A Time to Party
Jan. 15: Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a right time, and a wrong time, for everything.1 That includes making sacrifices to God, as we see in the first reading, and throwing a party, as Jesus explains in today’s Gospel.
Reading 1
1 Sm 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 LORD and 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 sacrifices as 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.”
The Amalekites had attacked Israel during the Exodus, trying to prevent them from fleeing slavery. They killed the weakest and slowest of the tribes—the sick, the elderly, even children. Because of their sheer brutality, the Israelites were commanded to never forget what the Amalekites did.
Now, God had given Saul very clear instructions—destroy the Amalekites. It wasn’t just a matter of revenge; as long as the Amalekites lived in the promised land, their culture and religion would poison Israelite society. Nothing could survive, to prevent the chance of syncretism.
Saul, however, decided to keep the Amalekite king Agag alive as trophy, as well as the best cattle and other spoils of war. He claims he wanted to give God the best sacrifice, but Samuel sees right through him. Saul just wanted to increase his wealth, not give glory to God and protect his people from sin.
Today’s psalm explains God’s position on the matter—
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23
R. 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 discipline
and 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.
It’s not that God rejects sacrifices. It’s just that prayers and external sacrifice aren’t all that God wants. He wants us to follow Him all the time, in our hearts and minds as well as actions.
Saul disobeyed God; no amount of sacrifice would make up for that.
Alleluia
Heb 4:12
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of God is living and effective,
able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus (the Word) is able to distinguish between a passing whim and a genuine plan or plot to carry out sin with ill intent. That’s because, as stated above, he was one of us, and knows those slight temptations we all go through.
Gospel
Mk 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."
John and the Pharisees fasted for different reasons. John the Baptist was trying to prepare the way for the Christ, and fasting was a way of allowing himself (and his followers) to focus on the coming of the Messiah. The Pharisees, on the other hand, wanted to fast so that everyone knew they were good people.
Neither of these apply anymore, when Jesus is here on Earth. To Jesus, this seems obvious, which he illustrates with folksy sayings about old cloaks and old wineskins.2
The overall point is, there’s a time for drinking, and a time for fasting. They’re both OK, when done at the appropriate time for the appropriate reasons. Don’t fast to show off how serious and devout you are, like the Pharisees. Fast with a goal in mind, like John.
And when it’s time to celebrate with Jesus and the faithful, go ahead and grab a drink!
They’re a little bit confusing, even to biblical scholars—using the wineskin metaphor when we’re talking about drinking and partying—which is why we think they were colloquialisms from the time that we just don’t use anymore.