Daily Readings
Saturday January 22
Saturday of 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
Hungry for the Message
A messenger comes to announce to David that King Saul and his Son Jonathan have died in battle and David mourns them deeply, even though Saul had sought David’s life.
The few verses of today’s Gospel tell us no more than that the crowd was so eager to hear Jesus’ message, that they left him and the disciples not even the time to eat.
First Reading: 2 Sm 1:1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27
Shortly after Saul died, David returned to Ziklag from his rout of the Amalekites. Three days later a man showed up unannounced from Saul’s army camp.
2-3 Disheveled and obviously in mourning, he fell to his knees in respect before David. David asked, “What brings you here?”
He answered, “I’ve just escaped from the camp of Israel.”
4 “So what happened?” said David. “What’s the news?”
He said, “The Israelites have fled the battlefield, leaving a lot of their dead comrades behind. And Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”
In lament, David ripped his clothes to ribbons. All the men with him did the same. They wept and fasted the rest of the day, grieving the death of Saul and his son Jonathan, and also the army of God and the nation Israel, victims in a failed battle.
Oh, oh, Gazelles of Israel, struck down on your hills,
the mighty warriors—fallen, fallen!
Don’t announce it in the city of Gath,
don’t post the news in the streets of Ashkelon.
Don’t give those coarse Philistine girls
one more excuse for a drunken party!
No more dew or rain for you, hills of Gilboa,
and not a drop from springs and wells,
For there the warriors’ shields were dragged through the mud,
Saul’s shield left there to rot.
Gospel Mk 3:20-21
Jesus came home and, as usual, a crowd gathered—so many making demands on him that there wasn’t even time to eat. His friends heard what was going on and went to rescue him, by force if necessary. They suspected he was believing his own press.
Prayer
Our saving God,
you have shown your people mercy
in your Son, Jesus Christ.
May we belong to him,
that we may come to love him deeply
and in this way, know him as he is,
and also know you as our Father.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Reflection:
Criticisms and Crosses indicate whether your life in faith is true or not.
So radical was the novelty of the teachings of Jesus that not even his own family understood him. They, thought that he was not mentally sound and therefore, wanted to take him away. They were scared of what Jesus was doing in their little world. His family was worried, perhaps also because of religious reasons. Jesus’ way of provoking the pharisees and the teachers of the law could bring troubles to his family too.
They had all the reasons to believe that Jesus had gone crazy. If not craziness, who would dare to question the age-old laws and traditions such as observing sabbath and fasting? It antagonised the religious leaders of the time. Which sensible person would dare to choose a tax collector along with a group of fishermen to be his close aids?
When we read the passage now, we feel sorry for the family members of Jesus for not understanding Jesus and his new teachings. But today, in the Church, do we not claim to be the family of Jesus? We the modern family of Jesus has a lot in common with his original family in Nazareth. Like them, We too fail to understand him.
When the Council of Vatican II was announced, many in the leadership of the Church believed that Pope St. John XXIII had gone crazy and fought with him to stop him from convening the council. Many cardinals, bishops and leaders of the Church opposed the reforms suggested by the council. The Family of Jesus still fails to understand the compassionate, merciful face of Jesus.
When Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of female prisoners on Holy Thursday in the early days of his papacy, when he called for greater pastoral concern for the broken families, their children, and people of different sexual orientations, when he raised his concerns on care for our common home and migrants and refugees, many called him heretical. Some in this Family of Jesus still consider him not the rightful Pope or the Pope has gone crazy!
We may have concrete examples in our own families and society where we live. Imagine how many of those aspirants to consecrated life have had to fight against opposition from their parents or friends. Let us be sure about this: If you were never discouraged or criticised for your faith in Christ by people, it is an indication that your faith must be shallow.
We know that Jesus looked at us first and called us to follow him. Our call is to remain faithful to his love and call. In our daily life, we also have moments of laziness, of tiredness, of feelings that we are away from God. It is good to look back, to remember the moments where we lived close to the Lord and we were supported by his love.