REFLECTIONS TODAY
The late Bible scholar Fr. John Meier entitled his books on the “historical Jesus” A Marginal Jew.
Jesus does not act and teach in the mold of a Jewish rabbi. He is a celibate, teaches with an authority equal to or greater than Moses’, and loves the company of people in the “margins” of Jewish society: the poor, the sick, tax collectors, and sinners. He does not even have time to eat, busy as he is in teaching and healing people.
No wonder, his family sets out to seize him, either because people are saying that he is out of his mind or they themselves think it so. Worse, his detractors accuse him of being in league with Beelzebub, the prince of devils (Mt 12:24). His relatives want him to return to Nazareth and live a “normal” life.
Like the prophets of old, Jesus burns with zeal for the Word of God. No praise, criticism, detractions, even love for his family, will prevent him to go from village to village to preach the Kingdom of God. He must be about his “Father’s business” (Lk 2:49), whether as a boy of twelve in the Temple or as a “rabbi” teaching in synagogues, in houses, or in the open.
First Reading • 2 Sm 1:1-4
David returned from his defeat of the Amalekites and spent two days in Ziklag.
On the third day a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. Going to David, he fell to the ground in homage. David asked him, “Where do you come from?” He replied, “I have escaped from the camp of the children of Israel.” “Tell me what happened,” David bade him. He answered that many of the soldiers had fled the battle and that many of them had fallen and were dead, among them Saul and his son Jonathan.
David seized his garments and rent them, and all the men who were with him did likewise. They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the soldiers of the Lord of the clans of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
“Alas! the glory of Israel, Saul, slain upon your heights; how can the warriors have fallen!
“Saul and Jonathan, beloved and cherished, separated neither in life nor in death, swifter than eagles, stronger than lions! Women of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and in finery, who decked your attire with ornaments of gold.
“How can the warriors have fallen— in the thick of the battle, slain upon your heights! ”I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother! most dear have you been to me; more precious have I held love for you than love for women. “How can the warriors have fallen, the weapons of war have perished!”
Gospel • Mark 3:20-21
Jesus came with his disciples into the house. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.