Unity Under God

Sep 7: Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

The Pharisees liked to think of themselves as set apart because of how well they kept the law. Not just apart, but above.

Today's readings instruct Christians to adopt a very different attitude. We should come together, recognizing that no one is above anyone else, because we are all under God.

Reading 1

1 Cor 4:6b-15

Brothers and sisters: Learn from myself and Apollos not to go beyond what is written, so that none of you will be inflated with pride in favor of one person over against another. Who confers distinction upon you? What do you possess that you have not received? But if you have received it, why are you boasting as if you did not receive it? You are already satisfied; you have already grown rich; you have become kings without us! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we also might become kings with you.

For as I see it, God has exhibited us Apostles as the last of all, like people sentenced to death, since we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and men alike. We are fools on Christ’s account, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clad and roughly treated, we wander about homeless and we toil, working with our own hands. When ridiculed, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we respond gently. We have become like the world’s rubbish, the scum of all, to this very moment.

I am writing you this not to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.

Here we have a summary of what Paul's been talking about all week, seeking unity over division. Instead of trying to raise ourselves up in the eyes of the world, we should be praising Jesus for all the gifts we've been given, material and spiritual.

But it won't be easy! In the middle section of this passage, Paul copies Jesus' formulation of the Beatitudes in a series of contrasting pairs. He explains that we'll look like fools, possibly go hungry and homeless, definitely slandered. But none of these matter, because we are beloved by Christ. It's in him that we can find unity.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 145:17-18, 19-20, 21

R. (18) The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him,
he hears their cry and saves them.
The LORD keeps all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
May my mouth speak the praise of the LORD,
and may all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.

"Holy" means "set apart," so it's interesting that this psalm contrasts that with God's imminent availability. No one is as remote and also as close as God.

What's amazing is, He can have this relationship with everyone. He wants that relationship, with you and me.

Alleluia

Jn 14:6

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord;
no one comes to the Father except through me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

No matter what we do to keep the faith, we still rely on Jesus.

Gospel

Lk 6:1-5

While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?"

Jesus said to them in reply, "Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions?"

Then he said to them, "The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath."

Sometimes, we are so focused on and get caught up in thinking about the spiritual, we can forget that God made us as both body and soul. We aren’t angels; we have to eat, breathe, and otherwise take care of our bodies.

That’s why the Church makes exceptions to fasts and other requirements for people who can’t, or would be harmed by participating. Take the short fast before communion. If you have to take your meds at a certain time and with food, and that time happens to be within an hour before receiving the eucharist, God understands you’re not being disrespectful. He knows exactly what your condition is, even!

Likewise, if you’re traveling, you’re relieved of your Sunday mass obligation. Is it worth making an effort anyways? Certainly! But when I visit my in-laws in New Zealand, we leave on Saturday and arrive on Monday. God understands that time zones are weird.

God never demands of us anything more than what we can do. But, remember how much more you can do with God!