WORD 2day: Friday, 15th week in Ordinary time
July 19, 2019: Exodus 11:10 - 12:14; Matthew 12: 1-8
The Liturgy of the Word today traces for us an eventful journey of the understanding of God and the self-understanding of the people in relation to their God! From an understanding of sacrifice as a demand and requirement to a liberating understanding of God, brought in by Jesus who presented a God who says, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice".
The point is not that the Old Testament's understanding was faulty; neither is it to say that Jesus negates all the understanding of the Old Testament! As Jesus himself explained, he came not to abolish the law, he came to bring it to its fulfillment. That fulfillment is achieved when we understand not just the letter but the spirit of the law and try to live it to its details.
The sacrifices, the sanctifications, the consecrations that were prescribed were all for one reason: to bring the people closer to the Lord! To make the people understand how good the Lord has been... in order that they may lift the cup of salvation, a thanksgiving sacrifice to the Lord, as the Psalm invites us today.
Having moved a long way from the understanding of the people of the Old Testament, the challenge is much greater for us today - to prioritise our relationship with God, in all that we carry out in the name of our spirituality, in the name of practices of piety. It is not merely a fulfillment of a duty or a necessity, for God needs nothing from us; but a thanksgiving to the ever-present Lord, a grateful beholding of the loving presence of God with us, is what really matters.