he points out that, once they understand what God
reveals to them in Christ, they will no longer need the sacrifices they now
perform. Jesus becomes the sacrifice,
made once for the whole human race, for all time.
In our own day, we also fall
into the trap of greed that destroyed the favored status of Saul. We rationalize that God would want us to be
happy so we should do what makes us feel good, even if it goes against what we
know he has commanded.
It is a difficult thing to
do, understanding what God truly wants from us.
But this we know, the test for figuring it out is straightforward. If what we do is for God’s greater glory, not
our own, we are headed in the right direction.
If what we choose demonstrates a love of God and our neighbor (and
self), we have obeyed Christ’s great commandment. On the other hand, if what we do (or consciously
fail to do) places us above God or is injurious to our neighbor (or our self),
we join Saul in the Lord’s disfavor and need to seek reconciliation and
forgiveness.
Our prayer today is that we
may be graced to see clearly the path God has placed before us and given the
strength to do what we know is pleasing in his sight.
Pax
[1]
The icon is “The Temptation of St Anthony Abbot” by Annibale Carracci, 1597-98.
[2]
S.S. Commemoratio[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the
psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.
[4]
NAB footnote for Mark 2:18-22.
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